Running Patched iOS Applications

Running patched applications on iOS devices require us to side load and run them using external tools. For macOS users, ios-deploy is perfect for this. For Linux users, the libimobiledevice project provides commands to perform the same tasks.

installing and running on macOS

For macOS users, the ios-deploy utility can handle the installation and running of patched applications for you.

ios-deploy installation

Installing ios-deploy is as simple as npm install -g ios-deploy. Once installed, you should have the ios-deploy command available in your PATH.

running your application

To install and run your application:

1. Extract the IPA package with unzip my-app.ipa. This should leave you with a Payload/ directory.
2. Attach your iOS device to your computer via USB and ensure that it is unlocked.
3. Run ios-deploy with ios-deploy --bundle Payload/my-app.app -W -d where my-app.app is the folder where your application lives.

You should see the lldb debugger pop up and print out a 'success' message. The application you are running will appear to be in a 'frozen' state for a while. This is because the Frida gadget takes some time to finish loading. After some time, you should be able to run objection explore and land in a successfully connected prompt :)