iOS

Also known as iPhone OS

iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple for its iPhone line of smartphones. It was unveiled in January 2007 alongside the first-generation iPhone, and was released in June 2007. Major versions of iOS are released annually; the current stable version, iOS 26, was released to the public on September 15, 2025.

AI overview

iOS is the operating system that powers Apple's iPhone smartphones, first introduced in 2007 and updated with major new versions every year. It matters because it controls how iPhones function and shapes the experience of hundreds of millions of users worldwide who rely on these devices daily.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Key facts

OS.name: iOS
OS.logo: frameless|upright=0.4|class=skin-invert
OS.logo alt: The word "iOS" in black San Francisco neo-grotesque sans-serif font
OS.logo size: 75px
OS.screenshot: IOS 26 Homescreen.png
OS.screenshot_size: 240px
OS.caption: Home screen of iOS 26, the most recent version
OS.developer: Apple
OS.family: Unix-like, based on Darwin (BSD), macOS
OS.language count: 41
OS.language: Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional (Hong Kong), Chinese Traditional (Taiwan), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English (Australia), English (United Kingdom), English (United States), Finnish, French (Canada), French (France), German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Kazakh, Korean, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian (iOS 18), Spanish (Latin America), Spanish (Spain), Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese
OS.ui: Multi-touch GUI
OS.license: Proprietary software except for open-source components
OS.working_state: Current
OS.source_model: Closed, with open-source components
OS.programmed_in: C, C++, Objective-C, Swift, assembly language
OS.kernel_type: Hybrid (XNU)
OS.other articles: iOS version history

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Official name: iPadOS
Official website: www.apple.com/eg-ar/ios
Image: IOS 18.4.1 screenshot (2025).png

Show 9 more facts

software version identifier: 26.4.2
WordLift URL: data.thenextweb.com/tnw/entity/ios_2
Stack Exchange tag: apple.stackexchange.com/tags/ios
Commons category: IOS (Apple Inc.)
event interval: 1
publication date: 2007-06-29
hashtag: ios
exact match: schema.org/IOSPlatform
described at URL: www.videogameschronicle.com/?post_type=platforms&p=271

Sources (7)

via Wikidata · CC0

~45 min read

Article

31 sections

Contents

History
Features
Interface
Home screen
System font
Folders
Notification Center
Applications
App Library
Storage
Accessibility
Multitasking
Switching applications
Ending tasks
Task completion
Siri
Game Center
Supported processors
Devices
Development
Update history and schedule
XNU kernel
Jailbreaking
Unlocking
Digital rights management
Security and privacy
Reception
Market share
See also
References
External links

Besides powering iPhone, iOS is the basis for three other operating systems made by Apple: iPadOS, tvOS, and watchOS. iOS formerly also powered iPads until iPadOS was introduced in 2019 and the iPod Touch line of devices until its discontinuation. iOS is the world's second most widely installed mobile operating system, after Android. As of December 2023, Apple's App Store contains more than 3.8 million iOS mobile apps.