IOS

For other uses, see IOS (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with HiOS, an operating system developed by Tecno Mobile.

iOS
Commercial logo as used by Apple, since 2017
Home screen in iOS 18
DeveloperApple
Written inC, C++, Objective-C, Swift, assembly language
OS familyUnix-like, based on Darwin (BSD), macOS
Working stateCurrent
Source modelClosed, with open-source components
Initial releaseJune 29, 2007; 17 years ago (2007-06-29)
Latest release18.0[1] (September 16, 2024; 13 days ago (2024-09-16)) [±]
Latest preview18.1 Beta 4[2] (September 17, 2024; 12 days ago (2024-09-17)) [±] ,
Marketing targetSmartphones, tablet computers, portable media players
Available in41 languages[3]
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 methodOTA (since iOS 5), Finder (from macOS Catalina onwards),[4] Apple Devices (from Windows 10 version 22H2 onwards)[5] or iTunes (Windows and macOS pre-Catalina)
Platforms
Kernel typeHybrid (XNU)
Default
user interface		Multi-touch, graphical user interface
LicenseProprietary software except for open-source components
Official websitewww.apple.com/ios/
Support status
Supported
Articles in the series
iOS version history

iOS (formerly iPhone OS)[6] is a mobile operating system developed by Apple exclusively for its smartphones. It was unveiled in January 2007 for the first-generation iPhone,[7] launched 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.[8]

It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone, and is the basis for three other operating systems made by Apple: iPadOS, tvOS, and watchOS.[9] iOS formerly also powered iPads until iPadOS was introduced in 2019, and iPod Touch devices until its discontinuation.[10] iOS is currently the world's second-most widely installed mobile operating system, after Android. Apple's App Store contains more than 3.8 million iOS mobile apps.[a][11]

iOS is based on macOS. Like macOS, it includes components of the Mach microkernel and FreeBSD.[12][13] It is a Unix-like operating system. Although some parts of iOS are open source under the Apple Public Source License[14] and other licenses,[15] iOS is proprietary software.[16][17]

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ Clover, Juli (September 17, 2024). "Apple Seeds Fourth Developer Betas of iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1 and macOS Sequoia 15.1 With Apple Intelligence". MacRumors. Retrieved September 21, 2024.
  3. ^ "iOS and iPadOS – Feature Availability". Apple Inc. Archived from the original on May 12, 2023. Retrieved May 16, 2023.
  4. ^ Tim Brookes (October 17, 2019). "Where Are iTunes Features in macOS Catalina?". How-To Geek. Archived from the original on October 27, 2019. Retrieved October 27, 2019.
  5. ^ "Apple Devices Preview - Official app in the Microsoft Store". Archived from the original on December 16, 2023. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
  6. ^ "iOS: A visual history". The Verge. December 13, 2011. Archived from the original on April 12, 2017. Retrieved July 24, 2022.
  7. ^ "Apple Reinvents the Phone with iPhone". Apple Newsroom. Archived from the original on April 19, 2019. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ "The music lives on". Apple Newsroom. Archived from the original on May 11, 2022. Retrieved June 28, 2022.
  11. ^ "Number of apps from the Apple App Store 2022". Statista. Archived from the original on February 7, 2022. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
  12. ^ "Is Mac Os X Microkernel? – LEMP". Archived from the original on December 16, 2023. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
  13. ^ "iOS/About iOS/Mach_and_BSD.md at master · writeups/iOS". GitHub. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
  14. ^ "License - APSL". opensource.apple.com. Archived from the original on December 11, 2017. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
  15. ^ "Software License Agreement". opensource.apple.com. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
  16. ^ "Apple Open Source". Archived from the original on September 24, 2020. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  17. ^ 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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