Run full iOS 16.5 firmware on Android Devices
- ID
- 38675
- Status
- summarized
- Published
- 22 Oct 2026, 11:26 PM
- Fetched
- 23 Oct 2026, 4:59 PM
- Provider
- Hacker News
- Category
- dev-community
- Original URL
- https://github.com/oosexgang/hackios-xnu-kernel
- Source URL
- https://hnrss.org/best
Summary
- Score
- 6.0
- Created
- 23 Oct 2026, 5:00 PM
- Tags
- Audience
- developers
What happened
A project called HackiOS (by OOSEX GANG) boots Apple's open-source XNU kernel — xnu-8796.121.2, the kernel from iOS 16.5 — on Android phone hardware and runs the unmodified iOS 16.5 user space on top: launchd → backboardd → SpringBoard → apps. It targets a POCO X5 Pro 5G (Snapdragon 778G), where the UEFI is launched via `fastboot boot` and the whole system lives in RAM, so a reboot returns the phone to Android, and it also runs under QEMU aarch64 on any Linux machine. The repo contains XNU patches, an EFI loader, a UEFI port, a Linux Wi-Fi driver on a compatibility layer, and QEMU scripts; the companion repo holds init, injected libraries, and the APFS image builder. Working: lock screen, home screen, gestures, Settings/Clock/Calendar/Photos/Notes/Safari. Not working: cellular, Bluetooth, and charging under their kernel.
Why it matters
The reusable trick here isn't iOS-on-Android — it's the deployment method: a UEFI image pushed with `fastboot boot`, running entirely from RAM, leaving the device untouched after reboot. If you do mobile or embedded work, that's a low-risk pattern for testing alternative kernels on a daily-driver phone without flashing or wiping it. Treat the iOS part as a demo, not a usable OS: no cellular, no Bluetooth, and the phone only discharges while running it.
Discussion angle
The project replaces Apple's closed drivers with its own (including a Linux Wi-Fi driver on a compat layer) — worth asking which parts of a 'full OS port' are actually the hard, undocumented driver work versus the kernel and userspace, and whether the RAM-only fastboot approach is a template for other hardware experiments.