Students at Columbia University created a system to run iOS apps on Android

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Six students of Columbia University in the United States have developed Cider, a system that lets you run Android apps on iOS. How we hear. Performance is not exactly great, but as proof of concept, get a compatibility layer between these operating systems is undoubtedly a singular feat. 

Cider is an architecture that modifies Android to mimic the application binary interface of iOS allowing it to run their binaries. For this, the new combination of techniques for compatibility between the two mechanisms that are used include: adaptation code at compile time and diplomatic functions. The first reduces the effort required to support multiple binary interfaces (iOS apps, and the Android), while the second allows iOS apps to access the Android libraries and interfaces of hardware and software. 

Looks complicated because it is. No talk of using a virtual machine, but something even more transparent at all levels, convincing the code of iOS apps that are running on the Apple XNU kernel instead Linux kernel of Android. Attentive to sample video done with a Nexus 7 tablet which runs Cider iOS apps like Yelp or iBooks. Yes, slow, but more or less functional. 



Note that at the moment it is only a prototype and its implementation is incomplete. The authors point out that today's phones and tablets equipped with many features that hope to use Android (including GPS, camera, Bluetooth, etc ...) that are not supported by Cider.

The students plan to continue their research and further develop Cider, but if you use Android and expect to download iOS apps shortly, better go saving for the iPhone 6. As the research project is great, but considering that the only official source for downloading apps is the App Store, how long do you think it will take Apple in iOS modify and / or Xcode to introduce additional security measures? And not to mention the army of lawyers eager to war.