8 ms·

Project Sandcastle: Android for the iPhone

128 points by homarp 7y ago

floatingatoll 7y ago
The list of what hardware is supported on what phones is here: https://projectsandcastle.org/status https://projectsandcastle.org/status As of right now, many functions are not available on any device: Bluetooth, camera, cellular, GPU, sound. The only devices with CPU support are the iPhone 7 and 7+.
- saagarjha 7y ago
  And the new iPod Touch, apparently?
  - my123 7y ago
    Hello, Yes iPod Touch 7 is part of the first wave of supported devices, and cost compared to other options + it using the same A10 SoC played a role there. Other devices will be supported soon.
willstrafach 7y ago
Source code: https://github.com/corellium/projectsandcastle/ https://github.com/corellium/projectsandcastle/ The backstory is also incredibly interesting: https://projectsandcastle.org/history https://projectsandcastle.org/history
azinman2 7y ago
I’m confused as to how this works.. this is something you install to replace iOS (and if so, how.. a jailbreak like mechanism)? Or is this an OS inside of an app?
- wcfields 7y ago
  Yes, because of an unpatchable boot rom exploit.
- aspenmayer 7y ago
  Sandcastle is using the checkm8[0] unpatchable bootrom exploit to allow running unsigned secureROM arbitrary code with help from alloc8[1]. They then load a modified pongoOS[2] to get device tree and load their modified AOSP[3] from what I can tell. [0] https://github.com/axi0mX/ipwndfu https://github.com/axi0mX/ipwndfu [1] https://github.com/axi0mX/alloc8 https://github.com/axi0mX/alloc8 [2] https://github.com/checkra1n/pongoOS https://github.com/checkra1n/pongoOS [3] https://github.com/corellium/projectsandcastle https://github.com/corellium/projectsandcastle
  - saagarjha 7y ago
    What does alloc8 (for iPhone 3GS) have to do with this? Also, what are their modifications to pongoOS and why do they need them?
    - my123 7y ago
      Hello, Upstream pongoOS is used for this AFAIK, without further changes needed. However, the FDT from Apple device tree generator is currently basic and not really ready for anything other than FB + display, so a custom device tree is provided in the Sandcastle distribution.
- wmf 7y ago
  Yes, it replaces iOS using a jailbreak.
- willstrafach 7y ago
  Not replace, rather, you boot Linux over USB. That is why they describe the ephemeral device use case.
chatmasta 7y ago
Note this project is being run under the roof of Corellium, which was in the news recently because Apple is suing them. I’m really impressed with what this company has achieved and super excited about their products. I hope they beat Apple!
- Lammy 7y ago
  I wonder if this project is in part a hedge against Apple's legal attacks, as in "our tech opened up Apple's locked hardware".
Etheryte 7y ago
There's no denying the technical side of this is simply incredible. As a user though, my personal (and probably very divisive) preference for the iPhone is exactly because it is _not_ Android. Many companies make very solid phone hardware, I don't think Apple is that far ahead in that regard, if at all. For me, the isolation, privacy controls, and more on iOS are the reason to prefer that over any Android phone. So while I have massive respect for pulling such a technical feat off, I can't help but scratch my head when I see it.
- curioussavage 7y ago
  I agree except I don't want android I want one of these mobile gnu linux distros to run on it. There has been very little progress on getting things to work on most android hardware so if these guys beat the linux on android hardware people then that's great. I just want to run plasma mobile on good hardware with support for calls/sms/camera
  - m4rtink 7y ago
    With Pine Phone and Fxtec Pro finally comming as very suitable platforms for mobile Linux distros I can see some of the work also spilling to support on originally Android devices. Also you can get officially supported Sailfish OS on a range of Sony Xperia devices and Sailfish OS is pretty close to a regular GNU/Linux distro.
    - ocdtrekkie 7y ago
      Got my PinePhone but it’ll be a while until it’s my daily driver. I’m on iOS for halfway decent privacy and security until real Linux phones are serviceable. F(x)tec Pro looks amazing, though I am hesitant to buy any phone that ships with Android as the default. I don’t want to fund the Play Services system and I want to know it’ll be supported on the OS I want to use.
  - my123 7y ago
    Currently, both a buildroot-based Linux distribution (with X11 of course) and an Android one are provided.
saagarjha 7y ago
I’m curious why they chose iPhone 7 as the device to start with; iPhone 6 would have saved them the page size issues since it uses 4K pages.
- luxuryballs 7y ago
  Probably had a recently retired iPhone 7 to use instead of their daily driver.
  - saagarjha 7y ago
    I would be extremely surprised if Corellium didn't have a dozen of every iPhone model hanging around ;)
spondyl 7y ago
Fortinet Web Filtering at my work has blocked this page under the category of "Hacking" :( I just submitted a re-evaluation and it was updated to... the hacking category --- Web Page Blocked! You have tried to access a web page which is in violation of your internet usage policy. URL: https://projectsandcastle.org/ https://projectsandcastle.org/ Category: Hacking

128 points by homarp 7y ago

The list of what hardware is supported on what phones is here: https://projectsandcastle.org/status https://projectsandcastle.org/status As of right now, many functions are not available on any device: Bluetooth, camera, cellular, GPU, sound. The only devices with CPU support are the iPhone 7 and 7+.

saagarjha 7y ago
And the new iPod Touch, apparently?
- my123 7y ago
  Hello, Yes iPod Touch 7 is part of the first wave of supported devices, and cost compared to other options + it using the same A10 SoC played a role there. Other devices will be supported soon.

willstrafach 7y ago

Source code: https://github.com/corellium/projectsandcastle/ https://github.com/corellium/projectsandcastle/ The backstory is also incredibly interesting: https://projectsandcastle.org/history https://projectsandcastle.org/history

azinman2 7y ago

I’m confused as to how this works.. this is something you install to replace iOS (and if so, how.. a jailbreak like mechanism)? Or is this an OS inside of an app?

wcfields 7y ago
Yes, because of an unpatchable boot rom exploit.
aspenmayer 7y ago
Sandcastle is using the checkm8[0] unpatchable bootrom exploit to allow running unsigned secureROM arbitrary code with help from alloc8[1]. They then load a modified pongoOS[2] to get device tree and load their modified AOSP[3] from what I can tell. [0] https://github.com/axi0mX/ipwndfu https://github.com/axi0mX/ipwndfu [1] https://github.com/axi0mX/alloc8 https://github.com/axi0mX/alloc8 [2] https://github.com/checkra1n/pongoOS https://github.com/checkra1n/pongoOS [3] https://github.com/corellium/projectsandcastle https://github.com/corellium/projectsandcastle
- saagarjha 7y ago
  What does alloc8 (for iPhone 3GS) have to do with this? Also, what are their modifications to pongoOS and why do they need them?
  - my123 7y ago
    Hello, Upstream pongoOS is used for this AFAIK, without further changes needed. However, the FDT from Apple device tree generator is currently basic and not really ready for anything other than FB + display, so a custom device tree is provided in the Sandcastle distribution.
wmf 7y ago
Yes, it replaces iOS using a jailbreak.
willstrafach 7y ago
Not replace, rather, you boot Linux over USB. That is why they describe the ephemeral device use case.

chatmasta 7y ago

Note this project is being run under the roof of Corellium, which was in the news recently because Apple is suing them. I’m really impressed with what this company has achieved and super excited about their products. I hope they beat Apple!

Lammy 7y ago
I wonder if this project is in part a hedge against Apple's legal attacks, as in "our tech opened up Apple's locked hardware".

Etheryte 7y ago

There's no denying the technical side of this is simply incredible. As a user though, my personal (and probably very divisive) preference for the iPhone is exactly because it is _not_ Android. Many companies make very solid phone hardware, I don't think Apple is that far ahead in that regard, if at all. For me, the isolation, privacy controls, and more on iOS are the reason to prefer that over any Android phone. So while I have massive respect for pulling such a technical feat off, I can't help but scratch my head when I see it.

curioussavage 7y ago
I agree except I don't want android I want one of these mobile gnu linux distros to run on it. There has been very little progress on getting things to work on most android hardware so if these guys beat the linux on android hardware people then that's great. I just want to run plasma mobile on good hardware with support for calls/sms/camera
- m4rtink 7y ago
  With Pine Phone and Fxtec Pro finally comming as very suitable platforms for mobile Linux distros I can see some of the work also spilling to support on originally Android devices. Also you can get officially supported Sailfish OS on a range of Sony Xperia devices and Sailfish OS is pretty close to a regular GNU/Linux distro.
  - ocdtrekkie 7y ago
    Got my PinePhone but it’ll be a while until it’s my daily driver. I’m on iOS for halfway decent privacy and security until real Linux phones are serviceable. F(x)tec Pro looks amazing, though I am hesitant to buy any phone that ships with Android as the default. I don’t want to fund the Play Services system and I want to know it’ll be supported on the OS I want to use.
- my123 7y ago
  Currently, both a buildroot-based Linux distribution (with X11 of course) and an Android one are provided.

saagarjha 7y ago

I’m curious why they chose iPhone 7 as the device to start with; iPhone 6 would have saved them the page size issues since it uses 4K pages.

luxuryballs 7y ago
Probably had a recently retired iPhone 7 to use instead of their daily driver.
- saagarjha 7y ago
  I would be extremely surprised if Corellium didn't have a dozen of every iPhone model hanging around ;)

spondyl 7y ago

Fortinet Web Filtering at my work has blocked this page under the category of "Hacking" :( I just submitted a re-evaluation and it was updated to... the hacking category --- Web Page Blocked! You have tried to access a web page which is in violation of your internet usage policy. URL: https://projectsandcastle.org/ https://projectsandcastle.org/ Category: Hacking