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Linux boots on iPhone 11 with fully custom bootloader

Linux boots on iPhone 11 with fully custom bootloader

New Capabilities

Developer claims first A13 Linux boot, plans upstream kernel patches and consumer hardware

October 27th, 2026: LinuxRunner runs ARM64 Linux apps on iPhone without a jailbreak

Overview

Updated Oct 28

Jose Angel Torres and his team booted mainline Linux 7.1.0 on an iPhone 11 in October 2026, with all six A13 cores online and the full 4 GB of RAM visible. Every line from power-on to the kernel is their own code.

The project started in April 2026, three months before researchers disclosed usbliter8, a bootrom exploit for A12 and A13 chips. Torres says an upstream kernel patchset is coming, and Pwnie hardware sold through mypwnie.com would let non-experts repeat the boot; separately, a developer called Leminos released LinuxRunner in late October, an app that runs ARM64 Linux programs on iPhones without a jailbreak.

Why it matters

If the patchset merges upstream, A13 iPhones could run Linux — a capability Apple's locked boot chain was designed to prevent.

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Key Indicators

6
CPU cores online
All 4 Thunder efficiency and 2 Lightning performance cores
4 GB
RAM visible to Linux
Full memory of the iPhone 11
6 months
Development time
From project start to successful boot
7.1.0
Linux kernel version
Mainline kernel, aarch64

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People Involved

Jose Angel Torres
Jose Angel Torres
Developer who led the iPhone 11 Linux boot effort
Announced successful boot, plans upstream patches and hardware
G
gnunicorn
Lobsters commenter who disputed the 'first' claim
Pointed to a Reddit post showing prior Linux boot on iPhone 11

Organizations Involved

PW
Pwnie
Hardware company
Upcoming product line for booting Linux on Apple devices

Hardware company planning to sell devices that make Linux booting on iPhones accessible to non-experts.
PS
Project Sandcastle
Research project
Historical — ran Android on iPhone 7 via checkm8

Corellium's project that ran Android on A10 devices using the checkm8 exploit.

Timeline

September 2019 October 2026

7 events Latest: October 27th, 2026 · 2 weeks ago
Tap a bar to jump to that date

  1. LinuxRunner runs ARM64 Linux apps on iPhone without a jailbreak

    Latest Launch

    LinuxRunner, a GPL-3.0 app by a developer who goes by Leminos, runs ARM64 Linux programs on iPhone and iPad by interpreting them inside an iOS app instead of booting a kernel. Version 1.0.0 shipped October 25 with Debian 13 and Alpine; 1.0.1 added Arch Linux and experimental Openbox and LXQt desktops. It is a separate project from the iPhone 11 boot work.

  2. Achievement announced on Patreon and LinkedIn

    Announcement

    Torres published the boot details on Patreon and posted the same account on LinkedIn, saying the team believes it is the first to boot Linux on an A13 device. Lobsters commenters disputed the 'first' claim.

  3. Linux boots on iPhone 11

    Milestone

    Mainline Linux 7.1.0 boots on an iPhone 11 with all six A13 cores online and 4 GB RAM visible. The boot path contains zero Apple code.

  4. usbliter8 bootrom exploit disclosed

    Security

    Security researchers disclosed usbliter8, a bootrom exploit for Apple's A12 and A13 chips. It uses multi-stage memory damage to bypass Pointer Authentication Codes in the A13 SecureROM, giving code execution on devices checkm8 doesn't cover.

  5. Development begins on iPhone 11 Linux boot

    Development

    Jose Angel Torres and team set out to boot mainline Linux on the iPhone 11 with a fully custom bootloader.

  6. Project Sandcastle runs Android on iPhone 7

    Milestone

    Corellium's Project Sandcastle booted Android on iPhone 7, 7 Plus, and 7th-gen iPod Touch using checkm8 and PongoOS.

  7. checkm8 BootROM exploit released

    Security

    Security researcher axi0mX released checkm8, a BootROM exploit for A11 and older Apple chips. Apple cannot patch it because it lives in silicon.

Scenarios

1

Linux kernel patchset merges upstream

Likely Resolves by Apr 1, 2027

Discussed by: Jose Angel Torres via Patreon

Torres said 'Our initial upstream kernel patchset is coming soon.' If the patches are accepted into mainline Linux, A13 device support becomes part of the kernel. Anyone with the right hardware could then reproduce the work.

2

Pwnie hardware ships to consumers

Possible Resolves by Oct 1, 2027

Discussed by: Jose Angel Torres via Patreon

Torres said 'Pwnie hardware is coming to mypwnie.com, with no deep Linux internals knowledge required.' If the hardware ships, non-experts could boot Linux on their own iPhones without writing code.

3

Independent tech press covers the iPhone 11 Linux boot

Uncertain Resolves by Jan 1, 2027

Discussed by: Lobsters commenter gnunicorn

A Lobsters commenter said the team is 'not the first ones to achieve this.' The commenter pointed to a Reddit post about Linux booting natively on an iPhone 11. Independent tech press coverage could confirm or dispute the 'first A13 Linux boot' claim.

4

usbliter8 enables broader Linux support on A12-A13 devices

Possible Resolves by Q2 2027

Discussed by: Security researchers via BestHub

The usbliter8 bootrom exploit gives code execution on A12-A13 devices. Combined with the developer's custom bootloader, it could enable Linux on a wider range of newer iPhones beyond the iPhone 11.

Historical Context

3 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.

2020

Project Sandcastle (2020)

Corellium's Project Sandcastle ran Android on iPhone 7, 7 Plus, and 7th-gen iPod Touch using the checkm8 BootROM exploit and PongoOS. The project took over a year and involved many top iOS engineers.

Then

Android booted on A10 devices with limited hardware support. GPU, audio, camera, and cellular were not functional.

Now

Demonstrated that Apple's locked boot chain could be bypassed on checkm8-vulnerable chips, but only A11 and older.

Why this matters now

Sandcastle relied on checkm8, a hardware exploit. The new iPhone 11 work uses a fully custom bootloader with zero Apple code, on a newer A13 chip that checkm8 doesn't cover.

September 2019

checkm8 BootROM exploit (2019)

Security researcher axi0mX released checkm8, a BootROM exploit for A11 and older Apple chips. Because it lives in the BootROM, burned into silicon, Apple cannot patch it with a software update.

Then

Enabled jailbreaks and custom boot on A11 and older devices. Became the foundation for checkra1n, PongoOS, and Project Sandcastle.

Now

Created a permanent boot path for older iPhones that Apple cannot close.

Why this matters now

checkm8 was the key that unlocked older iPhones. The new work doesn't use checkm8 — it's a custom bootloader for a newer chip.

Ongoing

Hoolock Linux project (ongoing)

The Hoolock Linux project maintains an experimental mainline Linux port for A7-A11 and T2 Apple devices, building on checkm8-era tooling.

Then

Provides a working Linux environment on older Apple devices with partial hardware support.

Now

Shows the state of the art for Linux on Apple silicon before the A13 work.

Why this matters now

Hoolock covers A7-A11, all checkm8-vulnerable. The new work extends to A13, which checkm8 doesn't cover. It uses a custom bootloader instead.

Sources

(10)
+4
Patreon (Jose Angel Torres) Lobsters Wikipedia iDevice Central Project Sandcastle BestHub lemdro.id UMA Technology DigitBin LinkedIn (Jose Angel Torres)