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TODO: fix this, merge this with emulators.
iOS apps are distributed in the IPA format. Like Android's APK files, they are standard ZIP files, so their contents can be browsed and extracted most of the time.
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==ROMs==
TODO: Merge this with ROM & ISO sites<br>https://archive.org/details/ipaarchive is the best source for classic ROMs. Just search your app or find collections with your app in it. https://ipa.decrypt.day/ is the best source for modern app ROMs that are all free.
==Emulators==
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
; QEMU-iOS
:Previously unnamed and referred to as “devos50’s qemu fork”, Based on earlier work emulating the S5L8900 and the iPhone 11 in QEMU. It can emulate an iPod Touch 1G running iOS 1.0, including iBoot, the kernel, and the Springboard, although it requires a modified NOR and NAND image. Some features, such as audio and Wi-Fi, are not emulated, and there are multiple crashes. A TikTok user has [https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRvq7Syc/ ported] it to Android and [https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRTGxtyb/ HTML5] however did not put up a download yet. [https://github.com/devos50/qemu/tree/ipod_touch_1g Source code] - [https://devos50.github.io/blog/2022/ipod-touch-qemu/ Blog post] - [https://devos50.github.io/blog/2022/ipod-touch-qemu-pt2/ Blog post pt.2]
;Corellium
;TruEmu
:QEMU-t8030 (2022), also known as TruEmu, is an iPhone 11 emulated in QEMU, however it does not have a display, and seems abandoned. TruEmu is a software that offers support for iOS 14 up to the latest iOS 16, and is built to work on iPhone 6S SecureROM hardware. It also provides out-of-box kernel debugging support and USB support (with Firmware Restore), and utilizes Apple's custom CPU features such as SPRR/GXF and custom PAC. Additionally, TruEmu is an open-source software.[https://github.com/TrungNguyen1909/qemu-t8030 Source code] - [https://i.blackhat.com/USA-22/Thursday/US-22-Nguyen-TruEmu.pdf Presentation]
;iEmu
;ipasim
: **ipasim** (2017) is a high level emulator written in C++ that uses Microsoft's winObjC to recompile 64-bit iOS apps into apps in live. It doesn't support much apps except for really basic ones. It was more focused on apps then games. [Source code](https://github.com/ipasimulator/ipasim) - [Project page](https://janjones.me/projects/ipasim/) - [Paper](https://github.com/ipasimulator/ipasim/blob/master/docs/thesis/thesis.pdf) - [Poster](https://github.com/ipasimulator/ipasim/blob/master/docs/thesis/poster.pdf)
;xnu-qemu-arm64
: A security research emulator created by Aleph أ Security that like TruEmu, can partially run iOS, with launchd services working correctly, but no display or iOS completely booted yet. ''Rewrite WIP''
;Darling
==History of failed iOS emulation attempts==
Many of the currently available '''"simulators"''' only try recreating popular iOS apps (like browsers) in a PC application with no real emulation involved. Some notable [[Emulator scams|scams]] in such fashion are called '''iPadian''' or variations on the name, and are often '''malware'''.
* A project to emulate various smartphones (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Apple TV 2G) called '''iEmu''', started in 2011 but got mysteriously abandoned two years later before anything usable surfaced. All pages related to the project were removed. It's speculated Apple had a hand in this.
* Nowadays, a malicious APK file going by the '''iEmu''' moniker is also being circulated on blogs run by script kiddies claiming to offer a way to run iOS apps on Android. More often than not, they're uploaded with the intention of generating revenue from impressionable users (through pay-per-click URL shorteners) who fall easily for those types of scams.
* There has been a project to provide a runtime for iOS apps to run on '''Android''' called [http://systems.cs.columbia.edu/projects/cycada/ '''Cycada'''] (formerly known as '''Cider'''). Not much progress has been made, and the original author was accused of being a sellout for leaving the project to work as a kernel programmer for Apple. The project booted many 32-bit iOS apps successfully, albeit slowly. The last update to this project was in [https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3135974.3135981 '''2017''']. (NOTE: If you search "Cider APK", you will get iPhone 12 launcher adware, even on UpToDown or Malavida)
* There was also a project based on [[QEMU]] that usually went around by the name QEMU-s5l89xx (based on the part number of the original iPhone), or iVM. The last known commits to this project were in 2013, and it is unclear if this project will ever come to fruition.
Your best bet, until a new emulation effort is ever started, is to hope that whatever iOS app you're interested in gets an Android port. This is very rare, especially for Japanese ones, as Android is perceived to be more open to piracy. That appears to be gradually changing lately and isn't of as much concern for non-gaming apps.
{{Apple}}
