# IOSVM: booting iOS 16.5 user space in QEMU on Linux

> IOSVM ports Darwin/XNU components so user-supplied iOS 16.5 user space can boot in QEMU on Linux. Its QMP input channel and web/VNC bridge expose taps, swipes, keyboard input, and rendered frames; the author reports that home-screen boots remain intermittent and rendering uses a CPU rasterizer.

- Type: Case study
- Targets: App
- Category: Independent reconstruction cases
- Relationship: Independent reconstruction project
- Sources reviewed: 2026-11-06
- Added to the catalog: 2026-11-08
- Original resource: <https://github.com/lshan99q/iosvm>
- Primary source: <https://github.com/lshan99q/iosvm/blob/68c23fb9a07d3258a7b91c7e762589b915186e9b/README.md>
- Catalog page: <https://awesomerea.org/resources/iosvm-case/>
- Record JSON: <https://awesomerea.org/resources/iosvm-case/record.json>
- Chinese version: [简体中文](https://awesomerea.org/zh/resources/iosvm-case/index.md)

## Requirements & limits

- **Prerequisites:** Linux x86-64, QEMU, and a user-supplied iOS 16.5 IPSW.
- **Limits:** The author reports home-screen boot in about 40% of attempts, with roughly 4–7 fps animation; DNS and GPU acceleration are unavailable.
- **License:** Project code is MIT; XNU portions retain APSL and GPL-2.0 portions retain GPL-2.0.

## Primary sources

1. <https://github.com/lshan99q/iosvm/blob/68c23fb9a07d3258a7b91c7e762589b915186e9b/README.md>
2. <https://github.com/lshan99q/iosvm/blob/68c23fb9a07d3258a7b91c7e762589b915186e9b/Makefile>

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## About this entry

The description was reviewed against primary sources.
Original editorial content: MIT. Linked projects, papers and assets retain their own rights and licenses.