Not quite, given that macOS has userspace replacements for some kernel extension functions and has been gaining more as time goes on.
iOS is far more restricted in this regard — for instance, writing a driver for your USB HID device isn’t possible there, but it is on macOS, and that capability isn’t disappearing. I don’t think iOS has any of the new virtualization APIs added in Big Sur, either.
That said, the userspace APIs need to be made much more robust before kexts are deprecated, and so to me that is what Apple should be pressured to do. Kernel extensions should be a last resort, not the go-to solution, because the reality is that they’re a security nightmare and have been readily abused (remember the mess with Dropbox of all things installing a kext?)
> Not quite, given that macOS has userspace replacements for some kernel extension functions
Similar to ios - you can't install any kernel extensions to it without Apple's special permission, and have to do everything with whatever API they have implemented snd exposed.
(In macOS's case crippled APIs with backdoors - e.g. application firewalls that use these new API cannot block some Apple apps.)
> I don’t think iOS has any of the new virtualization APIs added in Big Sur, either.
It will - Apple is moving both ios and macOS towards the same goal of converging them into one product. We saw that with multi-tasking advancement and other features in ios with iPad Pro's, and the crippling of macOS from Catalina onwards.
> for instance, writing a driver for your USB HID device isn’t possible there
It is possible through the "MFi" (Made for iPod/iPhone) programme: that's how custom iPhone accessories that use the Lightning port work: they get to write their own user-mode driver for the USB port. Ditto for "Classic" Bluetooth devices.
iOS is far more restricted in this regard — for instance, writing a driver for your USB HID device isn’t possible there, but it is on macOS, and that capability isn’t disappearing. I don’t think iOS has any of the new virtualization APIs added in Big Sur, either.
That said, the userspace APIs need to be made much more robust before kexts are deprecated, and so to me that is what Apple should be pressured to do. Kernel extensions should be a last resort, not the go-to solution, because the reality is that they’re a security nightmare and have been readily abused (remember the mess with Dropbox of all things installing a kext?)