iOSbackup

A Python 3 class that reads and extracts files from a password-encrypted iOS backup created by iTunes on Mac and Windows. Compatible with iOS 13 and iOS 14. [Looking for contributors that can include non-encrypted backup support as well].

You will need your backup password to decrypt the backup files, this is the password iTunes asks when it is configured to do encrypted backups. This password can be found on macOS' Keychain Access app, under login keychain, entry iOS Backup.

You should always prefer encrypted backups because they are more secure and include more files from your device. Non-encrypted backups do not backup files as Health app database and other preciosities.

Donation

This software is essential for advanced device forensic activities or to anyone in need to dominate and extract full data from an iOS device.

Please consider donation of any amount in Bitcoin or Ethereum:

Bitcoin donation: bc1qerzyzwdnsmpfdkl3lcjgm3rhvvy7svy0p89ndj
Ethereum donation: 0x098dADeDDf14382F19d4F5d989fD8734376B0224

Thank you in advance

Installation

pip3 install iOSbackup --user

On macOS, get native Python 3 from Apple with command xcode-select --install. Read my guide to install Apple official Python 3 distribution for more details.

iOSbackup requires other two packages: biplist and pycryptodome that will be installed automatically by pip.

pycryptodome has an API compatible with older pycrypto, which should also work with iOSbackup. But pycryptodome is more well maintained and easier to install on Windows and macOS.

Usage

Get list of backups available on your computer

>>> from iOSbackup import iOSbackup

>>> iOSbackup.getDeviceList()
[{'udid': '00456030-000E4412342802E',
  'name': 'mobileavi',
  'ios': '13.2.3',
  'serial': 'DNPPQRS0N4RW',
  'type': 'iPhone12,3',
  'encrypted': True},
{'udid': '00654030-01234412342802E',
  'name': 'ipad',
  'ios': '13.1.3',
  'serial': 'DABCRS0N4RW',
  'type': 'iPad10,1',
  'encrypted': True}]

Open a device backup

With your password (a slow and compute-intensive task):

>>> b=iOSbackup(
	udid="00456030-000E4412342802E",
	cleartextpassword="mypassword"
)

Instead of a clear text password, use a derived key that can be seen into the instantiated object:

>>> b=iOSbackup(
	udid="00456030-000E4412342802E",
	cleartextpassword="mypassword"
)
>>> print(b)
…
decryptionKey: dd6b6123494c5dbdff7804321fe43ffe1babcdb6074014afedc7cb47f351524
…

From now on use your derived key instead of your clear text password to not expose it and because it is much faster:

>>> b=iOSbackup(
	udid="00456030-000E4412342802E",
	derivedkey="dd6b6123494c5dbdff7804321fe43ffe1babcdb6074014afedc7cb47f351524"
)

Linux virtual machine accessing iOS backup on a macOS host

Forcing a backup folder, useful when reading backups on Linux, where there is no standard for backup folders:

>>> b=iOSbackup(
	udid="00456030-000E4412342802E",
	cleartextpassword="mypassword",
	backuproot='/media/sf_username/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup'
)

For this to work on a Linux virtual machine accessing a VirtualBox-shared folder, you'll have to grant full disk access to your hypervisor (VirtualBox etc). On macOS, go to System Preferences ➔ Security & Privacy ➔ Privacy ➔ Full Disk Access and enable access to your hypervisor (VirtualBox etc). The hypervisor and VM will have to be restarted for the new setting to be effective.

You can also copy your device's backup folder, from a Windows or macOS computer, to a Linux computer, and then use this class on Linux to decrypt and read it.

iTunes default backup folders on Windows and macOS

Files app (formerly iTunes) on macOS stores backups of associated devices under ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup. iTunes on Windows stores backups of associated devices under %HOME%\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup

Get some info about device on the backup

Information about device, model, serial number, its SIMs, iOS version etc can be inspected in multiple places from backup basic catalog files (plist files), even before diving into its vast amount of databases and other encrypted files.

b=iOSbackup(...)

# Device info
infoKeys=[
	# This is a non-exaustive list of interesting info, but there are more...
	'Build Version', 'Device Name', 'Display Name', 'GUID', 'ICCID', 'ICCID 2',
	'IMEI', 'IMEI 2', 'Last Backup Date', 'MEID', 'Phone Number', 'Phone Number 2',
	'Product Name', 'Product Type', 'Product Version', 'Serial Number',
	'Target Identifier', 'Target Type', 'Unique Identifier',
	'macOS Build Version', 'macOS Version'
]
for i in infoKeys:
	print(f'{i}: {b.info[i]}')


# Other ways to get device info
b.manifest['Lockdown']['DeviceName'] # device name or hostname
b.manifest['Lockdown']['ProductVersion'] # iOS version as 14.0.1, see Version column of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOS_version_history#Version_history
b.manifest['Lockdown']['BuildVersion'] # iOS version as 18A393, see Build column of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOS_version_history#Version_history
b.manifest['Lockdown']['SerialNumber'] # device serial number
b.manifest['Lockdown']['ProductType'] # device type as iPhone12,3, see columns Identifier of https://www.theiphonewiki.com/wiki/Models
b.udid # UDID of the device
b.uuid.hex() # UUID of device

# Backup info
b.backupRoot # backup root folder
b.date # UTC date and time of this backup
b.getDecryptionKey() # password-derived key of backup
b.manifest['IsEncrypted'] # is it an encrypted backup?
b.manifest['WasPasscodeSet'] # backup has a passcode?
b.status


# Basic list of installed apps, probably used by iTunes to easily display things to users
b.info['Applications'].keys()

# Apps icons
png_data=b.info['Applications']['com.burbn.instagram']['PlaceholderIcon']

# Dive into device content
b.manifest['ManifestKey'].hex() # manifest DB decryption key
b.manifest['Applications'] # list of installed apps
b.manifestDB # decrypted copy of Manifest.db SQLite database

Get a list of backed-up files:

Info available in the Manifest.db which relates backup file hash to semi-full path of file into the device, plus file backup domain, plus some file metadata.

>>> b.getBackupFilesList()
[{'name': '',
  'backupFile': 'abfbc8747bfbb373e2b08ce67b1255ffda4e1b91',
  'domain': 'AppDomain-4GU63N96WE.com.p5sys.jumpdesktop',
  'relativePath': '',
  'flags': 2,
  'file': b'bplist00\xd4...'
  },
 {'name': 'Documents',
  'backupFile': 'ec0c1b379560bb5ccc81ee783538fd51cfd97461',
  'domain': 'AppDomain-4GU63N96WE.com.p5sys.jumpdesktop',
  'relativePath': 'Documents',
  'flags': 2,
  'file': b'bplist00\xd4...'
  },
 {'name': 'Documents/Servers',
  'backupFile': 'a735380eade71b48f0fe27d38a283aacd8ed8372',
  'domain': 'AppDomain-4GU63N96WE.com.p5sys.jumpdesktop'},
 {'name': 'Documents/extensions',
  'backupFile': 'c08f725cc39ec819ab7ced3b056f4e0630ead09f',
  'domain': 'AppDomain-4GU63N96WE.com.p5sys.jumpdesktop'},
 {'name': 'Library',
  'backupFile': 'e60a6345697594c735e5a6ed86c0d57dad6a2176',
  'domain': 'AppDomain-4GU63N96WE.com.p5sys.jumpdesktop'},
 ...]

backupFile is the file name on your computer. Basically SHA1([Domain]/[FilePath]).

name is the original semi-complete path of file name in the device.

domain is the file group this file is member, see bellow list of domains.

file is binary plist content with some file metadata.

Or put it directly into a Pandas DataFrame for easier manipulation and searching:

>>> import pandas as pd
>>> backupfiles=pd.DataFrame(b.getBackupFilesList(), columns=['backupFile','domain','name'])

With Pandas, display only list of files in HomeDomain group:

>>> backupfiles[backupfiles['domain']=='HomeDomain']

Get a decrypted copy of the call history SQLite database:

The getFileDecryptedCopy() method creates a decrypted copy of requested file on targetFolder/targetName. If targetFolder and targetName aren't given, a temporary file will be created. The name of decrypted file (temporary or not) can be found in the decryptedFilePath item of returned dict, as seen below.

>>> file=b.getFileDecryptedCopy(relativePath="Library/CallHistoryDB/CallHistory.storedata")
>>> file
{'decryptedFilePath': 'HomeDomain~Library--CallHistoryDB--CallHistory.storedata',
 'domain': 'HomeDomain',
 'originalFilePath': 'Library/CallHistoryDB/CallHistory.storedata',
 'backupFile': '5a4935c78a5255723f707230a451d79c540d2741',
 'size': 1228800}

Fetch call records from the decrypted copy of call history database, using a SQL query.

>>> calls = sqlite3.connect(file['decryptedFilePath'])
>>> calls.row_factory=sqlite3.Row
>>> calllog = calls.cursor().execute(f"SELECT * FROM ZCALLRECORD ORDER BY ZDATE DESC").fetchall()

Restore Entire Folder Containing Photos and their Metadata

This content is located in the Media folder of CameraRollDomain domain. This example will exclude videos from restoration.

>>> b.getFolderDecryptedCopy(
	'Media',
	targetFolder='restored-photos',
	includeDomains='CameraRollDomain',
	excludeFiles='%.MOV'
)

Restore an entire domain

Here we restore all files of WirelessDomain in a hierarchy starting at local directory:

>>> b.getFolderDecryptedCopy(
	includeDomains='WirelessDomain',
)

Here we restore all files of HomeDomain in a hierarchy starting at folder my-folder:

>>> b.getFolderDecryptedCopy(
	includeDomains='HomeDomain',
	targetFolder='my-folder',
)

To restore all backed up data files of an app, search for its domain name (see below) and use this technique.

Get List of All Installed Apps

>>> apps=list(b.manifest['Applications'].keys())
>>> apps
['group.com.apple.Maps',
 'group.net.whatsapp.family',
 'it.joethefox.XBMC-Remote',
 'com.google.GoogleMobile.NotificationContentExtension',
 'group.com.dendrocom.uniconsole',
 ...
]

Get List of All Apps, Groups and Plugins with “whatsapp” In Their Name

>>> [s for s in list(b.manifest['Applications'].keys()) if "whatsapp" in s]
['group.net.whatsapp.WhatsApp.shared',
 'net.whatsapp.WhatsApp.ShareExtension',
 'group.net.whatsapp.WhatsAppSMB.shared',
 'net.whatsapp.WhatsApp.NotificationExtension',
 'net.whatsapp.WhatsApp.Intents',
 'net.whatsapp.WhatsApp.TodayExtension',
 'net.whatsapp.WhatsApp.IntentsUI',
 'group.net.whatsapp.WhatsApp.private',
 'net.whatsapp.WhatsApp.ServiceExtension',
 'net.whatsapp.WhatsApp']

Restore All Files of Apps, Groups and Plugins Matching “whatsapp”

I had to use previous method to find the list of app IDs and see that “whatsapp” is a good word to match them. Each app component has its own backup domain prefixed by AppDomain, AppDomainGroup or AppDomainPlugin. So we'll iterate over all possibilities of fabricated domain names with getFolderDecryptedCopy().

for id in [s for s in list(b.manifest['Applications'].keys()) if "whatsapp" in s]:
    for prefix in ["AppDomain", "AppDomainGroup", "AppDomainPlugin"]:
        b.getFolderDecryptedCopy(includeDomains=prefix + '-' + id)

Other apps might have a less intuitive name. For example, Telegram can be matched by “telegra” (without ‘m’):

for id in [s for s in list(b.manifest['Applications'].keys()) if "telegra" in s]:
    for prefix in ["AppDomain", "AppDomainGroup", "AppDomainPlugin"]:
        b.getFolderDecryptedCopy(includeDomains=prefix + '-' + id)

Apple-native Python 3 Installation on Macs

Follow my guide at https://avi.alkalay.net/2019/12/macos-jupyter-data-science-no-anaconda.html

Basically use command xcode-select --install to get Python 3 installed and updated by Apple on your Mac.

List of Domains

Domain	Contains
AppDomain-...	Backup of each installed app's files
AppDomainGroup-...	Backup of each installed app's files
AppDomainPlugin-...	Backup of each installed app's files
CameraRollDomain	Photos
DatabaseDomain
HealthDomain	Health app databases
HomeDomain	Many interesting databases, such as contacts and call history
HomeKitDomain
InstallDomain
KeyboardDomain
KeychainDomain
ManagedPreferencesDomain
MediaDomain
MobileDeviceDomain
RootDomain
SysContainerDomain-com.apple.Preferences.SettingsSpotlightIndexExtension
SysContainerDomain-com.apple.Preferences.indexSettingsManifests
SysContainerDomain-com.apple.accessibility.AccessibilityUIServer
SysContainerDomain-com.apple.adid
SysContainerDomain-com.apple.akd
SysContainerDomain-com.apple.appstored
SysContainerDomain-com.apple.apsd
SysContainerDomain-com.apple.backboardd
SysContainerDomain-com.apple.fairplayd.H2
SysContainerDomain-com.apple.geod
SysContainerDomain-com.apple.icloud.findmydeviced
SysContainerDomain-com.apple.icloud.ifccd
SysContainerDomain-com.apple.icloud.searchpartyd
SysContainerDomain-com.apple.lsd
SysContainerDomain-com.apple.lskdd
SysContainerDomain-com.apple.metrickitd
SysContainerDomain-com.apple.mobilesafari	Bookmarks and cookies ?
SysContainerDomain-com.apple.springboard
SysSharedContainerDomain-systemgroup.com.apple.AssetCacheServices.diskCache
SysSharedContainerDomain-systemgroup.com.apple.DiagnosticsKit
SysSharedContainerDomain-systemgroup.com.apple.ReportMemoryException
SysSharedContainerDomain-systemgroup.com.apple.VideoSubscriberAccount
SysSharedContainerDomain-systemgroup.com.apple.WiFiAssist
SysSharedContainerDomain-systemgroup.com.apple.bluetooth
SysSharedContainerDomain-systemgroup.com.apple.cfpreferences.managed
SysSharedContainerDomain-systemgroup.com.apple.configurationprofiles
SysSharedContainerDomain-systemgroup.com.apple.coreanalytics
SysSharedContainerDomain-systemgroup.com.apple.icloud.findmydevice.managed
SysSharedContainerDomain-systemgroup.com.apple.icloud.fmipcore.MockingContainer
SysSharedContainerDomain-systemgroup.com.apple.icloud.ifccd
SysSharedContainerDomain-systemgroup.com.apple.icloud.searchpartyd.sharedsettings
SysSharedContainerDomain-systemgroup.com.apple.itunesu.shared
SysSharedContainerDomain-systemgroup.com.apple.lsd
SysSharedContainerDomain-systemgroup.com.apple.lsd.iconscache
SysSharedContainerDomain-systemgroup.com.apple.lskdrl
SysSharedContainerDomain-systemgroup.com.apple.media.books.managed
SysSharedContainerDomain-systemgroup.com.apple.media.shared.books
SysSharedContainerDomain-systemgroup.com.apple.mobile.installationhelperlogs
SysSharedContainerDomain-systemgroup.com.apple.mobilegestaltcache
SysSharedContainerDomain-systemgroup.com.apple.nsurlstoragedresources
SysSharedContainerDomain-systemgroup.com.apple.ondemandresources
SysSharedContainerDomain-systemgroup.com.apple.osanalytics
SysSharedContainerDomain-systemgroup.com.apple.sharedpclogging
SystemPreferencesDomain
TonesDomain
WirelessDomain

Interesting Files

Backup file	Domain	File name	Contains
ed1f8fb5a948b40504c19580a458c384659a605e	WirelessDomain	Library/Databases/CellularUsage.db	Table `subscriber_info` apparently contains all SIM phone numbers ever inserted in the phone since about iOS 11 or 12. Data here is related to `Library/Preferences/com.apple.commcenter.plist`.
0d609c54856a9bb2d56729df1d68f2958a88426b	WirelessDomain	Library/Databases/DataUsage.sqlite	A rich database that apparently contains app WWAN usage through time. Chack tables `ZPROCESS` and `ZLIVEUSAGE`.
1570a95f5dc7f4cd6b54bc17c427eda95288b8fa	HomeDomain	Library/SpringBoard/LockVideo.mov	Video used as background on lock screen
.	HomeDomain	Library/Passes/Cards/*	Wallet passes and items
8d0167b67f664a3816b4c00115c2dfa6a8f81388	WirelessDomain	Library/Preferences/com.apple.AppleBasebandManager.Statistics.plist	Apparently contains times of last boot and restores.
dafec408e48be2700704dd3e763014c39f6de6b3	WirelessDomain	Library/Preferences/com.apple.AppleBasebandManager.plist
9329979c8298f9cd3fb110fa387570a8b957e912	WirelessDomain	Library/Preferences/com.apple.CommCenter.counts.plist	Has `CellularBytesRecved` and `CellularBytesSent`
3dec38ca46c9e37ffebacf2611463eb47a65eb09	WirelessDomain	Library/Preferences/com.apple.commcenter.audio.plist
7e5f642f6da5e2345c0893bdf944da9c53902756	WirelessDomain	Library/Preferences/com.apple.commcenter.callservices.plist
bfecaa9c467e3acb085a5b312bd27bdd5cd7579a	WirelessDomain	Library/Preferences/com.apple.commcenter.plist	Cellular network informations and configurations, including all ever inserted SIM and eSIM cards, their phone numbers and nicknames as configured under Settings➔Celular. Data here is related to `Library/Databases/CellularUsage.db`
160600e9c2e408c69e4193d325813a2a885bce2a	WirelessDomain	Library/Preferences/com.apple.ipTelephony.plist
12b144c0bd44f2b3dffd9186d3f9c05b917cee25	CameraRollDomain	Media/PhotoData/Photos.sqlite	Photo library data, albums, tagged faces, moments, places, geolocations, date and times, formats etc.
.	CameraRollDomain	Media/DCIM/*APPLE	Original master photos/videos taken by your camera or imported through AirDrop etc
.	CameraRollDomain	Media/PhotoData/Mutations/DCIM/*APPLE	Edited version of photos/videos
.	HomeDomain	Library/Mobile Documents/iCloud~...	Apps documents on iCloud
.	HomeDomain	Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/...	Documents folder on iCloud
5a4935c78a5255723f707230a451d79c540d2741	HomeDomain	Library/CallHistoryDB/CallHistory.storedata	Call History database with only the last 600 calls
31bb7ba8914766d4ba40d6dfb6113c8b614be442	HomeDomain	Library/AddressBook/AddressBook.sqlitedb	User contacts and address book. Table `ABPerson` is the central one with facts about contact creation and modification, while `ABMultiValue*` tables contain contact details.
cd6702cea29fe89cf280a76794405adb17f9a0ee	HomeDomain	Library/AddressBook/AddressBookImages.sqlitedb	Contact photos
9db3e5a6f1672cc306cd785809811e79cc43a2f8	HomeDomain	Library/AddressBook/backup/AddressBook.sqlitedb
2a87d5bcdb9753f1462dd1e929b17e6a971c5b01	HomeDomain	Library/AddressBook/backup/AddressBookImages.sqlitedb
1a0e7afc19d307da602ccdcece51af33afe92c53	HomeDomain	Library/Safari/History.db
.	MediaDomain	Library/SMS/Attachments/*
.	MediaDomain	Library/SMS/StickerCache/*
.	.	Library/Caches/locationd/consolidated.db	Apparently list of known iBeacons

iOSForensics/iOSbackup