Discussion
Someone Booted Apple's iOS Kernel on an Android Phone...
A project on GitHub called HackiOS boots Apple's open-source XNU kernel from iOS 16.5 on an Android phone, then runs the unmodified iOS 16.5 user space on top of it, all the way to SpringBoard and apps. The phone is a POCO X5 Pro 5G with a Snapdragon 778G. Nothing gets flashed: the README says the UEFI starts with fastboot boot, the whole system lives in RAM, and after a reboot the phone is back in Android.
What works is a surprisingly long list. The README names the lock screen, the home screen, and apps including Settings, Clock, Calendar, Photos, Notes and Safari. What doesn't work is everything you'd need for an actual phone: cellular and Bluetooth, plus the App Store and Apple ID sign-in, which fail without a Secure Enclave. Charging is out too, and the README admits "the phone only discharges." One Hacker News commenter called that "one, uh, minor drawback."
Be careful where you go looking for it. Before the code went public, iPhoneSoft warned that every "HackiOS" download link going around was fake, and Decrypt reported that the demo had no public source code or independent verification.
If you've got a spare POCO X5 Pro and a free weekend, start with the README, and I'd only download from the project's own page. If you're just curious, another commenter asked the fair question: "why would anyone want to run iOS on Android devices?"
I'd say for the same reason people keep getting Doom to run on everything.
It runs iOS. It just can't charge.
The kernel part is less forbidden than it sounds. Apple publishes XNU on its own GitHub page as part of Darwin, "for use in macOS and iOS operating systems." The HackiOS developers say no Apple files are in either of their repositories. Aleph Security's earlier project set out "to boot a fully functional iOS system on QEMU." Decrypt points out the reverse trick has been done before, with Android running on iPhones through iDroid and later Corellium's Project Sandcastle.