Release 1 for the realme 8i

Date to be announced

Release 1 is coming, not yet available. These notes say what it will hold and what is still wrong.

The first release: iOS 16.7.16 (20H392) on the realme 8i, replacing Android. Install it with the install guide. This is the user build: the release kernel, with no USB link.

In this release

  • XNU on all 8 cores, with about 3.5 GB of the 4 GB of RAM.
  • The UI drawn by the Mali-G57 through our Metal driver.
  • Wi-Fi: scan and join WPA2 networks from Settings, Safari, long downloads.
  • Bluetooth: pairing, and Bluetooth keyboards.
  • The speaker, the main microphone and vibration.
  • The torch from the lock screen and Control Center.
  • A passcode, asked on the lock screen.
  • Rotation, landscape both ways (slow to landscape).
  • A black strip at the top that holds the camera hole, with Hide notch in the Mapple app.
  • Restart.
  • Touch, the volume and power keys, safe boot.
  • Colour and Collections wallpapers.
  • The Mapple Manager app: boot settings, restart into safe mode, an installer for your own and open-source apps, and optional tweaks.

The release’s files are Open Mapple’s own: the kernel, the boot loader and shim, the installer, the Metal and audio drivers and our tools. release.sh downloads iOS from Apple and puts the two together on your Mac.

Known issues

  • No Low Power Mode, and no USB link: this is the user build.
  • The GPU can hang now and then and freeze the screen; a restart brings it back.
  • Heavy animated wallpapers run out of memory.
  • Photo thumbnails and photo wallpapers draw black.
  • Held in the hand, phantom touches can break taps. Twice the touch stopped or showed phantom fingers until a restart.
  • Moving the brightness slider restarts the screen with the release settings. The lowest levels also flicker.
  • Turning to landscape takes about 10 seconds.
  • Power off restarts the phone, unless the power-off boot setting is on.
  • No automatic brightness.
  • Apps you install appear as system apps. Opening an IPA from Files isn’t proven: Files shows no On My iPhone. Sileo can’t install packages yet.
  • The speaker is quieter than on Android.
  • The CPU runs at the clocks the boot loader leaves, and the battery’s charging isn’t managed under iOS yet.

What comes next

Before release 1 ships:

  • Real photos from the camera (the sensor now streams; the Camera app doesn’t show it yet).
  • The brightness slider working with the release settings.

Release 2:

  • Cellular: SIM, signal, SMS, mobile data.
  • Automatic brightness, and the light, proximity, compass and step sensors.
  • Sleep.
  • Bluetooth headphones, the earpiece and headsets.
  • CPU frequency scaling.
  • Installing packages from Sileo.
  • The status bar clear of the camera hole.
  • Low Power Mode.
  • Dual boot with Android.
  • More phones: the Qualcomm ports, each listed as build-only until a maintainer tests it.