ifuse

A fuse filesystem implementation to access the contents of iOS devices.

Table of Contents

• Features
• Building
  • Prerequisites
    • Linux (Debian/Ubuntu based)
    • macOS
  • Configuring the source tree
  • Building and installation
• Usage
• Contributing
• Links
• License
• Credits

Features

This project allows mounting various directories of an iOS device locally using the FUSE file system interface.

Some key features are:

• Media: Mount media directory of an iOS device locally
• Apps: Mount sandbox container or document directory of an app
• Jailbreak: Mount root filesystem on jailbroken devices (requires AFC2 service)
• Browse: Allows to retrieve a list of installed file-sharing enabled apps
• Implementation: Uses libimobiledevice for communication with the device

Building

Prerequisites

You need to have a working compiler (gcc/clang) and development environent available. This project uses autotools for the build process, allowing to have common build steps across different platforms. Only the prerequisites differ and they are described in this section.

Linux (Debian/Ubuntu based)

• 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 \
  	libfuse3-dev \
  	usbmuxd

• usbmuxd must be properly installed for ifuse to be able to communicate with devices.

• Note: On some systems, you may have to load the fuse kernel module first and to ensure that you are a member of the fuse group:

  sudo modprobe fuse
  sudo adduser $USER fuse

  You can check your membership of the fuse group with:

  id | grep fuse && echo yes! || echo not yet...

  If you have just added yourself, you will need to logout and log back in for the group change to become visible.

macOS

• Make sure the Xcode command line tools are installed.

  Use either MacPorts or Homebrew to install automake, autoconf, and libtool.

  Using MacPorts:

  sudo port install libtool autoconf automake

  Using Homebrew:

  brew install libtool autoconf automake

  ifuse has a few dependencies from the libimobiledevice project. You will have to build and install the following:

  • libplist
  • libimobiledevice-glue
  • libusbmuxd
  • libimobiledevice

  Check their README.md for building and installation instructions.

• Download macFUSE dmg, mount it, and double click the Install macFUSE installer. This will also install the libfuse library and development files.

  Note: For macFUSE to work, you need to allow the macFUSE system extension in Settings -> Privacy & Security -> Security. Note that changes will require a system restart.

Configuring the source tree

You can build the source code from a git checkout, or from a .tar.bz2 release tarball from Releases. Before we can build it, the source tree has to be configured for building. The steps depend on where you got the source from.

• From git

  If you haven't done already, clone the actual project repository and change into the directory.

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

  Configure the source tree for building:

  ./autogen.sh

• From release tarball (.tar.bz2)

  When using an official release tarball (ifuse-x.y.z.tar.bz2) the procedure is slightly different.

  Extract the tarball:

  tar xjf ifuse-x.y.z.tar.bz2
  cd ifuse-x.y.z

  Configure the source tree for building:

  ./configure

Both ./configure and ./autogen.sh (which generates and calls configure) accept a few options, for example --prefix to allow building for a different target folder. You can simply pass them like this:

./autogen.sh --prefix=/usr/local

or

./configure --prefix=/usr/local

Once the command is successful, the last few lines of output will look like this:

[...]
config.status: creating config.h
config.status: config.h is unchanged
config.status: executing depfiles commands
config.status: executing libtool commands

Configuration for ifuse 1.2.0:
-------------------------------------------

  Install prefix: .........: /usr/local

  Now type 'make' to build ifuse 1.2.0,
  and then 'make install' for installation.

Building and installation

If you followed all the steps successfully, and autogen.sh or configure did not print any errors, you are ready to build the project. This is simply done with

make

If no errors are emitted you are ready for installation. Depending on whether the current user has permissions to write to the destination directory or not, you would either run

make install

OR

sudo make install

Usage

To mount the media partition from the device run:

ifuse <mountpoint>

HINT: If you mount your device as regular user, the system might complain that the file /etc/fuse.conf is not readable. It means you do not belong to the fuse group (see below).

To unmount as a regular user you must run:

fusermount -u <mountpoint>

By default, ifuse (via the AFC protocol) gives access to the /var/mobile/Media/ chroot on the device (containing music/pictures). This is the right and safe way to access the device. However, if the device has been jailbroken, a full view of the device's filesystem might be available using the following command when mounting:

ifuse --root <mountpoint>

Note that only older jailbreak software installed the necessary AFC2 service on the device to enable root filesystem usage. For instance blackra1n does not install it and thus does not enable root filesystem access by default! Use with care as the AFC protocol was not made to access the root filesystem.

ifuse can also be used with the iTunes file/document sharing feature. It allows you to exchange files with an application on the device directly through it's documents folder by specifing the application identifier like this:

ifuse --documents <appid> <mountpoint>

The following example mounts the documents folder of the VLC app to /mnt:

ifuse --documents org.videolan.vlc-ios /mnt

It is also possible to mount the sandboxed root folder of an application using the --container parameter:

ifuse --container <appid> <mountpoint>

The <appid> (bundle identifier) of an app can be obtained using:

ifuse --list-apps

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

ifuse --help
man ifuse

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!

Links

• Homepage: https://libimobiledevice.org/
• Repository: https://github.com/libimobiledevice/ifuse.git
• Repository (Mirror): https://git.libimobiledevice.org/ifuse.git
• Issue Tracker: https://github.com/libimobiledevice/ifuse/issues
• Mailing List: https://lists.libimobiledevice.org/mailman/listinfo/libimobiledevice-devel
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/libimobiledev

License

This software is licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License v2.1, 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.

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

README Updated on: 2025-10-14