Nintendo Switch Transformed into the World’s Slowest iPhone: 20-Minute Boot Times, Kernel Panics, and Non-Functional Apps

I was scrolling through my feed, mind wandering like usual, when I stumbled across this wild story. So, check this: Someone actually got Apple’s iOS running on a Nintendo Switch. Yeah, you heard right! This dude, PatRyk—props to them—turned the Switch into, for lack of a better term, the world’s slowest “iPhone.” Takes a whole 20 minutes just to boot up, and good luck opening any apps ’cause they just crash. I mean, who has time for that? But somehow, it feels kind of… heroic?

Anyway—wait, hold on—where was I? Oh, right, the good ol’ Switch 2 might be buzzing right now, but PatRyk spent two solid days wrangling with this thing. Imagine the patience needed! I can’t even wait for my toast in the morning, but this took true dedication. Twenty minutes of hoping it wouldn’t just freeze or blow up! And of course, once it boots, it’s all panics and crashes. Ugh, exhausting, right?

Now, I bet you’re thinking, “Why even bother?” But here’s the thing: it proves iOS can run on the Switch, in some clumsy way. Practical? Nah. Fascinating? Absolutely. I was trying to remember why this sounded familiar—oh yeah, they used some tech wizardry called QEMU. ChefKissInc whipped up a version for the iPhone 11, and somehow PatRyk shoehorned it onto the Tegra X1 in the Switch like, “Hey, here’s an idea that sounds just the right bit of crazy.”

So, they’re not saying whether more late nights will be spent in this digital wrestling match. But PatRyk hinted they’ll toss us some new escapades in code soon. I’ll probably stay tuned, just for the sheer chaos of it.

Guess that’s the scoop. Oh, and if you’re into that kind of tech rabbit hole stuff, maybe give Tom’s Hardware a follow. They drop some neat tidbits now and then.