Xiaomi HyperOS 4 iPhone Sync: What’s New and What Isn’t

Xiaomi HyperOS 4 iPhone sync looks like a big new bridge to Apple, but most of the features Xiaomi listed on October 7 already shipped in HyperOS 3. Memeburn compared both versions to show what is new, what is China-only and when the rollout begins.

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Xiaomi used its official Weibo account on October 7 to declare HyperOS 4 fully compatible with Apple’s ecosystem, listing photo and file sharing with iPhones, two-way notification sync, message replies across both phones, shared cloud albums and control of a Xiaomi phone from a Mac or iPad. Read on its own, the post looks like a major new bridge between Android and iOS, and that is how the early English-language coverage has framed it. Set against Xiaomi’s own HyperOS 3 changelog, though, nearly every item on the list was already shipping last year, which makes the announcement a repackaging ahead of the October 15 rollout rather than a fresh set of features.

That distinction matters if you own a Xiaomi phone alongside an iPhone, a Mac or an Apple Watch, or if you are weighing a move from iPhone to Xiaomi and want to know what you would keep. The genuinely new parts of HyperOS 4 are narrower than the headline suggests: an Apple Watch app that is so far listed only in China, a two-way version of cloud album viewing, and AirDrop compatibility that Xiaomi gets from Google rather than builds itself.

Xiaomi’s HyperOS 4 Apple list has four items, according to IT Home, which carried the Weibo post in full. A Xiaomi phone and an iPhone can share photos, files, contacts and browser pages with a tap, each phone can view the other’s cloud photo albums, notifications sync in both directions so messages can be answered without switching devices, and Xiaomi’s Home Screen+ works across iPhone, iPad and Mac. On a Mac or iPad, that last feature lets the owner view and operate the Xiaomi phone as long as both devices share a Xiaomi account and network, according to TechNode, and it still runs through the Xiaomi Interconnectivity app with macOS 12 or iPadOS 14 as the minimum, the same floor Xiaomi set for HyperOS 3.

IT Home’s own write-up notes that Xiaomi’s cross-ecosystem work did not begin with HyperOS 4, and the HyperOS 3 changelog for the Xiaomi 17 Ultra in China shows how much was already there. It lists tap-to-share for photos, videos, files, browser pages and contacts, two-way sync of WeChat, QQ, SMS and call alerts, replying to WeChat and QQ messages from an iPhone, viewing Xiaomi Cloud photos on an iPhone, one-tap hotspot, device location, and unlocking a Xiaomi phone with Touch ID or Face ID on Apple hardware. Outside China, the same app was already linking HyperOS 3 phones to Apple devices in late 2025, with Touch to Share requiring an iPhone 12 or newer on iOS 17, according to Ubergizmo.

Memeburn’s line-by-line comparison of the two releases looks like this.

Of the seven rows, only the Apple Watch line is new in any meaningful sense, since the album change adds a direction rather than a capability and the AirDrop change adds devices rather than a feature. Xiaomi has not said whether the “iPhone cloud album” means iCloud Photos or pictures the iPhone has uploaded to Xiaomi Cloud, so it is worth waiting for hands-on coverage before assuming a Xiaomi phone can browse an iCloud library.

The Xiaomi Interconnectivity app for Apple Watch puts calls, texts and app notifications from a Xiaomi phone on the watch, mirrors Xiaomi’s Super Island live activities, lets each device ring the other, and sends step, heart rate, calorie, sleep and workout data back into Mi Fitness, according to Gadgets & Wearables. IT Home lists the requirements as HyperOS 4.0.1 or later on the phone and watchOS 11 or later on an Apple Watch Series 6 or newer, an SE 2 or newer, or any Ultra.

The catch is that the watch must already have been paired and activated with an iPhone, so this is a way to keep an Apple Watch after moving to Xiaomi rather than a way to buy one for an Android phone, and because health data lands in Mi Fitness instead of Apple Health, years of workout history would stay behind on the Apple side. The app has so far appeared only in the Chinese Apple Watch App Store, according to GIGA, and Xiaomi has not said whether it will reach global HyperOS 4 builds.

AirDrop support on the Xiaomi 18 Pro Max runs on Google’s Quick Share rather than on anything Xiaomi built, according to IT Home, which notes that Google first made Quick Share work with AirDrop on the Pixel 10 in November 2025. Xiaomi first switched it on for the Xiaomi 17T Pro in June 2026, while that phone was still on HyperOS 3, by which point Samsung, Google, Oppo and vivo flagships already supported it, according to 9to5Google. Since the receiving iPhone still has to set AirDrop to “Everyone for 10 minutes” and rival Android flagships offer the same thing, AirDrop brings Xiaomi level with Samsung and Pixel rather than putting it ahead.

Memeburn’s reading of the feature set is that Xiaomi is designing for people who keep an Apple device alongside a Xiaomi phone rather than for people leaving Apple outright. Notification sync runs in both directions, the Apple Watch can only be set up through an iPhone, and HyperOS 4 also adds a Dual-Phone Syncing feature that shares calls and SMS verification codes between two Xiaomi phones on one account, according to ProPakistani, so each of these features only makes sense when a second device stays in use. Switchers benefit too, since keeping an Apple Watch removes one expensive reason to stay on iPhone, but in both cases HyperOS 4 lowers the cost of owning both rather than giving iPhone users a new reason to buy a Xiaomi.

Xiaomi’s stable HyperOS 4 rollout in China starts on October 15 and expands in waves through January 2027, according to The Tech Outlook. The first wave covers these devices:

Outside China, Xiaomi has not published a stable schedule, and the global beta covers only a handful of phones including the Xiaomi 15, 15 Ultra, 17T and 17T Pro, according to Gizmochina. The Xiaomi 18 Pro series launches globally before the end of the year, according to Gizchina, which makes its global build the first real test of which Apple features travel. Because the message-reply tools are built around WeChat and QQ, the questions for buyers in Europe, India or South Africa are whether the Apple Watch app clears the global App Store and whether replies extend to WhatsApp.

Yes. A Xiaomi phone on HyperOS 4 can exchange photos, files and contacts with an iPhone, mirror notifications both ways and answer messages from either device through the Xiaomi Interconnectivity app, although most of this already worked in HyperOS 3.

A Xiaomi phone on HyperOS 4.0.1 or later can pair with an Apple Watch Series 6 or newer, SE 2 or newer, or any Ultra on watchOS 11, but the watch must first be activated with an iPhone, and the app has so far appeared only in China.

The stable rollout in China begins on October 15, 2026, with the Xiaomi 17 series, REDMI K90 and K100 phones and the Xiaomi Pad 8 tablets, and continues through January 2027. Xiaomi has not announced a global date.

Marko is a tech journalist covering AI, consumer technology, crypto, and digital innovation. His work focuses on clear, accessible reporting that helps readers understand how new technologies are shaping business, finance, and everyday life.