# libimobiledevice/usbmuxd

A socket daemon to multiplex connections from and to iOS devices

Repository: https://github.com/libimobiledevice/usbmuxd
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/usbmuxd
Homepage: https://libimobiledevice.org
Language: C
License: GPL-2.0
License Family: copyleft
Topics: usbmuxd, daemon, libimobiledevice, library, c, usb, ios
Last push: 2025-12-06T01:14:51+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 48/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 55, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4949, "days_push": 271, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1753, forks 395 (observed 2026-08-28T04:05:31.873907+00:00)

## What it is
usbmuxd is an open-source socket daemon that multiplexes TCP connections over USB between a host computer and iOS devices. It exposes a socket interface at /var/run/usbmuxd compatible with Apple's proprietary daemon, enabling tools like libimobiledevice to communicate with iPhones and iPads.

## Use cases
- talk to an iPhone from Linux over USB
- connect to localhost sockets on an iOS device
- use libimobiledevice tools without iTunes
- automatically start device communication on USB hotplug
- manage pairing records with iOS devices
- multiplex multiple parallel connections to iOS device ports

## When to choose
- you need open-source iOS device communication on Linux, macOS, Windows, or Android
- you're building tools on top of libimobiledevice or libusbmuxd
- you want automatic daemon activation via udev or systemd on device hotplug

## When to avoid
- you need USB tethering/network sharing, which uses a dedicated interface not usbmuxd
- you only need high-level device services without caring about the transport layer
- you want a managed installer rather than building from source

## Facets
- artifact type: service
- maturity: active
- function: networking, developer-tools
- domain: apple-ecosystem, developer-tools, hardware
- platform: windows, cross-platform
- tags: usbmuxd, ios-devices, usb-multiplexing, socket-daemon, libimobiledevice, linux, macos, android

## Member repositories
- libimobiledevice/usbmuxd (main) score 48

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:31.873907+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T03:28:13.614360+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/libimobiledevice/usbmuxd (fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:31.873907+00:00, sha 139f97a3e3f4)
  - homepage: https://libimobiledevice.org (fetched 2026-08-29T11:06:19.117044+00:00, sha 60fcaebea5c7)
  - site_page: https://libimobiledevice.org/docs (fetched 2026-08-29T11:06:19.120238+00:00, sha 1b452d9b50b7)
  - site_page: https://libimobiledevice.org/docs/libimobiledevice/latest (fetched 2026-08-29T11:06:19.121921+00:00, sha 8ba54f9669f4)
  - site_page: https://libimobiledevice.org/docs/libplist/latest (fetched 2026-08-29T11:06:19.123798+00:00, sha 3b4edf3de103)
  - site_page: https://libimobiledevice.org/news/2025/10/30/ideviceinstaller-1.2.0-release (fetched 2026-08-29T11:06:19.125715+00:00, sha d1228f7d98c9)
  - site_page: https://libimobiledevice.org/news/2025/10/24/docs-updated (fetched 2026-08-29T11:06:19.127314+00:00, sha 7bee0e8863bd)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.