Command line iPhone backup on PC

Question

Created Mar ’18

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I have a need to do a complete backup of an iPhone, but I need to do it from a command line. Currently I am able to detect the device and obtain the device ID and pass that to AppleMobileBackup. I get a backup to execute and it's the same as when I do it natively with iTunes GUI except it's missing info.plist. I am guessing it's because I never get the opportunity to tell it to encrypt the backup (which I am not trying to circumvent. I prefer that it be encrypted)

The command that I am executing is: C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Apple\Mobile Device Support\AppleMobileBackup.exe --backup --target %40_digit_device_identifier% --root %path_where_I_want_data_stored%

It seems like I am just missing a command line parameter to pass that would enable encryption but there isn't an option that I have been able to find that tells gives me any additional information. If anyone can help with this I would appreciate it. I seem to have hit a dead end.

Thanks!

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Answer 1

DTS Engineer OP

Apple

Mar ’18

You might have more luck asking this over on Apple Support Communities. From a developer perspective there is certainly no API to run a backup, even on Apple platforms.

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—
Quinn “The Eskimo!”
Apple Developer Relations, Developer Technical Support, Core OS/Hardware

let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@apple.com"

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Answer 2

Duke3D OP

Mar ’18

OK thanks, I will give that a try.

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Answer 3

cvarenc OP

Dec ’20

AppleMobileBackup seems like it'll work on the on the cli, but it actually doesn't.

It has this really awesome help page that lures you in:

Code Block $ /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/MobileDevice.framework/Versions/Current/AppleMobileDeviceHelper.app/Contents/Resources/AppleMobileBackup --help
Action (one required):
  -b, --backup             perform a backup
  -r, --restore            perform a restore
  -E, --erase              erase target device
  -C, --change password    change backup password from the given old password
  -e, --extract path       extracts a relative path to the current directory
  -R, --remove path        removes a relative path from the backup
  -f, --filename path      prints the filename in a backup of a relative path
  -i, --info               display info about a backup
  -I, --create-info        create a placeholder Info.plist file
  -l, --list               list the contents of the backup
Options:
  -d, --device deviceid    device identifier (defaults to lockdown)
  -t, --target deviceid    target device identifier
  -s, --source deviceid    source device identifier
  -P, --password password  optional password when changing password or extracting files
  -N, --no-pass-prompt     ignore terminal prompt for password
  -D, --domain name        domain name for --extract (default "HomeDomain")
  -q, --root path          root backup directory
  -o, --output path        output file for action (not logging)
  -h, --help               print this message and exit

But I haven't gotten it to do anything with my encrypted backup. Very silent when it errors. Though if you check the console log you'll get slightly more insight.

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