iMazing for Linux? A free iPhone backup extractor

Most iPhone tools stop at Mac and Windows. iMazing's own FAQ calls it "an app for macOS and Windows", and its tech specs list no Linux version. If Linux is the computer you use, that leaves you looking for something else.

OpenExtract builds for Linux with every release. It's the same app as on Mac and Windows, with the same screens and exports, and the parsing engine's tests run on Linux, macOS and Windows on every change.

The home page of a sample iPhone backup in OpenExtract: tiles with counts of messages, WhatsApp messages, photos, people, address book cards, calls, notes, voicemails and podcasts, under a search box for the whole backup. — **A backup's home page**A sample backup in OpenExtract. See every screen.

Install it

There are two Linux downloads. Both are for 64-bit Intel and AMD computers (x86-64); there's no ARM build for Linux yet.

Ubuntu, Debian, Linux Mint, Pop!_OS: download the .deb and open it, or install it from a terminal. Then start OpenExtract from your app menu. It's built on Ubuntu 22.04, so it runs on Ubuntu 22.04 and later and on Debian 12 and later.

sudo apt install ./openextract_*_amd64.deb

Other distributions: download the AppImage and make it executable. AppImages need FUSE 2, which recent Ubuntu releases no longer install by default. If it fails with dlopen(): error loading libfuse.so.2, install FUSE 2 (libfuse2t64 on Ubuntu 24.04 and later, libfuse2 on Ubuntu 22.04 and Debian, fuse-libs on Fedora, fuse2 on Arch), or run it without FUSE:

chmod +x OpenExtract-*.AppImage
./OpenExtract-*.AppImage --appimage-extract-and-run

Where your backup comes from

Linux has no Finder or iTunes, so the backup usually starts somewhere else. Any of these work:

Copied from a Mac or Windows PC. Backups live in ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup on a Mac and %APPDATA%\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup with iTunes on Windows. Copy the folder for the device (its name is a long string of letters and numbers).
On an external drive. Plug it in and open the backup folder from there.
Made on Linux. The idevicebackup2 tool from libimobiledevice creates backups of an iPhone connected by USB. On Ubuntu and Debian it's in the libimobiledevice-utils package.

OpenExtract looks in ~/MobileSync/Backup on its own. For a backup anywhere else, choose its folder, or the folder above it. Any folder with a Manifest.db in it works.

Linux questions

Does iMazing run on Linux?

Not according to iMazing. Its FAQ says it's "available for Mac and Windows", and its tech specs list macOS and Windows versions only. OpenExtract does the backup-reading part of what iMazing does, on Linux. See the full comparison for what it doesn't do.

Which distributions does it run on?

The .deb installs on Ubuntu 22.04 and later, Debian 12 and later, and distributions based on them, such as Linux Mint and Pop!_OS. On anything else, use the AppImage. Both need a 64-bit Intel or AMD processor.

Is there a Flatpak or a Snap?

Not yet. For now the .deb and the AppImage are the two ways to install it on Linux.

Can I use a backup I made on Windows or a Mac?

Yes. Finder, iTunes and the Apple Devices app all write the same backup format. Copy the backup folder to your Linux computer, or open it from an external drive.

Do I need the iPhone?

No. OpenExtract only reads the backup. You don't need the phone, your Apple ID or an internet connection.