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ideviceinstaller

A command-line application to manage apps and app archives on iOS devices.

Features

The ideviceinstaller application allows interacting with the app installation service of an iOS device.

It makes use of the fabulous libimobiledevice library that allows communication with iOS devices.

Some key features are:

Status: Install, upgrade, uninstall, and enumerate apps
Browse: Allows to retrieve a list of installed apps with filter options
Install: Supports app package, carrier bundle and developer .app directory
Format: Allows command output in plist, XML, or JSON format
Compatibility: Supports latest device firmware releases
Cross-Platform: Tested on Linux, macOS, Windows and Android platforms

Installation / Getting started

Debian / Ubuntu Linux

First install all required dependencies and build tools:

sudo apt-get install \
	build-essential \
	pkg-config \
	checkinstall \
	git \
	autoconf \
	automake \
	libtool-bin \
	libplist-dev \
	libimobiledevice-dev \
	libzip-dev \
	usbmuxd

Continue with cloning the actual project repository:

git clone https://github.com/libimobiledevice/ideviceinstaller.git
cd ideviceinstaller

Now you can build and install it:

./autogen.sh
make
sudo make install

Usage

First of all attach your device to your machine.

Then simply run:

ideviceinstaller list

This will print a list of <appid> identifiers (bundle identifiers) for use with other commands (see further below).

To install an app from a package file use:

ideviceinstaller install <file>

To uninstall an app with the <appid> from the device use:

ideviceinstaller uninstall <appid>

Please consult the usage information or manual page for a full documentation of available command line options:

ideviceinstaller --help
man ideviceinstaller

Contributing

We welcome contributions from anyone and are grateful for every pull request!

If you'd like to contribute, please fork the master branch, change, commit and send a pull request for review. Once approved it can be merged into the main code base.

If you plan to contribute larger changes or a major refactoring, please create a ticket first to discuss the idea upfront to ensure less effort for everyone.

Please make sure your contribution adheres to:

Try to follow the code style of the project
Commit messages should describe the change well without being too short
Try to split larger changes into individual commits of a common domain
Use your real name and a valid email address for your commits

We are still working on the guidelines so bear with us!

License

This software is licensed under the GNU General Public License v2.0, also included in the repository in the COPYING file.

Credits

Apple, iPhone, iPad, iPod, iPod Touch, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Mac, iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, watchOS, and macOS are trademarks of Apple Inc.

ideviceinstaller is an independent software application and has not been authorized, sponsored or otherwise approved by Apple Inc.

README Updated on: 2023-07-20