Show HN: Run full iOS 16.5 firmware on Android Devices

What happened

A developer shared HackiOS on Hacker News. It boots Apple's open-source XNU kernel (the core of iOS 16.5) on a POCO X5 Pro 5G phone. It then runs the normal iOS 16.5 user software on top, including the home screen, apps and Settings. The project can also run in QEMU, a program that imitates a computer, on any Linux machine.

Key facts

• Phone: POCO X5 Pro 5G (Snapdragon 778G chip).
• Nothing is installed on the phone. The system starts from fastboot and lives in RAM. A reboot brings back Android.
• What works: lock screen, home screen, Settings, Wi-Fi (55–90 Mbit/s), sound, camera, touchscreen and GPU drawing.
• What does not work yet: cellular, Bluetooth, charging, App Store sign-in, video recording.
• Startup to the lock screen takes about 20 seconds.

What is a kernel?

The kernel is the core part of an operating system. It talks to the hardware, such as the screen, Wi-Fi and memory. HackiOS uses Apple's open-source kernel and adds its own parts to make it work on Android hardware. Those parts include a boot loader, replacement drivers and a Wi-Fi driver.

Why it matters

The project shows that Apple's software can be run on very different hardware. It is a research tool for learning how operating systems work. The project says it has no Apple files in it. Users download the iOS image from Apple's own servers to their own computer.

What to watch

• Whether cellular and Bluetooth support is added.
• Progress on running apps with Metal graphics (293 of 456 system shaders run so far).
• Whether charging is fixed under the custom kernel.
• Whether Apple takes any legal or technical action against the project.