Both the Mac OS X and iOS evolved from an earlier Apple operating system, Darwin, based on BSD UNIX. iOS is a proprietary mobile operating system owned by Apple and it is only allowed to be installed in Apple equipment.

Is iPhone OS Linux based?

No, iOS is not based on Linux. It is based on BSD.

Is Mac like Linux?

3 Answers. Mac OS is based on a BSD code base, while Linux is an independent development of a unix-like system. This means that these systems are similar, but not binary compatible. Furthermore, Mac OS has lots of applications that are not open source and are build on libraries that are not open source.