The latest iPad Air models are powered by the same Apple silicon chips as the MacBook Air and entry-level MacBook Pro. This raises the question: can they run the same operating systems?
Technically, the answer is yes, but practically, it’s a different story. Despite the official policy, a developer has managed to run Windows 11 on an M2 iPad Air. This feat, however, is more of a hack and not for the faint of heart. Nonetheless, it’s an interesting possibility made possible by the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA).
According to Windows Latest, a developer known as NTDev shared a post detailing how they used the UTM emulator to run an ARM64 version of Windows 11 on an iPad Air, noting that it “actually works quite decently.”
UTM, a generic PC system emulator, faced controversy with Apple last summer when it attempted to utilize Apple’s new rules on retro game emulators. After some back and forth, a “lite” version of UTM was approved for the App Store.
The full JIT-capable version of UTM is now available for EU users via Riley Testut’s AltStore Classic, allowing Windows 11 to run as a virtual machine under iPadOS 18.
The version of Windows 11 used in this setup is a slimmed-down build with essential features, eliminating unnecessary bloat. This streamlined version, called Tiny11, is designed to run on older or lower-powered devices.
While the process is still experimental and not suitable for a production environment, it’s a fun experiment for those interested in tinkering with their iPad, especially for users in the EU.
