# iOS now runs on an Android phone. From Preston (@quickfinesse): https://quickfinesse.dev/videos/2026-10-24-hackios Video: https://www.tiktok.com/@quickfinesse/video/7700248786219601182, posted October 24, 2026 ## What I'd like help with I watched this video and want to try it. Walk me through it one step at a time, and check the official links below before giving exact commands, since they change. ## In plain English iOS now runs on an Android phone. HackiOS boots Apple's real iOS 16.5 on a Xiaomi POCO X5 Pro, with Wi-Fi, Safari and both cameras working, and it runs from memory, so a restart puts Android back. It's an early research project, open source since Oct 22. Would you try iOS on Android? ## What was used - HackiOS kernel (GitHub): https://github.com/oosexgang/hackios-xnu-kernel - HackiOS userland (GitHub): https://github.com/oosexgang/hackios-xnu-userland ## Credits HackiOS: OOSEX GANG. Footage: the HackiOS project's own film, Apple's and Android's product videos, and POCO's product pages. The full guide for this video is on the page: https://quickfinesse.dev/videos/2026-10-24-hackios # iOS now runs on an Android phone > From Preston (@quickfinesse) > HackiOS boots Apple's real iOS 16.5 on a Xiaomi POCO X5 Pro, with Wi-Fi, Safari and both cameras working, and the whole project went open source on October 22. Here's what works, how it does it and what's still missing. > Page: https://quickfinesse.dev/videos/2026-10-24-hackios > Updated: October 24, 2026 ## What I'd like help with I watched this video and want to try it. Walk me through it one step at a time, and check the official links below before giving exact commands, since they change. ## The short version HackiOS starts Apple's open source iOS kernel on Android phone hardware and runs Apple's own iOS 16.5 on top of it, unchanged. It runs on a POCO X5 Pro 5G, a Xiaomi phone with a Snapdragon 778G, and in QEMU, a free program that pretends to be a phone on a regular Linux computer. Nothing gets installed over Android. The whole system lives in the phone's memory, so a restart puts the phone back in Android. A group of developers called OOSEX GANG made the code public on GitHub on October 22, and it's a research project, not something to use as your daily phone. See the code on GitHub: https://github.com/oosexgang/hackios-xnu-kernel ## What works - **Lock and home screen** (pick: Works): Swipe to unlock, both home screen pages with every icon, the stock iOS 16 wallpapers and widgets. It reaches the lock screen in about 20 seconds. - **Gestures** (pick: Works): Swipe up for home and the app switcher, swipe from the edge to go back, and Control Center. - **Apps** (pick: Works): Settings, Clock, Calendar, Photos, Notes and Safari, among others. - **Wi-Fi and Safari** (pick: Works): You join Wi-Fi from Settings and Safari loads real websites, at 55 to 90 Mbit/s. - **Cameras** (pick: Photos): The Camera app takes photos with the front and back cameras, with preview and focus. - **Graphics and sound** (pick: Works): The phone's own Adreno graphics chip draws the screen, and the speakers and main microphone work. ## What doesn't work yet - **Calls and data** (pick: Not yet): There's no cellular and no Bluetooth. - **App Store** (pick: Not yet): App Store content and Apple ID sign-in don't work, because the phone has no Apple security chip. - **Charging** (pick: Not yet): While HackiOS runs, the battery only goes down. - **Video** (pick: Not yet): Video and Live Photo recording don't work yet. Photos do. - **Session length** (pick: 15 to 20 min): Each run is a timed test. After a set time it stops and hands the developers a log of what happened, so they can fix the next thing. ## How it gets real iOS onto the phone Apple publishes the kernel of iOS, the core that every other part runs on, as open source. HackiOS starts that kernel on the POCO's chip. The parts Apple keeps closed, like the drivers for the screen, touch, Wi-Fi and sound, are replaced with the team's own versions, along with their own loader to start it all. Everything above that is Apple's iOS 16.5. The project says the iOS programs and frameworks aren't changed by a single byte. No Apple files are in the code on GitHub. When someone sets it up, it downloads iOS 16.5 straight from Apple's servers to their own computer. ## Others already got it running Within a day of the release, a developer tested it on a MacBook with an M3 Max chip and ran full 20 minute iOS 16.5 sessions in QEMU, then sent fixes back to the project. Another developer confirmed it on a Linux computer running NixOS, where iOS booted to its home screen. In its first two days it passed 1,000 stars on GitHub and 500 points on Hacker News. Read the macOS pull request: https://github.com/oosexgang/hackios-xnu-kernel/pull/6 ## Worth knowing HackiOS works on one phone model today, and setting it up means unlocking that phone's bootloader. This page doesn't cover setup. The team's website also sells a crypto token. It isn't part of the code and gives no rights to the app, so this page only links the code on GitHub. ## Posts and coverage - **macOS and NixOS test reports** (oct 23): Outside developers running HackiOS in QEMU on a Mac and on NixOS, with their fixes. https://github.com/oosexgang/hackios-xnu-kernel/pull/6 - **Hacker News discussion** (oct 22): Run full iOS 16.5 firmware on Android Devices, with over 500 points. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50196718 - **HackiOS kernel repo** (oct 22): The kernel changes, loader, Wi-Fi and the full list of what works. https://github.com/oosexgang/hackios-xnu-kernel - **HackiOS userland repo** (oct 22): The scripts that take iOS out of Apple's download and the graphics work. https://github.com/oosexgang/hackios-xnu-userland