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Comment by Rohansi | Hacker News Reader

> Apple explicitly designed in support for booting other operating systems into the M-series chips

Don't you think it's interesting that it's an option for Macs but not iPad Pros? They both use the same SoC.

> So while they may not be sharing technical documentation/drivers or otherwise making it easy on the Asahi devs, even the famously "walled garden" Apple seems to have explicitly not restricted their new line of computers in the way you're describing.

Give it a few more years. Asahi will probably be so far behind that it wouldn't even matter. Eventually they can just turn off allowing third-party operating systems on new hardware.

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> Don't you think it's interesting that it's an option for Macs but not iPad Pros? They both use the same SoC.

Apple has always sold iPads as a closed walled garden and Macs as an open platform.

Apple designed the Apple Silicon Mac hardware to allow you to run an unsigned third party OS without a negative security impact when you run MacOS, because it is an open platform.

However we have definitely seen examples of other formerly open platforms facing new restrictions.

Android was sold to the public as an open platform that Google is actively closing with new restrictions to side loading apps

Windows was sold to the public as an open platform, but Microsoft is locking out users who refuse to use an online account to access their local computer.

> Don't you think it's interesting that it's an option for Macs but not iPad Pros? They both use the same SoC.

I think that has more to due with product positioning. They see the iPad as an iPhone style device (though it’s slowly getting more Mac-like), so kept it locked down. Not saying I agree with their decision, but I get why they made it.

> Give it a few more years. Asahi will probably be so far behind that it wouldn't even matter. Eventually they can just turn off allowing third-party operating systems on new hardware.

Unfortunately I think this is probably going to be true, but fingers crossed.

I will say though that while I like the idea of Asahi in theory, I installed it for more than a year and ended up really never booting into it. When I needed Linux for something (which is pretty rare since most any tool I would want I can just run natively in macOS terminal) it was always more convenient to use a VM, so I personally won’t lose anything if I can only run macOS, but in principle I’d like it to stay open just like the Intel Macs were with Bootcamp.

> I think that has more to due with product positioning.

Definitely. That part makes sense - I don't understand why they didn't lock it down from the start though. There was no guarantee a project like Asahi would have succeeded given the complete lack of documentation from Apple. Perhaps it was just a part of their plans to transition from x86 -> ARM because taking away the ability to install a third-party OS might have driven people away.

> an option for Macs but not iPad Pros

PTSD can block lights in tunnels.

2024: UTM SE entered iOS App Store, https://www.tomshardware.com/phones/iphone/utm-se-emulator-r...

  The team implemented a version of the Qemu Tiny-Code Threaded Interpreter (TCTI). Qemu TCTI interprets the code rather than compiling it, allowing Turing Software to get around the JIT ban. Mind you, this results in a rather slow experience even by the standards of the emulated hardware.

2025: https://9to5mac.com/2025/05/01/jit-enabler-lands-on-app-stor...

  StikDebug enables on-device JIT for any app, making it possible to run DolphiniOS without sideloading or tethering to a PC or Mac.. approved in the U.S. App Store.

Sep 2025: sideloaded UTM supports JIT on iOS26 with StikDebug, https://x.com/utmapp/status/1967990008364798091

Emulation is completely different to actually running a different OS on your device.

The fact that you need to launch apps through a debugger to enable JIT is hilarious though. Every other platform either allows it all the time or doesn't! I would not count on it staying on the App Store - Apple can remove it whenever they want to

> Asahi will probably be so far behind that it wouldn't even matter.

Why would they fall behind? Asahi caught up from scratch the first time, they might catch up again. Maybe not for every new model, but they can simply skip some of them if forced to prioritise.

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