PearSilicon development beta

development

This is the development beta: the newest reviewed build from the
development branch, published for testing before it becomes a stable v0.x
release. This top section is fixed and stays the same across updates.

• Branch: development — continuously updated, not a stable release.
• Install: download PearSilicon.zip, unzip it, drag PearSilicon.app into /Applications.
• Requires: macOS 26 or later on Apple silicon (arm64).
• Community: Discord — questions, help and compatibility reports.
• Behavior and APIs may change between development updates. Stable builds are the v0.x releases.

How updates work: this release is refreshed in place — the section below is rewritten
each time with the newest tested version, while the development section above stays fixed.

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Last tested version

development beta · e88973d · tested 2026-10-30

These checks were recorded for the e88973d artifact. Source and documentation
changes after that commit are not included in its ZIP; this table is not a new
validation run.

Area	Recorded result and scope
Swift test suite	106 tests, 0 failures (1 skipped)
Runtime build (Mac Catalyst)	Build passed
Host/KV IPC smoke suite	Passed headless protocol/state checks
Device profile smoke suite	Passed headless profile checks
Game process smoke checks	Five short background startup/aliveness/stop checks (~12 seconds each): Cut the Rope, Run Sackboy, Candy Crush Soda, Wreckfest and Blitz
CLI IPA install → list → prepare → uninstall	Passed with a real AIDA64 IPA; the temporary install was removed afterwards
GUI background startup	Started, stayed alive and shut down; no GUI interaction or drag-and-drop automation
Storage/location/relocation tests	12 focused tests; not an actual external-volume or live-save migration

Compatibility scope: process smoke checks do not validate gameplay, touch
coordinates, rendering correctness, content downloads, login/date-entry flows,
FPS or latency. A CLI installation check is not a GUI installation test. These
results do not establish that every listed game is playable; Brawl Stars was not
validated by these checks.

What is in this build

• IPA drag & drop: the GUI has an IPA archive installation path. Use the CLI
  for iOS device .app directories; the GUI does not currently route those to
  the directory installer. GUI drop/install interactions were not tested end to end.
• Experimental storage relocation: copies managed apps/runtime data, keymaps,
  ODR packs, local keychain data and logs to a selected root, rebases installed
  app paths, and retains the previous copy. Some settings/native-container data
  can remain outside that root. Use Settings → Storage location or
  pearsilicon storage move <folder>.
• Experimental host-service split: --env-injection loads the same full
  runtime inside the game via DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES. A separate host owns only
  local KV backing state and static device-profile configuration; API hooks,
  UIKit integration, rendering/input/audio hooks and keychain remain in-process.
  Default installations load the runtime through LC_LOAD_DYLIB.
• Launch arguments: -ApplePersistenceIgnoreState and -NSQuitAlwaysKeepsWindows
  are no longer passed. A Candy Crush Soda probe reproduced startup exit with
  either argument; that does not establish the same cause for other games.
• Stop handling: reports process state and escalates termination for games
  that do not stop gracefully.

Architecture and performance

PearSilicon prepares installed Mach-O copies for Mac Catalyst (platform 6)
and uses Apple's /System/iOSSupport frameworks, including UIKit, plus its own
in-process runtime shims. It is not an independent Wine/Proton-style iOS API
reimplementation. MetalLayerShim adjusts existing Metal setup; it does not
replace the renderer. Installed app copies are modified and re-signed even in
environment-injection mode; source IPAs are unchanged.

There are no controlled benchmarks here establishing lower RAM/CPU use, higher
FPS or lower latency than PlayCover. A separate host also has overhead and must
be included in whole-process-tree measurements. This is not kernel-level iOS
emulation or a security sandbox for untrusted apps.

Known limitations

• Wreckfest can take a while to shut down; stop waits and can escalate to a kill.
• Launch relocated apps through PearSilicon. Direct Finder launches do not infer
  the selected root and may use default data paths or lack the environment-injected
  runtime. Backup saves and test the destination before deleting the old copy.
• Copy verification compares non-app regular-file sizes and installed-app counts,
  not content hashes. Native-container copying, changed mount paths and external
  volumes have not been validated end to end; no blanket data-preservation or
  unavailable-disk safety guarantee is made.
• The prebuilt GUI opens without Xcode/Command Line Tools, but some app preparation
  and relocation paths use otool/install_name_tool and require Command Line Tools.
  A complete tool-free install/play workflow on a clean Mac has not been validated.
• This build is ad-hoc signed, not Developer ID-signed or notarized; downloads may
  require explicit Gatekeeper approval.

Questions or a game that does not start? Ask on Discord and
include pearsilicon doctor output.