iPhone App Cleanup via Mac Terminal | Generated by AI
Not connected yet, but once you plug in your iPhone, here’s what we can do with the tools already on your Mac:
Tools available: ideviceinstaller (from libimobiledevice via Homebrew)
Workflow to clean up iOS apps:
- List all user-installed apps — shows bundle IDs + names:
ideviceinstaller -l -o list_user - Uninstall unused apps by bundle ID:
ideviceinstaller -U com.example.unused-app - Smart cleanup approach — I can write a script that:
- Lists all 200-300 apps from your iPhone
- Cross-references with apps you haven’t opened recently (unfortunately iOS doesn’t expose last-used date via this API)
- Presents them sorted/grouped for you to decide
- Batch-deletes by category or individually
It does require trusting this Mac from your iPhone (the usual “Trust This Computer” prompt on first connect). Once that’s done, I can drop the full list right in your terminal and let you pick which ones to nuke.
Want to plug it in so I can start?