pymobiledevice3
is a pure python3 implementation for working with iDevices (iPhone, etc...). This means this tool is
both architecture and platform generic and is supported and tested on:
- Windows
- Linux
- macOS
Main features include:
- TCP port forwarding
- Viewing syslog lines (including debug)
- Profile management
- Application management
- File system management (AFC)
- Crash reports management
- Network sniffing (PCAP)
- Firmware update
- Mounting images
- Notification listening and triggering (
notify_post()
api) - Querying and setting SpringBoard options
- Automating WebInspector features
- DeveloperDiskImage features:
- Taking screenshots
- Simulate locations
- Process management
- Sniffing KDebug messages (strace capabilities++)
- Process monitoring (
top
like) - Accessibility features
- Sniffing oslog which includes both syslog and signposts
- Backup
Install the last released version using pip
:
python3 -m pip install -U pymobiledevice3
Or install the latest version from sources:
git clone git@github.com:doronz88/pymobiledevice3.git
cd pymobiledevice3
python3 -m pip install -U -e .
You can also install auto-completion for all available sub-commands by adding the following into your ~/.zshrc
:
# python-click<8.0
eval "$(_PYMOBILEDEVICE3_COMPLETE=source_zsh pymobiledevice3)"
# python-click>=8.0
eval "$(_PYMOBILEDEVICE3_COMPLETE=zsh_source pymobiledevice3)"
If you wish to use pymobiledevice3 with iOS versions lower than 13, Make sure to install openssl
:
On MAC:
brew install openssl
On Linux:
sudo apt install openssl
The CLI subcommands are divided roughly by the protocol layer used for interacting in the device. For example, all
features derived from the DeveloperDiskImage will be accessible from the developer
subcommand. This also means that every feature which isn't there won't require it.
This is the main CLI usage:
Usage: python -m pymobiledevice3 [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...
Options:
-h, --help Show this message and exit.
Commands:
activation activation options
afc FileSystem utils
amfi amfi options
apps application options
backup2 backup utils
companion companion options
crash crash report options
developer developer options.
diagnostics diagnostics options
lockdown lockdown options
mounter mounter options
notification notification options
pcap sniff device traffic
power-assertion Create a power assertion (wraps...
processes processes cli
profile profile options
provision privision options
restore restore options
springboard springboard options
syslog syslog options
usbmuxd usbmuxd options
webinspector webinspector options
Or import the modules and use the API yourself:
from pymobiledevice3.lockdown import LockdownClient
from pymobiledevice3.services.syslog import SyslogService
lockdown = LockdownClient()
for line in SyslogService(lockdown=lockdown).watch():
# just print all syslog lines as is
print(line)
A recorded example for using a variety of features can be viewed at: https://terminalizer.com/view/18920b405193
There is A LOT you may do on the device using pymobiledevice3
. This is just a TL;DR of some common operations:
- Listing connected devices:
pymobiledevice3 list-devices
- View all syslog lines (including debug messages):
pymobiledevice3 syslog live
- Filter out only messages containing the word "SpringBoard":
pymobiledevice3 syslog live -m SpringBoard
- Restart device:
pymobiledevice3 diagnostics restart
- Pull all crash reports from device:
pymobiledevice3 crash pull /path/to/crashes
- Manage the media directory:
pymobiledevice3 afc shell
- List all installed applications and their details:
pymobiledevice3 apps list --user --system
- Create a TCP tunnel from your HOST to the device:
pymobiledevice3 usbmux forward HOST_PORT DEVICE_PORT
- Create a full backup of the device:
pymobiledevice3 backup2 backup --full DIRECTORY
- Restore a given backup:
pymobiledevice3 backup2 restore DIRECTORY
- The following will require Web Inspector feature to be turned on:
- Get interactive JavaScript shell on any open tab:
pymobiledevice3 webinspector js_shell
- List currently opened tabs is device's browser:
pymobiledevice3 webinspector opened-tabs
- The following will require also the Remote Automation feature to be turned on:
- Get interactive JavaScript shell on new remote automation tab:
pymobiledevice3 webinspector js_shell --automation
- Launch an automation session to view a given URL:
pymobiledevice3 webinspector launch URL
- Get a a selenium-like shell:
pymobiledevice3 webinspector shell
- Get interactive JavaScript shell on new remote automation tab:
- Get interactive JavaScript shell on any open tab:
- Mount DeveloperDiskImage:
pymobiledevice3 mounter mount
- The following will assume the DeveloperDiskImage is already mounted:
- Simulate an
x y
location:pymobiledevice3 developer simulate-location set x y
- Taking a screenshot from the device:
pymobiledevice3 developer screenshot /path/to/screen.png
- View detailed process list (including ppid, uid, guid, sandboxed, etc...):
pymobiledevice3 developer dvt sysmon process single
- Sniffing oslog:
pymobiledevice3 developer dvt oslog
- Kill a process:
pymobiledevice3 developer dvt kill PID
- List files in a given directory (un-chrooted):
pymobiledevice3 developer dvt ls PATH
- Launch an app by its bundle name:
pymobiledevice3 developer dvt launch com.apple.mobilesafari
- Sniff all KDebug events to get an
strace
-like output:pymobiledevice3 developer dvt core-profile-session parse-live
- Sniff all KDebug events into a file for parsing later with tools such
as
pykdebugparser
,fs_usage
and so on...pymobiledevice3 developer dvt core-profile-session save FILENAME
- Get device extended information (kernel name, chipset, etc...):
pymobiledevice3 developer dvt device-information
- Monitor energy-consumption for a specific PID:
pymobiledevice3 developer dvt energy PID1 PID2 ...
- Simulate an
To understand the bits and bytes of the communication with lockdownd you are advised to take a look at this article:
This is the list of all the services from lockdownd
which we reversed and implemented API wrappers for. A click on
each will lead to each one's implementation, where you can learn more about.
com.apple.mobile.heartbeat
- Just a ping to
lockdownd
service. - Used to keep an active connection with
lockdownd
- Just a ping to
com.apple.mobileactivationd
- Activation services
com.apple.afc
- File access for
/var/mobile/Media
- Based on afcd's protocol
- File access for
com.apple.crashreportcopymobile
- File access for
/var/mobile/Library/Logs/CrashReports
- Based on afcd's protocol
- File access for
com.apple.pcapd
- Sniff device's network traffic
com.apple.syslog_relay
- Just streams syslog lines as raw strings
- For a more robust structural parsing, it's better to access the
com.apple.os_trace_relay
relay.
com.apple.os_trace_relay
- More extensive syslog monitoring
com.apple.mobile.diagnostics_relay
- General diagnostic tools
com.apple.mobile.notification_proxy
&com.apple.mobile.insecure_notification_proxy
- API wrapper for
notify_post()
¬ify_register_dispatch()
- API wrapper for
com.apple.crashreportmover
- Just trigger
crash_mover
to move all crash reports into crash directory
- Just trigger
com.apple.mobile.MCInstall
- Profile management (MDM)
com.apple.misagent
- Provisioning Profiles management
com.apple.companion_proxy
- Companion features (watches and etc.)
com.apple.mobilebackup2
- Local backup management
com.apple.mobile.assertion_agent
- Create power assertion to prevent different kinds of sleep
com.apple.springboardservices
- Play with device's button layout
com.apple.mobile.mobile_image_mounter
- Image mounter service (used for DeveloperDiskImage mounting)
com.apple.mobile.house_arrest
- Get AFC utils (file management per application bundle)
com.apple.mobile.installation_proxy
- Application management
com.apple.instruments.remoteserver
- Developer instrumentation service, iOS<14 (DeveloperDiskImage)
com.apple.instruments.remoteserver.DVTSecureSocketProxy
- Developer instrumentation service, iOS>=14 (DeveloperDiskImage)
com.apple.mobile.screenshotr
- Take screenshot into a PNG format (DeveloperDiskImage)
com.apple.accessibility.axAuditDaemon.remoteserver
- Accessibility features (DeveloperDiskImage)
com.apple.dt.simulatelocation
- Allows to simulate locations (DeveloperDiskImage)
com.apple.dt.fetchsymbols
- Allows fetching of
dyld
and dyld shared cache files (DeveloperDiskImage)
- Allows fetching of
com.apple.webinspector
- Used to debug WebViews
com.apple.amfi.lockdown
- Used to enable developer-mode
This is the list of services we haven't dedicated time in implementing. If you feel the need to use one of them or any other that is not listed in here, feel free to create us an issue request .
com.apple.idamd
- Allows settings the IDAM configuration (something to do with loading of AppleUSBDeviceAudioDevice)
com.apple.atc
- AirTraffic related
com.apple.atc2
com.apple.ait.aitd
- AirTraffic related
com.apple.mobile.file_relay
(Deprecated)- On older iOS versions (iOS <= 8), this was the main relay used for file operations, which was later replaced with AFC.
com.apple.mobilesync
com.apple.purpletestr
(Deprecated)com.apple.PurpleReverseProxy.Conn
- Something to do with tethering internet connection to restored devices
com.apple.PurpleReverseProxy.Ctrl
- Something to do with tethering internet connection to restored devices
com.apple.dt.remotepairingdeviced.lockdown
com.apple.commcenter.mobile-helper-cbupdateservice
com.apple.carkit.service
- Used to transfer data to accessories. Data is transferred using iAP2 packets.
com.apple.bluetooth.BTPacketLogger
com.apple.streaming_zip_conduit
- Another relay used to install IPAs
Every such subcommand may wrap several relay requests underneath. If you wish to try and play with some the relays yourself, you can run:
pymobiledevice3 lockdown service <service-name>
This will start an IPython shell where you already have the connection established using the client
variable and you
can send & receive messages.
# This shell allows you to communicate directly with every service layer behind the lockdownd daemon.
# For example, you can do the following:
client.send_plist({"Command": "DoSomething"})
# and view the reply
print(client.recv_plist())
# or just send raw message
client.sendall(b"hello")
# and view the result
print(client.recvall(20))
If you want to play with DTServiceHub
which lies behind the developer
options, you can also use:
pymobiledevice3 developer shell
To also get an IPython shell, which lets you call ObjC methods from the exported objects in the instruments' namespace like so:
# This shell allows you to send messages to the DVTSecureSocketProxy and receive answers easily.
# Generally speaking, each channel represents a group of actions.
# Calling actions is done using a selector and auxiliary (parameters).
# Receiving answers is done by getting a return value and seldom auxiliary (private / extra parameters).
# To see the available channels, type the following:
developer.supported_identifiers
# In order to send messages, you need to create a channel:
channel = developer.make_channel('com.apple.instruments.server.services.deviceinfo')
# After creating the channel you can call allowed selectors:
channel.runningProcesses()
# If an answer is expected, you can receive it using the receive method:
processes = channel.receive_plist()
# Sometimes the selector requires parameters, You can add them using MessageAux. For example lets kill a process:
channel = developer.make_channel('com.apple.instruments.server.services.processcontrol')
args = MessageAux().append_obj(80) # This will kill pid 80
channel.killPid_(args, expects_reply=False) # Killing a process doesn't require an answer.
# In some rare cases, you might want to receive the auxiliary and the selector return value.
# For that cases you can use the recv_plist method.
return_value, auxiliary = developer.recv_plist()
See CONTRIBUTING.