libimobiledevice/libimobiledevice
A cross-platform protocol library to communicate with iOS devices observed · 2026-08-28
Health v2 · maintenance only
65/100
- Activity 86
- Release rhythm 19
- Longevity 100
How is this computed?
round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10) — computed 2026-09-02. Adoption (stars, forks) is never an input.
- gap_med: n/a
- age_days: 4949
- days_rel: 327
- days_push: 84
- n_releases_24m: 1
Adoption not part of the score
8133 stars · 1530 forks observed · 2026-08-28
What it is AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, 2026-08-29, confidence not recorded
A cross-platform C library that implements Apple's native protocols for communicating with iOS devices over USB and Wi-Fi, without requiring jailbreaking or Apple's proprietary libraries. It bundles command-line utilities and Python bindings for managing apps, backups, filesystem access, device info, and many other device services.
Use cases
- access iPhone filesystem from Linux
- back up and restore an iOS device without iTunes
- install and manage apps on an iPhone from the command line
- retrieve device information and diagnostics from an iPad
- take screenshots from an iOS device screen
- simulate GPS location on an iPhone
- relay device syslog and crash reports
- manage contacts, calendars, and notes on an iOS device
When to choose
- you need to interact with iOS devices from Linux, Windows, or macOS without iTunes
- you want to automate iOS device management in scripts or CI
- you need a jailbreak-free, open-source implementation of Apple device protocols
- you're building an application that needs programmatic access to iPhone/iPad services
When to avoid
- you only need to sync media and prefer a polished GUI like iTunes or Finder
- you need to communicate with non-Apple mobile devices
- you need a high-level managed-language SDK without writing C or Python bindings
Facets
library · maturity stable
sdk file-system developer-tools cli cross-platform developer-tools apple-ecosystem windows c python cli cross-platform ios apple-devices usbmuxd lockdownd no-jailbreak protocol-implementation iphone ipad device-management automation linux macos android
7 sources
- readme: https://github.com/libimobiledevice/libimobiledevice · fetched 2026-08-28 · 223adfa8ba62
- homepage: https://libimobiledevice.org · fetched 2026-08-29 · 60fcaebea5c7
- site_page: https://libimobiledevice.org/docs · fetched 2026-08-29 · 1b452d9b50b7
- site_page: https://libimobiledevice.org/docs/libimobiledevice/latest · fetched 2026-08-29 · 8ba54f9669f4
- site_page: https://libimobiledevice.org/docs/libplist/latest · fetched 2026-08-29 · 3b4edf3de103
- site_page: https://libimobiledevice.org/news/2025/10/30/ideviceinstaller-1.2.0-release · fetched 2026-08-29 · d1228f7d98c9
- site_page: https://libimobiledevice.org/news/2025/10/24/docs-updated · fetched 2026-08-29 · 7bee0e8863bd
Member repositories
| Repository | Role | Health v2 |
|---|---|---|
| libimobiledevice/libimobiledevice | main | 65 |
For agents
markdown · JSON · MCP: product_card(name="libimobiledevice/libimobiledevice")
Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00 · Report a problem