iOS-26 Hack Allows iPadOS Windows on iPhone – Apple Likely to Patch Quickly
It would be entirely possible to equip iPhones with a windowed interface. This is shown by a trick that is currently still possible due to a bug.
iPhone with dock and window: It would be possible if Apple wanted it.
(Image: Screenshot Duy Tran / X)
Ever since iPhones have existed, there has been no way to open apps in individual windows—each program always runs in a full-screen view, while Android devices have mastered window management for years. Jailbreak tinkerers have now demonstrated with iOS 26 that this is indeed possible. They have succeeded in bringing the windowing capabilities known from iPadOS 26 to the iPhone. The approach is based on a currently unpatched vulnerability—or rather, a combination of several. Apple is likely to close this at the latest with iOS 26.2, which is expected in December.
Manipulation of MobileGestalt
Apple had released nearly unrestricted window management with iPadOS 26, which approaches the capabilities under macOS—and thus makes the tablets particularly useful for power users. However, windowing on the iPhone has never existed before, neither as openly as now on the iPad nor via Stage Manager, as Apple had implemented it in earlier iPadOS versions.
The Vietnamese iOS tinkerer Duy Tran, who is involved with jailbreaking, among other things, has now demonstrated on X how to modify a specific file brings iPadOS 26 capabilities to the iPhone. For this to work, a sandbox escape is needed, which in turn is possible through two errors in itunesstored and bookassetd. This is also still possible in iOS 26.2 Beta—at least until the first beta. The exploit allows modification of the MobileGestalt.plist file. This determines how the iOS interface behaves. With the hack, the operating system is tricked into believing it is running on an iPad.
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Apple Could, If It Wanted To
Duy Tran succeeded in activating the window mode from iPadOS on an iPhone 17 Pro. Then the currently running app is automatically opened in a window—and interestingly, a dock even appears. The latter has also never existed on the iPhone before.
The hack is by no means perfect, as there are problems with the resolution. Nevertheless, the approach shows that Apple's lack of window management on the iPhone is purely a software limitation and could certainly be technically implemented by the company. The performance of modern iPhones (and even older models) is more than sufficient for this. Perhaps Apple will even be inspired by the hack. iPhones currently come with up to 6.9 inches, and there is actually enough space for windows.
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