IOS

iOS
iOS
	iOS 18, the latest release of iOS
Developer	Apple
Written in	C, C++, Objective-C, Swift, assembly language
OS family	Unix-like, based on Darwin (BSD), macOS
Working state	Current
Source model	Closed, with open-source components
Initial release	June 29, 2007
Latest release	18.5 (May 12, 2025) [±]
Latest preview	18.6 beta 1 (June 16, 2025) [±]
Marketing target	iPhone; iPad (until 13.0); iPod Touch (until 16.0);
Available in	41 languages
	List of languages Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional (Hong Kong), Chinese Traditional (Taiwan), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English (Australia), English (United Kingdom), English (United States), Finnish, French (Canada), French (France), German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Kazakh, Korean, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian (iOS 18), Spanish (Latin America), Spanish (Spain), Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese
Update method	Over-the-air (since 5.0); Wired connection;
Platforms	ARM architecture family; ARM64 (since 7.0); ARM32 (until 11.0);
Kernel type	Hybrid (XNU)
Default; user interface	Multi-touch GUI
License	Proprietary software except for open-source components
Official website	www.apple.com/ios/
Support status
	Supported
Articles in the series
	iOS version history

iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple for its iPhone line of smartphones. It was unveiled in January 2007 alongside the first-generation iPhone, and was released in June 2007. Major versions of iOS are released annually; the current stable version, iOS 18, was released to the public on September 16, 2024.^[4]

Besides powering iPhone, iOS is the basis for three other operating systems made by Apple: iPadOS, tvOS, and watchOS.^[5] iOS formerly also powered iPads until iPadOS was introduced in 2019 and the iPod Touch line of devices until its discontinuation.^[6] iOS is the world's second most widely installed mobile operating system, after Android. As of December 2023, Apple's App Store contains more than 3.8 million iOS mobile apps.^[7]

iOS is based on macOS. Like macOS, it includes components of the Mach microkernel and FreeBSD.^[8]^[9] It is a Unix-like operating system. Although some parts of iOS are open source under the Apple Public Source License^[10] and other licenses,^[11] iOS is proprietary software.^[12]^[13]

^ Clover, Juli (May 12, 2025). "Apple Releases iOS 18.5 With New Wallpaper, Screen Time Changes, Carrier Satellite Support for iPhone 13 and More". MacRumors. Retrieved May 12, 2025.
^ Clover, Juli (June 16, 2025). "Apple Seeds First Beta of iOS 18.6 to Developers". MacRumors. Retrieved June 17, 2025.
^ "iOS and iPadOS – Feature Availability". Apple Inc. Archived from the original on May 12, 2023. Retrieved May 16, 2023.
^ Clover, Juli (September 16, 2024). "Apple Releases iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 With Home Screen Customization, App Locking, Passwords App, Messages Updates and More". MacRumors. Retrieved September 16, 2024.
^ Espósito, Filipe (April 13, 2020). "HomePod now runs on tvOS, here's what that could mean". 9to5Mac. Archived from the original on April 14, 2020. Retrieved December 12, 2022.
^ "The music lives on". Apple Newsroom. Archived from the original on May 11, 2022. Retrieved June 28, 2022.
^ "Number of apps from the Apple App Store 2022". Statista. Archived from the original on February 7, 2022. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
^ "Is Mac Os X Microkernel? – LEMP". Archived from the original on December 16, 2023. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
^ "iOS/About iOS/Mach_and_BSD.md at master · writeups/iOS". GitHub. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
^ "License - APSL". opensource.apple.com. Archived from the original on December 11, 2017. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
^ "Software License Agreement". opensource.apple.com. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
^ "Apple Open Source". Archived from the original on September 24, 2020. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
^ Rogucki, Michał (October 28, 2023). "Why is iOS not open source?". TS2 SPACE. Archived from the original on December 16, 2023. Retrieved December 16, 2023.

[iOS_18.5-1] Clover, Juli (May 12, 2025). "Apple Releases iOS 18.5 With New Wallpaper, Screen Time Changes, Carrier Satellite Support for iPhone 13 and More". MacRumors. Retrieved May 12, 2025.

[2] Clover, Juli (June 16, 2025). "Apple Seeds First Beta of iOS 18.6 to Developers". MacRumors. Retrieved June 17, 2025.

[3] "iOS and iPadOS – Feature Availability". Apple Inc. Archived from the original on May 12, 2023. Retrieved May 16, 2023.

[4] Clover, Juli (September 16, 2024). "Apple Releases iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 With Home Screen Customization, App Locking, Passwords App, Messages Updates and More". MacRumors. Retrieved September 16, 2024.

[5] Espósito, Filipe (April 13, 2020). "HomePod now runs on tvOS, here's what that could mean". 9to5Mac. Archived from the original on April 14, 2020. Retrieved December 12, 2022.

[6] "The music lives on". Apple Newsroom. Archived from the original on May 11, 2022. Retrieved June 28, 2022.

[7] "Number of apps from the Apple App Store 2022". Statista. Archived from the original on February 7, 2022. Retrieved December 16, 2023.

[8] "Is Mac Os X Microkernel? – LEMP". Archived from the original on December 16, 2023. Retrieved December 16, 2023.

[9] "iOS/About iOS/Mach_and_BSD.md at master · writeups/iOS". GitHub. Retrieved December 16, 2023.

[10] "License - APSL". opensource.apple.com. Archived from the original on December 11, 2017. Retrieved December 16, 2023.

[11] "Software License Agreement". opensource.apple.com. Retrieved December 16, 2023.

[12] "Apple Open Source". Archived from the original on September 24, 2020. Retrieved September 25, 2020.

[13] Rogucki, Michał (October 28, 2023). "Why is iOS not open source?". TS2 SPACE. Archived from the original on December 16, 2023. Retrieved December 16, 2023.

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