Reynard brings Gecko to iPhones running iOS 13 and up

Reynard is an experimental web browser for iOS 13+ that does something Apple’s browser rules have long made unusual: it runs on Gecko, the engine behind Firefox on desktop and Android, rather than WebKit.

×

The project is aimed primarily at users on older iOS releases whose bundled WebKit can no longer keep up with modern sites. Because Apple ships WebKit as part of the OS, those devices often cannot get rendering engine updates separately. Reynard’s pitch is that an independently updated Gecko build can make those sites usable again. On newer iPhones and iPads, it also offers a non-WebKit alternative, including support for Firefox add-ons and other Gecko-specific features.

The developer says the browser is still in an early experimental state, with bugs and missing features expected. Builds are available on the project’s Releases page.

Installation depends on the device and iOS version:

• TrollStore: recommended for iOS 14 - 16.6.1, 17.0 using the Reynard-TrollStore.tipa build, with automatic JIT enablement, better performance, and automatic updates
• AltStore or SideStore: for iOS 17.0.1+ using Reynard.ipa; the Keep App Extensions option must be enabled during installation
• Jailbroken devices: on iOS 13, users can sideload Reynard-Jailbroken.ipa with Filza File Manager and AppSync Unified

The repository explicitly says LiveContainer is not supported, nor are sideloading methods that rely on a distribution certificate. Other sideloading approaches are untested.

Recommended reading

Signal tests Android phones as linked devices

The project also includes side-by-side examples showing sites that reportedly break or render incorrectly on older iOS builds in Safari, including github.com, chatgpt.com, and apple.com.

‹›

1 / 6

×

According to the repository, those previews were captured on iOS 14 using an iPhone 6S Plus, 14.1, with additional notes that Reynard also works on iOS 15 on an iPhone 7, 15.8.6 and on iOS 26 on an iPhone 13 mini, 26.1.

For developers who want to compile it themselves, the project requires Xcode, Python 3, Rust and Cargo, and ldid. The GitHub page includes steps to clone the repository, download Gecko, apply patches, build dependencies and the engine, then run the browser from Reynard.xcodeproj in Xcode.

The developer says the project began as an experiment to see whether Gecko could run without BrowserEngineKit, then grew into work on UIKit integration, bug fixes, and a more complete browser. The code is licensed under GNU General Public License v3.0, except the patches directory for Firefox Gecko modifications, which is under the Mozilla Public License 2.0.