iPad Air Runs Windows 11 ARM via Emulation
A developer has demonstrated Windows 11 ARM running on an M2 iPad Air using emulation, which has become much easier since the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) regulations came into effect.
As spotted by Windows Latest, NTDev shared an instance of the emulation on social media and posted a video on YouTube (embedded below) demonstrating it in action. The achievement relies on new EU regulatory changes that make it easier to sideload apps on iOS and iPadOS devices. Under the DMA, users can now download third-party app stores like “AltStore Classic,” which enables the installation of UTM with JIT (Just-In-Time) compilation support.
UTM is the technology that makes it all possible, and emulates Windows 11 inside iPadOS by translating Windows code into ARM instructions as it runs. Technically, iPadOS restricts direct virtualization for third-party apps, but JIT compilation allows Windows 11 to boot and function smoothly without requiring jailbreak access.
Apple shut down JIT a year ago to prevent a tiny PR blunder from happening. Imagine your hardware vendor locking down hardware… after you buy it. Locking it so 3rd parties can’t run apps at full speed w/o memory restrictions. This insanity must stop now ✋ It must be illegal.
AltStore PAL 2.2 now includes AltStore Classic as one of its catalog of apps. That’s right, a store within a store, which allows users in Europe to sideload hundreds of non-notarized apps.
Apple has very strict requirements on what alternative marketplaces are allowed to do…but they’re not allowed to control the content of the apps inside them 🤷♂️
the StikDebug app in AltStore PAL acts as an on-device debugger, which can connect to any app with the
get-task-allowentitlement — which as a side-effect just happens to enable JIT for the app
So you’re running the emulator in a debugger without any breakpoints?
Soon to come: a Core Debugging Fee 😉
Previously:
- EU App Store Tiers and Core Technology Commission
- iPadOS 26 Announced
- AltStore PAL 2.2
- iOS 19 More Like macOS?
- EU iOS Envy
- Allowing iOS PC Emulator Apps to Download Games
- UTM SE Now in the App Store
- UTM Blocked Outside App Store via Notarization
- Allowing iOS Game Emulators and Mini Apps
- Emulation on iPhone
Update (2025-07-24): Josh Hrach:
Used UTM 5 years ago to run Windows XP on my iPad (with iPadOS 13) for gaming. Worked great before the JIT limitations.
7 Comments RSS · Twitter · Mastodon
> xroissance:
> Apple shut down JIT a year ago to prevent a tiny PR blunder from happening.
Huh? Apple didn't allow JIT before.
@Someone else See here. IIRC, it was never possible via the App Store or notarization, but now it’s no longer possible at all (except for third-party Web browsers in the EU).
I see — if I gathered correctly (from 15 seconds of googling) marking chunks of modified memory as executable, which is required for JIT, has been removed from iOS 26, so no JIT.
That’s too bad. I used to install emulators that used JIT and some of the first stuff I wrote was self-modifying code. Fun stuff.
That said, JIT has always been a security risk.
I suspect this change is because of the AltStore/3rd party stores that could now use JIT without restrictions, so before it was just hobbyists doing these sideloads/installs manually, but now anyone (in the EU) can install JIT apps via their app stores.
"JIT has always been a security risk."
No, it has not. Some of the most secure systems use jitters. Jitting is, in fact, more secure than running precompiled binaries.
Being able to mark chunks of mutable memory as executable code sounds like a security risk, compared to hashed and checksummed read-only code.
JIT is more secure? How so?
With jitting, compilation happens on the device, which means you have more control over what runs on your device. Unlike what Apple is doing, systems that use jitting can properly sandbox applications.
