Warning: this instruction is not for everyone. It requires certain IT skills.
If you don’t know well what you are doing, stop! It may cause damage or data loss on your devices.
We are not responsible for any damage to your devices.
Use with your own risk!
On Windows or Mac, there are some other tools (free?), for some security reasons, I don’t use ALL of them.)
On Ubuntu, to install .ipa to iDevice, we can try this one https://github.com/libimobiledevice
A. Install requirements
1. Install libimobiledevice first
The package name may vary on your Ubuntu, so use the tip below to find its name. On my Ubuntu, it was libimobiledevice6
Update your system:
sudo apt update
Find libimobiledeviceto see the latest package:
sudo apt search libimobiledevice
For my case, at the time of this writing, the package was libimobiledevice6. Note the 6 number.
Then just install:
sudo apt install libimobiledevice6 usbmuxd libimobiledevice-utils
2. Install ideviceinstaller
ideviceinstaller manages apps of iOS devices
sudo apt search ideviceinstaller
sudo apt install ideviceinstaller
3. Install libplist
libplist - A library to handle Apple Property List format in binary or XML
sudo apt search libplist
sudo apt install libplist3
B. Using
1. Using ideviceinstaller to install .ipa
Connect your iPad/iPhone to the computer via cable, make sure the iPad/iPhone is unlocked and always ‘awaken’ when you are installing .ipa files.
For this, I set the screen lock time to ‘never’, and after I have done, set it back to 5 minutes. Remember to set back!
Then from the Terminal run:
idevicepair pair
It will pair your device or give Trust to the computer. You should see 2 mounted media on Ubuntu now.
To see help:
ideviceinstaller --help
Note that the
--archivefunction (to back up .ipa files) is removed by Apple since iOS 9? so you can not use it.
To install ipa file
For example, this Tipitaka app 001_iCSP11.ipa from https://www.mediafire.com/folder/tbfxttqdeql7e/iOS_Softwarers_2020
d@d1:~$ ideviceinstaller --install 001_iCSP11.ipa
WARNING: could not locate iTunesMetadata.plist in archive!
WARNING: could not locate Payload/iCSP11.app/SC_Info/iCSP11.sinf in archive!
Copying '001_iCSP11.ipa' to device... DONE.
Installing 'com.messenger.iCSP11'
Install: CreatingStagingDirectory (5%)
Install: ExtractingPackage (15%) Install: InspectingPackage (20%) Install: TakingInstallLock (20%) Install: PreflightingApplication (30%)
Install: InstallingEmbeddedProfile (30%)
Install: VerifyingApplication (40%) Install: CreatingContainer (50%) Install: InstallingApplication (60%) Install: PostflightingApplication (70%) Install: SandboxingApplication (80%) Install: GeneratingApplicationMap (90%)
Install: Complete
d@d1:~$
2. List installed apps on idevices
ideviceinstaller --list-apps > piPad-app-list.txt
C. Bonus
1. Fix the issues cannot copy photos
Learned fromthis strick
Click Documents on…, press Ctrl + L, you will see the absolute path something like:
afc://1exabdf05062:3/
Now remove the :3, so it becomes:
afc://1exabdf05062/
then press enter, you will seeDCIMdir which allows you to copy photos to your computer.