iBackupExtractor

A simple tool for extracting files from iOS backup archive.

iOS backup files are not stored with their original directory layouts. Retrieving a particular file from the app sandbox can be difficult. This tool can extract all the files from a backup archive, and then you can view the sandbox filesystem as it was originally stored in your iPhone or iPad.

Install

Download From GitHub Releases

For Mac users, you can download the pre-built binaries directly from the releases page.

Build Locally

To build the project locally, use Cargo:

cargo build --release

Usage

First, locate the backup archive you want to extract. Usually, they can be found in /Users/<username>/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup

The archive is a directory that contains a Manifest.db file.

Except when performing migrations, Manifest.db is opened in read-only mode, so it will work even when the archive is on a read-only filesystem (e.g. HFS+ on Linux). However, never work on the only copy of your data!

Show Backup Information

The info subcommand shows a summary of the backup archive, including the manifest location, timestamps, device and iTunes metadata, total files/domains, and the overall size on disk:

ibackupextractor info /path/to/your_backup_archive

The info command is designed to show archive-level metadata, while list-domains (see below) shows information related to the domains inside the archive.

List Domains

Backup files are grouped by iOS "domains", and the list-domains subcommand will show all the domains in a particular archive, sorted by the amount of exportable data in each:

ibackupextractor list-domains /path/to/your_backup_archive

Extracting Files

To extract files, use the extract subcommand, followed by either -d to select a particular domain or --all to extract every domain with data, then the path to the archive directory, and a destination directory to write the extracted data to.

For example, to extract all files from an archive, run:

ibackupextractor extract --all /path/to/your_backup_archive /path/to/dest_dir

Or to only export files from 'SomeDomain', run:

ibackupextractor extract -d SomeDomain /path/to/your_backup_archive /path/to/dest_dir

An empty destination directory is recommended. An error will result if the tool attempts to write over an existing file.

By default, extract copies each file to the destination directory. To save disk space, use the -L (or --link) option to create symbolic links instead of copies.

Migrate a Domain Between Backups

The migrate subcommand lets you transfer files by domain from one backup archive to another, while preserving the original directory structure:

ibackupextractor migrate -d SomeDomain /path/to/source_backup_archive /path/to/dest_backup_archive

As with extraction, migrate copies files between backups by default. Add -L if you want symbolic links instead of real files in the destination archive.

FAQ

How do I create a backup archive that this tool can use?

This tool can only handle the backup archives that are unencrypted. To backup without encryption, uncheck the following option before starting:

Will this tool modify the original backup archive?

The info, list-domains, and extract commands do not write to the backup archive, and only read access to the archive is required.

The migrate command writes to the destination archive only. To successfully run migrate, read/write access to the destination archive is required.

License

MIT