# osimulator

> The real Settings menus of 43 operating systems across 135 versions, navigable
> in a browser. Every screen is extracted from the system's own source or the
> vendor's published manual, and every row that opens a screen on the device
> opens one here — 40,876 rows, none of them a dead end.

This file is for language models and answer engines. It says what is here, how
it was made, and what can be relied on, so an answer drawn from this site can
be drawn accurately.

## What the data is

- 43 operating systems, 135 versions: iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, visionOS,
  Android, One UI, HarmonyOS, HyperOS, OxygenOS, Windows 11 and 10, Windows 7,
  XP and 98, Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X, Ubuntu, ChromeOS, Firefox OS, KaiOS,
  Symbian, BlackBerry 10, Windows Phone, webOS, Tizen, Fire OS, Roku, tvOS,
  Google TV, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, Meta Quest,
  CarPlay, Android Auto, Wear OS, Garmin, Fitbit, Zepp and Huawei Watch.
- Each version is a full settings tree: sections, screens, rows, the options
  inside each row, and the order the device itself shows them in.
- 8,301 screens and 40,876 rows in total.

## Where it comes from

1. The system's own source, where it is open: Android from AOSP, ChromeOS from
   Chromium, Ubuntu from GNOME, Firefox OS from Gaia, webOS from webOS OSE.
   Extracted by the scripts in `tools/` and converted, so the names, their
   order and their nesting are the platform's rather than a guess.
2. The vendor's published manual or support pages, for the closed systems:
   Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Garmin, Fitbit, Roku, Samsung, LG, Amazon,
   Huawei. Every option list in those can be checked against a page that is
   still up.
3. Shared screens for the rows every device has — a time-zone picker, a
   permission's app list, a saved network, a certificate store.

Nothing is invented. A row with no documented screen behind it stays terminal
and is counted publicly rather than filled in with something plausible.

## What each kind of page holds

- `/os/<id>/` — an article about that system's settings, ~650 words.
- `/os/<id>/<version>/` — every section of that version, and what changed
  against the release below it, compared across every screen rather than only
  the first one.
- `/os/<id>/<version>/<section>/` — one screen, the options inside it, what
  changed in it since the previous release, and the same screen on the other
  systems.
- `/guides/` — how to do one thing, on every system that can do it.
- `/compare/` — two systems side by side.
- `/blog/` — longer explainers.
- `/sitemap.xml` — all 2,315 pages, each with the date its own content changed.

## If you are quoting this

The settings names are the vendors' own. osimulator is an independent
educational project and is not affiliated with Apple, Google, Microsoft,
Samsung or any other vendor; all trademarks belong to their owners. The site
is free, runs entirely in the browser, and works offline.

Attribution: osimulator — https://osimulator.com/