Does Apple care if I develop a software compatibility layer to run iOS apps on it?

Solution 1:

No.

Well, kind of.

If you do build such a thing, Apple probably won't allow it in the Mac App Store - that's my gut feeling. However, they wouldn't be able to keep you from distributing it on your own.

But...

_{Note: From this point on, I will only be talking about this idea. Nothing more. And don't get discouraged.}

There's a problem here: architecture. From what I understand, you want to make an app-like-thing that allows you to run iOS apps on OSX.

Here's the thing: All modern OS X machines run on an Intel architecture. All modern iOS devices run on an armv7(s) architecture.

Why's that a problem? When an iOS developer compiles their code, the compiler that's all the little statements and methods and things and turns it into instructions.

Intel chips and armv7(s) chips have different architectures - meaning different instruction sets, meaning - well, you would have to get hold of the developer's source code for an app to be able to pull this off.

Not just one app - every app you want to run in this layer.

Still, there might be a way to do it. If you find it, you can make lots of money. Go be a crazy one!