vphone-cli: Run a Virtual iPhone on Your Mac

Revolutionizing iOS Development and Research

vphone-cli is an extraordinary open-source project that enables you to boot a complete virtual iPhone running iOS 26 directly on macOS using Apple's native Virtualization.framework. With 3.7k GitHub stars, 607 forks, and active development (latest commit March 10, 2026), this tool is a game-changer for iOS developers, security researchers, and power users.

Three Security Variants for Every Need

Variant       | Patches | Boot Phases | Use Case
-------------|---------|-------------|----------
Regular      | 41      | 10          | Basic testing
Development  | 52      | 12          | Debug/TXM bypass
Jailbreak    | 112     | 14          | Full root access + Sileo

The jailbreak variant automatically installs Sileo, TrollStore, and SSH on first boot. Monitor progress via /var/log/vphone_jb_setup.log.

Quick Start (5 Commands)

git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/Lakr233/vphone-cli.git
cd vphone-cli
make setup_machine  # Full automation!
make boot
# Connect: ssh -p 2222 [email protected] (password: alpine)

Prerequisites (macOS 15+ Sequoia)

1. Recovery Mode Setup (choose one):

   # Option 1: Full disable
   csrutil disable
   csrutil allow-research-guests enable
   sudo nvram boot-args="amfi_get_out_of_my_way=1 -v"
   
   # Option 2: Debug-only
   csrutil enable --without debug
   csrutil allow-research-guests enable
   pip install amfidont
   

2. Install Dependencies:

   brew install ideviceinstaller wget gnu-tar openssl@3 ldid-procursus sshpass
   

Advanced Features

Custom VM Configuration

make vm_new CPU=16 MEMORY=16384 DISK_SIZE=128
make boot

Full Workflow

# 1. Prepare firmware
make fw_prepare
make fw_patch_jb  # Jailbreak variant

# 2. Restore (two terminals)
# Terminal 1: make boot_dfu
# Terminal 2: make restore

# 3. Install CFW
sudo make ramdisk_build && make ramdisk_send
iproxy 2222 22 &
make cfw_install_jb

# 4. First boot
make boot

Access Your Virtual iPhone

• SSH: ssh -p 2222 [email protected] (alpine)
• VNC: vnc://127.0.0.1:5901
• JB SSH: ssh -p 2222 [email protected] (after openssh-server)

Common Issues & Solutions

Why vphone-cli Stands Out

• Binary analysis patches (not static offsets) = future-proof
• Production-grade with 160 commits, 26 contributors
• Multi-language support (English/中文/日本語/한국어)
• MIT licensed - completely free
• Tested combinations for Mac16,12 + iOS 26.x

Perfect For

✅ iOS app development/testing ✅ Security research ✅ Reverse engineering ✅ Jailbreak experimentation ✅ Running iOS 26 without physical device

Get started today: vphone-cli GitHub

Originally analyzed from GitHub repository with 3.7k stars. Latest release v0.1.4 (Mar 10, 2026).