New Delhi: A strange but fascinating video has been trending inside the iOS modding community this week. A video has surfaced showing an iPhone 17 Pro Max running iPad style multitasking, floating windows, the iPadOS dock and even Stage Manager. For many long time Apple users, this brings back memories of the old jailbreak (RedSn0w, Cydia, etc) days, when people would tinker with their devices just to unlock features Apple never intended to offer.
This time, though, it is not a classic jailbreak. What is happening now is tied to a newly discovered exploit affecting iOS 26.1 beta and below. And it uses a part of the system most users have never heard of.
First look of iPadOS on iPhone 17 Pro Max pic.twitter.com/PMynlGLVFw
— Duy Tran (@khanhduytran0) November 15, 2025
A new exploit brings iPad features to the iPhone
The first big demo came from developer Duy Tran, who posted a clip of an iPhone behaving almost like an iPad. In the video, the phone shows app windows, a full iPadOS dock and Stage Manager. The trick was made possible using a maliciously crafted downloads.28.sqlitedb file that lets users write to system paths that are normally protected.
One of these paths is the MobileGestalt.plist file. This file has been known inside jailbreak circles for years. It stores device identity and capability info, which iOS uses to decide what features should be enabled by default. Normally, editing MobileGestalt would require a full jailbreak, but this exploit bypasses that.
According to Duy Tran, the exploit was supported up to iOS 26.2 beta 1 and has already been patched in 26.2 beta 2. That means the window for experimentation is small.
What is MobileGestalt and why does it matter
Inside jailbreak communities, MobileGestalt has been a powerful but risky tool. It can be used to spoof device capabilities and enable things that Apple restricts to certain models. Duy tran explained that “there is a exploit up to ios 26.1 beta that has been around for couple of weeks that allows you to edit mobilegestalt bypass icloud.”
Others have shared personal experiments. One user claimed to have enabled iPhone 15 Plus battery limit features on an older iPhone 14 by editing Gestalt using a tool called misakaX. Another person warned about the dangers of using the wrong file, saying, “I accidentally applied my iPad’s Gestalt file to my iPhone, and lets just say dont try it yourself!”
The file also plays a role in activation. Tools like Broque Ramdisk allow people to back up activation files, with one user saying, “Broque Ramdisk saved the activation files as 1, 2, 3, 4.”
These comments show how sensitive the Gestalt file is and how easily a tweak can send a device into a bootloop if something goes wrong.
Why people are excited and nervous at the same time
For many long time iPhone users, this is the first time in years that iOS modding has seen a spark of excitement. After Apple tightened security from iOS 18 onward, jailbreaking faded from mainstream interest. Most users now prefer updates from Apple because they are stable and patched regularly, also because scams and cybersecurity risks have risen lately.
But this MobileGestalt based exploit has revived some of that old curiosity. It allows unusual things like:
- enabling iPad apps on iPhone
- enabling Stage Manager
- activating Apple Pencil modes
- forcing Apple Intelligence features
- changing device capability flags
- running medusa based split screen modes
Most of these features are not officially supported on the iPhone 17 Pro Max or below.
The risks are real and very high
Despite the excitement, every major community post repeats the same warning. Applying the wrong MobileGestalt file can soft brick or hard brick the device. Patching mistakes can cause bootloops. Apple has already patched the exploit in iOS 26.2 beta 2, which means it will not last long.
As with every iOS exploit, this is an interesting moment but also one that comes with consequences if people push too far.