Thanks to the Sandcastle project, Android 10 now even runs on some iPhones – blasphemy or utility?

Recently, developers have found a way to perform an iPhone jailbreak with a rooted Android device. Perhaps the most ambitious crossover episode of all time also found out how to run the Android operating system on the iPhone itself.

The Sandcastle project is an initiative that makes it possible to flash a slightly more functional, slimmed-down build of Android 10 on eligible iPhones, but so far there are only two of them (iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus) where this has been achieved. Here is a simple diagram developer that shows which functions are actually usable on which devices. Even on the two iPhone 7s, the graphics processor, audio output, cellular modem, Bluetooth, and camera still don't quite work. Since it is also a very early version of Android, performance and battery life are nimbly not optimal either. In addition, the memory is read-only, so copying files remains impossible for now. But if you have an old replacement iPhone 7 lying around, you can tinker with it. In addition, an iPhone running Android should be a pretty impressive party gag. But how did the developers manage to accomplish this seemingly impossible feat? The Sandcastle project has published a detailed statement here.

We would not have been able to port Android almost so quickly, if at all, without relying on Corellium's revolutionary mobile device virtualization platform. Our platform creates software-based models of mobile device hardware, enabling users to run ARM-based operating systems on ARM-based enterprise servers. This groundbreaking advancement empowers engineers with scalability, efficiency, and innovative new tools for research, testing, training, and development purposes. By leveraging our virtual devices, along with our deep knowledge of both the Android OS and the iPhone hardware, we were able to rapidly iterate to bring Android to life.

It is certainly worth noting that two of the developers involved in the Sandcastle project also successfully operated Android on the original iPhone more than ten years ago. If you have an iPhone 7 lying around and want to try it out, you can download the version here. Unfortunately, there seems to be no guidance on how the process works, so full play instinct ahead and crafted!

Source: Project Sandcastle