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How to SSH into iPhone, iPod Touch & iPad on Mac OS X with Cyberduck?

Author: Ben Johnson on November 7, 2010

Here is a simple step-by-step guide which will teach you how you can SSH into your iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad to access its file system on Mac OS X with Cyberduck. Cyberduck is an SSH client for Mac OS X just like WinSCP which is an SSH client for Windows OS. Before you may SSH into your device, you must jailbreak it and install two Cydia packages called afc2add and OpenSSH.

Install Afc2Add & OpenSSH Packages Through Cydia:

  1. Open Cydia on your jailbroken iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad and let it to load data.

    2. Cydia-Home

  2. Now tap on the "Manage" tab at the bottom of the Cydia.

    3. Cydia-Manage

  3. Now tap on the "Sources" tab and makes sure ModMyi (http://apt.modmyi.com/) and Telesphoreo Tangelo (http://apt.saurik.com/) repos are available in your "Installed by Package" section.

    4. Cydia Repos

  4. Now tap on "Search" at the bottom-right and type "afc2add" and "OpenSSH" to install the respective packages.

    5. Afc2Add & Open SSH Cydia
    Afc2Add & OpenSSH Cydia Install

  5. Once both of the above packages are installed, reboot your device.

Steps to Use Cyberduck to SSH into iPhone, iPod Touch & iPad:

  1. Download and install Cyberduck for Mac OS X from here
  2. Turn ON the Wifi on your device by navigating to Settings -> Wifi

    3. iPhone IP Address

  3. Lunch Cyberduck and click on the "Open Connection" button at the top.

    4. Cyberduck SSH Client

  4. Select SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol) from the drop-down list. Enter your device "IP Address" in Server field, "root" as Username and "alpine" as Password.

    5. Cyberduck SSH Client

  5. Choose "Always" when it prompts you on "Unknown host key" for your IP.

    6. Cyberduck SSH Client

  6. Now wait while Cyberduck communicates with your device over Wifi and displays the file system of your device.

    7. Cyberduck SSH Client

If you will not install "afc2add" from Cydia, you won't be able to access the "root" folder on your device. Moreover if you will not install "OpenSSH", you will not be able to SSH into your device at all. So these two packages are must before you SSH into your device. Click here if you want to install IPA and DEB files on your device without SSH.



  • john

    i love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! if any needs hlpe with that library and media folder thing i had that to but i just went back a few folders and i find m y way around!!! thanks man!!!!!!!!!

  • Karan

    The problem is that when I SSH into my itouch, it shows only two folders Library and Media... Ive already installed both the packages but I still get the same two folders instead of the system folders.

    • http://jaxov.com/ Wolverine

      Install afc2add from Cydia and reboot your iPhone.

      • Killa4$ho

        I had same problem and tried installing afc2add. It didn't change anything. Any other advice?

        • http://twitter.com/pram0dm Pramod

          If SSH isn't working for you, you can access your filesystem via your Mac/PC using iPhoneExplorer. Its free, simple & easy to use. All you need to do is jailbreak your iDevice and hook it to your computer & get started. :)

        • jim

          click on the middle folder and go to the bottom one that looks like a hard drive and is labeled /

  • Jim

    Only problem is, "Cydia" doesn't appear to exist. Looks to be a creation of Jay Freeman's once available on his saurik.com site, but not any longer