frida-ps

List all processes on the local machine

$ frida-ps

$ frida-ps -U

$ frida-ps -Ua

$ frida-ps -Uai

$ frida-ps -D [device_id]

$ frida-ps -Uaj

frida-ps [options]

frida-ps is a command-line tool for listing processes, part of the Frida dynamic instrumentation toolkit. It functions similarly to the Unix ps command but is designed to work with both local and remote devices (USB-connected phones, remote frida-server instances). It can list all running processes, filter to only applications, show installed but not running applications, and output results as JSON for scripting.

-a, --applications

List only applications, not all system processes

Include all installed applications (requires -a)

Output results as JSON

Exclude icons in output

Connect to USB device

Connect to remote frida-server

Connect to remote frida-server on HOST

Connect to device with the given ID

To list processes on a remote or USB-connected device, frida-server must be running on that device with appropriate permissions. The -i flag requires -a; using --installed without --applications will report an error. On the local machine, listing processes of other users may require elevated privileges.

frida-ps has been part of the Frida toolkit since its early releases. It is included in the frida-tools package, installable via pip install frida-tools. Frida was created by Ole Andre Vadla Ravnas and publicly released in 2014.

frida(1), frida-trace(1), ps(1)