ideviceinfo
Get information about connected iOS devices
TLDR
Display detailed information about the connected device
Show information about a specific device by UDID
SYNOPSIS
ideviceinfo [OPTIONS]
PARAMETERS
-d, --debug
Enable communication debugging.
-u, --udid UDID
Target specific device by its 40-digit device UDID.
-s, --simple
Omit keys, print only values.
-x, --xml
Output in XML format.
-q, --quiet
Suppress error messages.
-k, --key KEY
Get only the value of the specified KEY (e.g. ProductVersion).
-h, --help
Prints usage information.
-v, --version
Prints version information.
DESCRIPTION
ideviceinfo is a command-line utility that allows users to query information about connected iOS devices (iPhones, iPads, iPod Touches) without requiring a jailbreak. It retrieves details such as device name, product type, build version, serial number, Wi-Fi address, Bluetooth address, activation state, and more. This tool is valuable for developers, system administrators, and anyone needing to programmatically access device information for automation or troubleshooting purposes. It is part of the libimobiledevice project, which provides a cross-platform library for communicating with iOS devices using native protocols. The information is commonly used to generate device profiles, track device inventory, or perform device-specific configurations.
ideviceinfo relies on iTunesMobileDevice library to comunicate with iDevices. It offers options to specify the output format such as xml or plain text, and also allows querying specific properties instead of retrieving all available information. It is an essential tool in any iDevice focused workflow. If you want to manipulate or debug devices, please check ideviceinstaller, or idevicedebug
CAVEATS
Requires libimobiledevice to be installed and the device to be properly connected via USB. The device must trust the computer for communication to be established.
EXIT STATUS
ideviceinfo returns 0 on success, and a non-zero value on failure (e.g., device not connected, invalid parameters).
HISTORY
ideviceinfo is part of the libimobiledevice suite, an open-source project initiated to provide a platform-agnostic method for interacting with iOS devices. It was developed as an alternative to relying on Apple's proprietary tools and frameworks, particularly for Linux and other non-macOS operating systems. The command has evolved over time to support newer iOS versions and device models, adding more properties and improving compatibility. The main goal is to provide a comprehensive and reliable way to access device information for various use cases, like testing and automated deployments.
SEE ALSO
idevicesyslog(1), ideviceinstaller(1), idevicedebug(1)