Extract an Apple Watch backup from an unencrypted iPhone backup. This script was written 100% by AI, good luck.

NanoBackupExtract.sh

#!/bin/bash
# Set your iPhone's backup path before complaining
# Also, please make sure your iPhone actually has/had a paired Apple Watch. Otherwise, it's going to be very embarrasing if the script doesn't work.
# This script was genuinely written 100% by Claude. I am almost 100% sure it's missing a LOT of stuff. But, hey, it's something, and it's the only open-source way to extract user-files from watchOS /shrug.
# This script is intended for usage on macOS. It might work on Linux too, I don't know, and I haven't tested it there. Good luck.
BACKUP_PATH="$HOME/Library/Application Support/MobileSync"
OUTPUT_DIR="$HOME/NanoBackupExtract"

# Create output directory
mkdir -p "$OUTPUT_DIR"

echo "Extracting files from $BACKUP_PATH to $OUTPUT_DIR..."

# Clear previous output to start fresh
rm -rf "$OUTPUT_DIR"
mkdir -p "$OUTPUT_DIR"

# Function to find a file in the backup
find_backup_file() {
    local file_id="$1"
    local domain="$2"
    local rel_path="$3"
    
    # Try to find the file in various possible locations
    
    # 1. Direct file ID
    if [ -f "$BACKUP_PATH/$file_id" ]; then
        echo "$BACKUP_PATH/$file_id"
        return 0
    fi
    
    # 2. In Backup directory
    if [ -f "$BACKUP_PATH/Backup/$file_id" ]; then
        echo "$BACKUP_PATH/Backup/$file_id"
        return 0
    fi
    
    # 3. In two-char subdirectory structure (common in iOS backups)
    local first_two="${file_id:0:2}"
    if [ -f "$BACKUP_PATH/$first_two/$file_id" ]; then
        echo "$BACKUP_PATH/$first_two/$file_id"
        return 0
    fi
    
    # 4. Try with domain-path hash method
    local hash_input="${domain}-${rel_path}"
    local hash=$(echo -n "$hash_input" | openssl sha1 | awk '{print $2}')
    
    # Try direct hash
    if [ -f "$BACKUP_PATH/$hash" ]; then
        echo "$BACKUP_PATH/$hash"
        return 0
    fi
    
    # Try in two-char subdirectory
    local hash_first_two="${hash:0:2}"
    if [ -f "$BACKUP_PATH/$hash_first_two/$hash" ]; then
        echo "$BACKUP_PATH/$hash_first_two/$hash"
        return 0
    fi
    
    echo ""
    return 1
}

# Query and process the files
sqlite3 "$BACKUP_PATH/Manifest.db" \
  "SELECT fileID, domain, relativePath FROM Files WHERE relativePath LIKE 'Library/NanoBackup/%';" | \
  while IFS='|' read -r file_id domain rel_path; do
    
    echo "Processing: $domain - $rel_path"
    
    # Determine if this is likely a file or directory
    # We'll assume it's a directory if the path ends with / or doesn't contain a period in the last component
    is_dir=0
    if [[ "$rel_path" == */ ]]; then
        is_dir=1
    else
        # Get the basename
        basename=$(basename "$rel_path")
        # If no dot, or dot is first character (hidden file but no extension), treat as directory
        if [[ "$basename" != *.* || "$basename" == .* && "$basename" != *.*.* ]]; then
            is_dir=1
        fi
    fi
    
    # Create destination path
    dest_path="$OUTPUT_DIR/$domain/$rel_path"
    
    if [ $is_dir -eq 1 ]; then
        # It's a directory, just create it
        echo "  → Creating directory: $dest_path"
        mkdir -p "$dest_path"
    else
        # It's a file
        # Make sure parent directory exists
        parent_dir=$(dirname "$dest_path")
        mkdir -p "$parent_dir"
        
        # Find the source file
        source_path=$(find_backup_file "$file_id" "$domain" "$rel_path")
        
        if [ -n "$source_path" ]; then
            echo "  → Copying file: $source_path → $dest_path"
            cp "$source_path" "$dest_path"
            if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
                echo "    ✓ Success"
            else
                echo "    ✗ Failed to copy"
            fi
        else
            echo "  → File not found, trying database BLOB extract"
            # Try extracting directly from the database as a last resort
            sqlite3 "$BACKUP_PATH/Manifest.db" \
                "SELECT writefile('$dest_path', file) FROM Files WHERE fileID='$file_id';"
            
            if [ -f "$dest_path" ]; then
                echo "    ✓ Extracted from database BLOB"
            else
                echo "    ✗ Failed to extract file"
            fi
        fi
    fi
done

echo "Extraction complete! Files are in: $OUTPUT_DIR"