OpenExplore

A cross-platform desktop app to explore and analyze iPhone backups.

Point it at an iTunes/Finder backup directory, and it dynamically discovers every database, plist, and structured data source inside — then lets you browse schemas, preview data, search across tables, and export what you find.

Features

• Backup Discovery — Auto-detects iPhone backups on macOS and Windows
• Full Encryption Support — Decrypts encrypted backups with password (PBKDF2 + AES-256-CBC keybag)
• Dynamic Database Discovery — Finds every SQLite database via magic byte detection, extracts full schemas
• Semantic Labeling — Recognizes Messages, Contacts, Photos, Notes, Safari, Health, and 20+ known databases
• Smart Data Grid — Virtualized table viewer with timestamp detection, blob previews, phone number formatting
• Plist Viewer — Browse property lists as navigable trees with search
• SQL Query Editor — Execute raw SQL against any discovered database
• Global Search — Search across all tables in all databases simultaneously
• Deleted Record Recovery — Parse SQLite freelist pages for deleted rows
• Export Manager — Bulk export tables to CSV, JSON, or standalone SQLite files
• Virtual File Tree — Browse the complete reconstructed backup filesystem

Architecture

• Frontend: Electron + React + TypeScript
• Backend: Python sidecar (JSON-RPC over stdin/stdout) for backup parsing and data processing
• Communication: JSON-RPC 2.0 bridge between Electron main process and Python

Quick Start

# Clone
git clone https://github.com/charleswest775/openexplore.git
cd openexplore

# Install Node dependencies
npm install

# Set up Python sidecar
cd python-sidecar
python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate        # macOS/Linux
# Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
cd ..

# Run in development
npm run dev

Development

# TypeScript type checking
npm run typecheck

# Lint
npm run lint

# Build for production
npm run build

# Package for distribution
npm run package

Packaging the Python Sidecar

cd python-sidecar
pip install pyinstaller
pyinstaller --onefile --name openexplore main.py

The bundled executable will be in python-sidecar/dist/.

Security

• Backup passwords are held in memory only, never persisted to disk
• All SQLite access is read-only (PRAGMA query_only = ON)
• The Python sidecar communicates only via stdin/stdout (no network exposure)
• Decrypted content is never written to disk (memory-only, except temp files for SQLite)

See SECURITY.md for vulnerability reporting.

License

MIT — Copyright (c) 2026 Charles West