blacktop/ipsw
iOS/macOS Research Swiss Army Knife observed · 2026-08-28
Health v2 · maintenance only
95/100
- Activity 99
- Release rhythm 87
- Longevity 100
How is this computed?
round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10) — computed 2026-09-03. Adoption (stars, forks) is never an input.
- gap_med: 2.0
- age_days: 2930
- days_rel: 8
- days_push: 7
- n_releases_24m: 173
Adoption not part of the score
3669 stars · 300 forks observed · 2026-08-28
What it is AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, 2026-08-29, confidence not recorded
ipsw is a Go-based command-line research framework for downloading, parsing, and analyzing Apple iOS and macOS firmware (IPSW/OTA files), Mach-O binaries, dyld_shared_caches, and kernelcaches. It also provides iOS device interaction, App Store Connect integration, and reverse engineering utilities for security researchers.
Use cases
- download the latest iOS firmware for a specific device
- extract and analyze the kernelcache from an IPSW file
- parse Mach-O binaries and disassemble ARM code
- dump ObjC and Swift classes from dyld_shared_cache
- analyze IMG4, iBoot, and SEP firmware components
- list connected iOS devices and interact with them
- diff two firmware builds to see what changed
- manage App Store Connect certificates and apps
When to choose
- you are a security researcher or reverse engineer studying Apple internals
- you need to download, extract, or diff Apple firmware files
- you want to analyze dyld_shared_cache or kernelcache on macOS/Linux/Windows
- you need a scriptable CLI alternative to GUI tools for Apple firmware research
When to avoid
- you just want to jailbreak or flash a device with a one-click tool
- you need a GUI-based reverse engineering suite like IDA or Ghidra
- you are working with non-Apple firmware or Android images
Facets
cli-tool · maturity active
reverse-engineering parser security developer-tools cli file-system http-client security reverse-engineering apple-ecosystem developer-tools operating-systems windows cli go ipsw firmware-analysis macho-parser dyld-shared-cache kernelcache img4 class-dump ota-updates ios-research jailbreak command-line macos linux
2 sources
- readme: https://github.com/blacktop/ipsw · fetched 2026-08-28 · c61805f07e30
- homepage: https://blacktop.github.io/ipsw · fetched 2026-08-29 · b39f58ecbeaf
Member repositories
| Repository | Role | Health v2 |
|---|---|---|
| blacktop/ipsw | main | 95 |
For agents
Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00 · Report a problem