Toggle menu
Toggle preferences menu
Toggle personal menu
Not logged in
Log in or create an account to edit The Apple Wiki.

These are the ground rules that we expect you to follow on The Apple Wiki, including on our Discord server. The rules exist to preserve the integrity and quality of the wiki.

Moderators may delete content that appears to not follow these rules. Repeat offenses from a user may escalate to temporary or permanent blocks, at a moderator's discretion.

If you would like to discuss the ground rules, post a topic on the community portal. We are happy to make changes if there is community consensus to doing so.

License

All contributions to The Apple Wiki are considered to be released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. By submitting to The Apple Wiki, you are licensing your work under these terms. See our Copyrights page for details.

Basic ground rules

Etiquette

Be respectful to others on the wiki - everyone is welcome here. We're all here to help each other out for the betterment of the wider community. Rudeness or hateful language may be dealt with through a permanent block.

Avoid engaging in an edit war. If you disagree with an edit someone has made, raise it on the article's talk (discussion) page, the community portal, or on Discord. We may need to temporary block accounts that engage in edit warring to avoid further disruption to the wiki.

It is not acceptable to advertise your own website or project - this is likely to be considered as spam. Refer to Creation of articles for software for information on exceptions to this rule.

When editing an article, please make use of "Show preview" before saving. Excessive small edits can be considered disruptive.

Not a support forum

The Apple Wiki isn't a support forum/helpdesk. We can't help with issues related to your iPhone, Mac, other Apple products, or any apps you read about on this wiki. That being said, you may want to browse the various articles, as they may answer your question.

If you need help with jailbreaking, visit r/jailbreak or its Discord server. For other Apple help, try Reddit or Ask Different.

Original work

Content you submit to The Apple Wiki must either be your original work, or be covered by one of the exceptions below. It is not acceptable to directly copy content from an online source, even if minimal, or slightly modified. This rule includes Wikipedia - there is usually no need to replicate what has already been stated there.

You may quote from a source using quotation marks or a blockquote. Quotations should include a reference to the original source. Quotations should be used sparingly - don't use them to avoid writing your own words about a topic.

Do not submit content generated by AI tools, particularly large language models and text-to-image models. If you make use of AI tools in researching your article, you should make reasonable efforts to confirm the accuracy of the output. Use of image upscaling tools is also discouraged.

Copyrighted material

Anything that could legally get us in trouble should not be posted, ever.

OOjs UI icon cancel-destructive.svg Not allowed:

  • Unofficially mirrored Apple software and other assets (IPSW files, DMG files, IPA files, bootloaders, basebands, etc.).
  • Unofficially mirrored third-party software (i.e., a link not found on the tool's website).
  • Instructions to crack software, or links to software that is already cracked or otherwise modified. This includes IPA files decrypted from the App Store.
  • Content that violates a non-disclosure agreement you have signed.

OOjs UI icon check-constructive.svg Acceptable:

  • Links to original Apple software on official Apple domains.
  • Posting open source code, provided you give credit to the original source, and follow its license.
  • Icons, logos, photos, and screenshots can be uploaded to help illustrate the topic being discussed. Please indicate the original source when uploading the file.

OOjs UI icon lightbulb-yellow.svg Exceptions:

  • Files that are not strictly considered source code, such as .plists, may be acceptable to post. Please use your best judgement, and ask if you're not sure.
  • Links to assets such as IPA files on official Apple domains may also be acceptable (don't abuse this - only for special circumstances).
  • Links that once existed, but are now dead, may be replaced by links to the Wayback Machine, or another major web archive such as archive.today. Please note that "Wayback Machine" refers only to web.archive.org, not the main archive.org, which contains user-generated content.

Additional policies

Does it need an article?

When creating an article, consider:

  • Is this topic relevant enough to be covered?
  • Is this already stated anywhere else in the wiki? If so, does it need to be restated?
  • Do I know enough on the subject, and have beyond a reasonable doubt that the information I am about to post is true and accurate?
  • Does this really belong here? Or does it belong on another website, such as Reddit, Ask Different, or a blog?
  • If a Wikipedia article exists for the subject, can we cover anything more specific than the Wikipedia article does?

The Apple Wiki covers Apple hardware and software. We do not cover other subjects, such as:

  • Corporate matters, such as executives and internal procedures.
  • Content such as Apple TV+ shows.

Formatting

You won't be penalised for not following these formatting rules, but we still greatly appreciate if you do follow them:

  • Articles should be written in United States English. (However, please don't edit articles only to correct the English dialect, unless it improves the readability of the article.)
  • All articles should begin with at least one opening paragraph, before any headings.
  • If an article is only a few sentences long, mark it as a "stub" using {{stub}}. This categorizes the article as needing extra work.
  • Dates should be specified using the {{date}} template. For example, {{date|2007|06|29}} becomes 29 June 2007 (2007-06-29). Timestamps should be provided in UTC where possible.
  • Where possible, back up your claims with references to the website(s) you found that information from.

When editing source directly:

  • Use wikitext syntax. Avoid using HTML.
  • Use straight quotes, not curly quotes. Text copied from an editor such as TextEdit or Microsoft Word may use curly quotes.
  • Headings should start at the second level, i.e., == Hello world ==. First-level headings, with a single equals sign on both sides, should not be used.
  • When linking to external websites, use the wikitext external link syntax. In infoboxes, use {{URL|https://...}}. Both allow the Internet Archive Bot to scan them - links hidden in templates won't be scanned.

Creation of articles for software

We all have to start somewhere, but try to keep the community's needs in mind before making an article about a software project you're working on.

  • If you are involved with the program's creation, you should not create the page yourself. (Credible hackers are exempt from this.)
  • Don't create articles for software that isn't released yet. (Software announced by a credible hacker is typically exempt from this.)
  • The article on this wiki should not be treated as your project's homepage. Consider GitHub Pages if you need a website.
  • Feel free to include a screenshot, but there is no need to take screenshots of every section of the app. Again, this is best suited for your own website.
  • Don't create redirects to your article with various misspellings of the program name.

If there is already a program on the wiki that performs the tasks your program does, there should be a clear reason why your project is distinct from it. Otherwise, there is likely no need for it to be here.

Creating articles for your own paid software is likely to not be allowed, even if you meet the above criteria. If in doubt, feel free to start a topic on the Community portal, and the community will decide if it belongs on the wiki or not.

Remember to categorize your article:

Key pages

The Keys namespace is a community effort to organize all decryption keys for Apple firmware. This data is used by various community tools. As such, we expect you to follow some additional rules:

  • Key pages must follow the key page template. Diverging from the format may prevent tools from reading the keys successfully.
  • Do not create "skeleton" key pages with no key data - KBAGs are not sufficient. This prevents the firmware from appearing on the list of wanted key pages.
  • A key page should only be created if it contains at least one key or IV, or if the firmware is not encrypted at all.
  • Test the keys you find before submitting, to ensure they are in fact valid.

Internal software

Internal software and prototypes are rare to come across, and we welcome documentation about them. However, to maintain informational integrity, we do require evidence to be supplied with any substantial information that you have. For example, if you have a list of applications in an internal firmware, there should be an image or video showing them on the device.

Articles about internal software or hardware must use {{internal software}} at the top of the page, and {{Navbox Apple Internal}} at the bottom.

Tutorials

If you have an original tutorial that you believe is useful to the community, please post it!

Tutorial articles should contain the entire tutorial - they should not simply link to a video or other external website. Linking to video tutorials is acceptable in addition to the written tutorial.

User pages

Although it's not that terrible of a sin, please keep in mind that user pages are not social network profiles. A few details about yourself are fine, but don't overdo it. If you want a homepage for yourself, consider GitHub Pages.