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iOS Mobile Operating System

iOS is a proprietary mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. This mobile operating sistem is a UNIX like operating system based on Darwin (initially derived from FreeBSD) and macOS. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. It is the world's second-most widely installed mobile operating system, after Android.

Latest Release: iOS 16, as of 12 September 2022

License: Commercial, Apple Proprietary (see Apple SLA)

Written in: C, C++, Objective-C, Swift, Assembly language


iOS - a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware

The iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is the basis for three other operating systems made by Apple: iPadOS, tvOS, and watchOS. It is the operating system that powers many of the Apple's mobile devices, including the iPhone and iPod Touch; it also powered the iPad until the introduction of iPadOS, a derivative of iOS, in 2019.
Unveiled in 2007 for the first-generation iPhone, iOS has since been extended to support other Apple devices such as the iPod Touch (September 2007) and the iPad (January 2010). As of March 2022, Apple's App Store contains more than 2.2 million applications.
This mobile operating system uses a proprietary packaging system (IPA) for all the software applications developed for this platform that can only be installed using the Apple's official App Store, all applications being reviewed by Apple against security issues.

Free and OpenSource Software ported to iOS:

There are some OpenSource / Free Software software applications ported over the years to the iOS operating system.
A list of notable applications (apps) that run on iOS which meet guidelines for free software and open-source software can be found here List of free and open-source iOS applications.


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FAQs - Frequently Asked Questions about iOS Operating System

  • Question:
    What is iOS system ?
    iOS is a mobile Operating System, developed by Apple Inc. for it's own mobile devices: iPhone and iPad.
    Formerly it was named iPhone OS but later was renamed to iOS. Since 2019 the iPadOS has been introduced which is dedicated to Apple iPad devices as a separate operating system apart from iOS operating system which is dedicated to Apple iPhone devices.