Ubuntu – How to access iOS camera pictures on Ubuntu

iosiphone

The libimobiledevice shipped with 17.04 is actually compatible with the latest iOS. When you connect a device, two virtual devices show up. However, the one with the documents works but the one for the camera just shows an empty folder.

There is no obvious way to access the camera pictures on the iOS device.

How do I access them? I don't want to compile libimobiledevice from source.

Best Answer

Ubuntu 18.04 / iOS 11.4

This version of Ubuntu has the latest libimobiledevice (at the time of release) so it supports iOS 11.4. There is a propblem with the Gnome integration, though. It shows the Documents folder (app folders). In addition to the tip below by @diego, here's a simple way to get to the pictures folder (this works if the iOS Documents show up for you but not the pictures):

  • Open the iDevices Documents folder in Nautilus.
  • Press CTRL+L to get the real address which will look like afc://YOURSERIAL:3/
  • Remove trailing colon and number and press ENTER (i.e. it should just read afc://YOURSERIAL)

You should now see your iDevices system folders, including DCIM.

Ubuntu 17.04 / iOS 10.3.3

As a workaround, you can mount your iOS device with ifuse.

sudo apt install ifuse

Now connect your device and make sure it is paired with your computer.

idevicepair validate

If you get a SUCCESS message, you are good, if not run idevicepair pair. Now you can use ifuse to mount your iOS images folder:

mkdir ~/pics && ifuse ~/pics

The images are now available in your $HOME folder under pics. Ready to be synced with Shotwell. To unmount the folder, use fusermount:

fusermount -u ~/pics && rmdir ~/pics

Note: in this example I create a pics folder and remove it afterwards. If you already have a folder named like this, choose a different name.

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