Project Cider : Now run iOS apps on Android Smartphones

Running apps from one mobile platform on another is great, but it's not an easy task, even BlackBerry's Android support is rough. However, few Columbia University students have managed to run iOS apps on Android with their 'Cider' compatibility layer.

'Cider' isn't a regular emulator or virtual machine, like you might expect. Instead, it simply tricks apps into believing that they're in a native environment XNU kernel (iPhone), they adapt code on the fly to make it work with Android's Linux kernel and programming libraries.

Demo video :

Being still in development, most iOS apps run at glacially slow pace. They also don't have access to most hardware features like device’s built-in camera, GPS signal, cell radio & Bluetooth. Well they managed to get the GPS working now.

This is still better effort and it raises hopes that platform exclusives won't be as important in choosing a mobile device as they have been in the past.

The six students involved with the project claim that they’re continuing to further develop the software, and hope to have a more advanced version in the near future.