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iOS vs Android: The Stack Compared

Climb the layers of both operating systems side by side. Same ARM64 chip at the bottom, completely different worlds above it.

iOSAndroidCPUARMv8 / ARM64=ARMv8 / ARM64KernelXNU (Mach + BSD)≠LinuxBinary formatMach-O (FE ED FA CF)≠ELF (7F 45 4C 46)C librarylibSystem (Darwin BSD libc)≠BionicLanguage runtimeObjective-C + Swift runtime≠ART (bytecode + JNI)IPC primitivesMach ports + XPC≠BinderUI frameworksUIKit / SwiftUI≠Android View systemGPU APIMetal≠Vulkan / OpenGL ESCode signing + sandboxAMFI + Apple root + SBPL≠Self-signed APK + SELinux + UIDwalls encountered so far: 0 of 8
Layer 1 / 9CPU

Both phones use an ARM64 chip. The same machine code can execute on both. This is the only layer where iOS and Android are the same.

Arrow keys to climb the stack · R to reset

Tap dots to jump to any layer

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