Someone just ran iPadOS 26 on an iPhone 17 Pro Max, and it actually worked

Most people assume iPhones and iPads follow their own strict rules and will never behave like each other. Apple’s software walls are tall, jailbreak culture is fading and surprises are rare. Yet there are always a few curious minds who take it as a personal challenge to see what Apple never intended. The latest example comes from someone who managed to run iPadOS 26 on an iPhone 17 Pro Max, something that sounds like the sort of experiment that could break a device or your patience.

The discovery appeared on Reddit from a user going by the name TechExpert2910. He shared a photo that almost does not look real at first. The iPhone is running iPadOS 26 complete with floating windows, resizing controls and the menu bar that usually belongs to a much bigger screen. Instead of feeling cramped or glitchy, the setup looked surprisingly calm, like the phone had quietly accepted its new identity.

Then came the video proof. X user Duy Tran posted a demo showing the phone running the tablet interface in real time. The layout obviously does not match the tall shape of an iPhone screen, but the real surprise came when he connected the device to an external monitor. Suddenly the iPhone behaved like a small desktop computer. Apps floated across the big display, windows snapped into place and the whole thing looked like a portable workstation powered by a phone.

It is the kind of experiment that makes you want to try it on your own old iPhone lying in a drawer. But there is a catch. Tran explained that the installation needed an exploit that Apple has already shut down in iOS and iPadOS 26.2. So this is not something most users can repeat today unless another loophole appears.