vphone-cli is a command-line tool that boots a virtual iPhone on Apple Silicon Macs using Apple's Virtualization.framework and PCC research VM infrastructure.
The tool automates the end-to-end process of creating a virtualized iOS environment, handling firmware download, patching, DFU restore, custom firmware installation, and first boot. It abstracts away the complexity of multiple manual steps into a single command while also exposing individual pipeline stages for manual control or re-running specific operations. The tool supports five firmware variants with increasing levels of security bypass, ranging from a patchless variant that preserves iOS mitigations through to a full jailbreak variant with Sileo and TrollStore auto-installation, plus an experimental variant with anti-VM-detection research patches.
Adoption suits developers and researchers working on iOS security, reverse engineering, or testing on virtualized iOS instances who have Apple Silicon Macs running macOS Sequoia with Xcode and iOS SDK installed. The tool requires SIP and AMFI relaxation to function. Users can connect to running VMs via SSH or VNC, with connection details varying by firmware variant. All VM data, cached firmware files, and tools are stored under a configurable root directory, keeping the signed application bundle portable and allowing per-component path overrides through environment variables.
Development activity shows consistent engagement with the codebase through targeted improvements and research documentation. The project maintains detailed technical breakdowns of binary patch comparisons across firmware variants, indicating thorough documentation of its core functionality. Multiple language translations of the README demonstrate attention to accessibility for international users. The tool's architecture supports flexible configuration through environment variable precedence, suggesting iterative refinement based on real-world usage patterns.
