idevicecrashreport

Retrieve crash reports and move them to a specified directory

$ idevicecrashreport [path/to/directory]

$ idevicecrashreport --keep [path/to/directory]

$ idevicecrashreport --extract [path/to/directory]

idevicecrashreport [OPTIONS]

-u, --udid UDID
    Target specific device by its 40-character device UDID.

-d, --debug
    Enable communication debugging.

-k, --kill
    Kill the running crashreport process.

-l, --list
    List all available crash report names.

-n, --name FILENAME
    Retrieve a specific crash report by its filename. If no filename is specified, all reports will be printed.

-p, --path PATH
    Specify the directory to save crash reports to. If not specified, reports are printed to standard output.

-f, --force
    Overwrite existing files when saving crash reports.

-q, --quiet
    Suppress output messages.

-v, --version
    Show version information.

-h, --help
    Display help information.

The `idevicecrashreport` command is a utility designed to retrieve crash reports from connected iOS devices (iPhones, iPads) and display them on the Linux terminal or save them to files. It leverages the libimobiledevice library to communicate with the device, allowing users to inspect application crashes and system errors directly from their Linux environment. This tool is especially valuable for developers debugging iOS applications, providing access to detailed crash logs that can aid in identifying and resolving software issues.

Instead of manually navigating through iTunes or Xcode, `idevicecrashreport` offers a convenient and streamlined way to collect crash reports. It can either display all crash reports or selectively download them based on filters. The utility supports retrieving crash reports over USB. Understanding the crash report format requires knowledge of iOS development and system internals, but tools and documentation exist to assist in interpreting the information contained within these reports, such as stack traces, thread states, and memory usage.

Requires libimobiledevice and its dependencies to be installed. Device must be unlocked and trusted for communication. The command relies on the device having crash reports available.

iOS crash reports are typically in a human-readable format, though understanding them requires some familiarity with programming concepts such as stack traces and memory addresses.

Stack traces indicate the sequence of function calls that led to the crash, providing valuable clues about the code path where the error occurred. Memory addresses can be used to identify specific memory locations involved in the crash.

Tools like `atos` (part of Xcode) can be used to symbolicate the crash reports, which translates memory addresses into human-readable function names and file locations.

If `idevicecrashreport` fails to connect to the device, ensure that the device is unlocked and trusted. Check that libimobiledevice and its dependencies are properly installed. Try running `idevicesyslog` to see if general device communication is working.

The `idevicecrashreport` command is part of the libimobiledevice suite, an open-source project that provides a cross-platform library for communicating with iOS devices. It has been developed and maintained by a community of developers aiming to provide tools for accessing and managing iOS devices from Linux, macOS, and Windows environments. Its utility grew with the popularization of iOS, and increased need to debug application behavior.

ideviceinfo(1), idevicesyslog(1), ideviceinstaller(1)