Boot a Virtual iPhone via Apple's Virtualization.framework(github.com)
81 pointsby hentrep3 hours ago8 comments
  • root9876an hour ago
    > during iOS setup, don't pick Japan or the EU as your region (extra regulatory checks the VM can't satisfy)

    I'm curious what are these checks

    • benoau21 minutes ago
      It will be to prevent access to third-party app stores as both the EU and Japan legislated they must be allowed.

      > In a support document about alternative app marketplaces in the EU, Apple explained that “device eligibility for alternative app marketplaces is determined using on-device processing with only an indicator of eligibility sent to Apple.” In practice, iOS users in the EU who want to install alternative marketplaces will need to set the country or region of their Apple ID to an eligible country or region. Moreover, they will also need to be physically located in supported EU countries.

      > In the case iOS users in the EU leave eligible regions, Apple will offer a “grace period” until apps downloaded from alternative app stores can no longer be updated. “If you’re gone for too long, you’ll lose access to some features, including installing new alternative app marketplaces. Apps you installed from alternative app marketplaces will continue to function, but they can’t be updated by the marketplace you downloaded it from,” the company explained.

      https://www.thurrott.com/apple/298862/apple-adds-some-condit...

    • rootnod342 minutes ago
      For Japan it might be the Felica chip.
  • hamandcheesean hour ago
    This seams neat, but I'm not sure I understand the purpose/difference between this and using the iOS simulator.
    • restesan hour ago
      The iOS Simulator consists of (some of) the userspace components of iOS compiled to run on macOS. This would be a full iPhone image running as-is via virtualization.
      • RussianCow13 minutes ago
        That explains the difference, but what's the purpose?
        • VladVladikoff2 minutes ago
          Spam. Click farms. Etc.
        • leoh2 minutes ago
          If functional, you can download apps from the App Store, sign in to iCloud.. probably do a bunch of agentic stuff as if you had a real device
        • a0128 minutes ago
          You can test your application, game, website without a physical phone?
          • leoh3 minutes ago
            Can do that with the simulator too
  • leoh9 minutes ago
    Will Apple break this?
  • TylerJaacks2 hours ago
    This project is really cool its a shame you have to disable or partial disable SIP which can break some things.
  • ironqcold2 hours ago
    Interesting project. If it actually works it opens up a ton of possibilities for testing and reverse engineering.
  • boredatoms2 hours ago
    Is this what apple does in xcode?
    • vlovich1232 hours ago
      If you’re talking about the simulator, no. That doesn’t virtualize - it literally just runs it locally on your machine. Less RAM overhead and CPU since it uses your normal instruction set and doesn’t run a separate kernel and userspace.
      • valleyer2 hours ago
        At least historically, it actually did run its own entire userspace, including daemons (all the way to launchd, IIRC), etc. All compiled for Intel, back in the day. Shared the kernel though.

        Many of the nominally shared system pieces between Mac and iPhone (like Foundation) actually had many subtle compile-time differences.

      • theflyestpilotan hour ago
        so can this receive web push notifications?
  • orangea2 hours ago
    what is "PCC"?
    • busymom02 hours ago
      Private cloud compute I think. I learnt about it today too from this reddit post which mentions how:

      > At WWDC, Apple announced that starting in the 27.x versions of iOS, macOS, etc., devs would be able to call Private Cloud Compute directly from Swift with no additional API configuration. Presently, the only way to get free cloud inference is by joining the App Store Small Business Program.

      https://www.reddit.com/r/appledevelopers/comments/1vztibh/re...

  • chewsan hour ago
    What a release! Congrats to the builder, lots of great work done here and in IOS profiling in general has been done here recently. Corellium went research only and I lost the ability to actually profile my applications the way I'd like. I've got a fun thing over coffee in the morning!