Corellium now offers iOS virtualization tool for individual subscribers [U]

Corellium, a company that offers solutions for virtualization of ARM devices and platforms, today announced that its iOS virtualization tool will now be available to individual plan subscribers. Previously, only users with enterprise accounts were able to request a virtualized iOS device.

In a blog post shared today, Corellium says that now both individual and enterprise accounts can virtualize iOS and Android devices through the CORSEC research platform. The company states that since iOS requires more CPU cores to run, there will no longer be a single price per device.

Instead, consumers of individual plans will now have the same pricing structure as enterprise plans with prices per CPU core. Prices start at $99 per month on the 2-core CPU plan, but users planning to virtualize iOS running on newer Apple devices will need the 6-core plan, which costs $295 per month.

While our virtual Android devices use 2 CPU cores by default, iOS devices can require up to 6 CPU cores, depending on the model. As a result, we could no longer offer a single price per virtual device.

With our usage-based model, you can run as many virtual devices as you want at a time, and you will be charged a flat rate per core per hour. This means 6-core models will be more expensive to run per hour than 2-core models. Stored devices are charged per device (not per core), and they are charged per day rather than per hour.

However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that anyone will be able to subscribe to Corellium’s platform and use a virtualized iOS device. According to the company, each request will be reviewed individually to avoid the use of the software for malicious purposes. “Both individuals and enterprises will be required to provide a use case,” states Corellium.

Corellium was recently involved in a lawsuit with Apple due to this tool that lets users virtualize iOS without an Apple hardware. A federal judge said the company had established fair use to use the iOS code, which resulted in Apple losing the lawsuit.

Although Corellium hasn’t yet responded to a request for comment, the decision to offer iOS virtualization to both individual and enterprise customers may be related to the outcome of the lawsuit.

Update: In a statement to 9to5Mac, Corellium said the company is committed to pushing security research and that the decision to make iOS virtualization available to individual clients was made because the company believes “individual researchers play a crucial role in this community.”

Corellium also reiterated to 9to5Mac that “users will still have to request an account, and requests go through an internal vetting process as part of our efforts to prevent the platform from being used for malicious purposes.”