iPhone native apps - access to call logs, SMS, calendar, iTunes library

Question

As I understand there aren't any public APIs available or any 'legal'/'official' way of accessing those...

I was just wondering how come some Desktop apps (MissingSync, iPhoneDrive) have access to those then...

Answer 1

I think it is because on the Desktop Apple has no way restricting a random application looking in a certain folder where the iPhone backup lives (Windows PC: C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup) and reading information from it.

Answer 2

the iPhone stores those in SQLite databases. If the application has access to those files, it can access the data.

Answer 3

thx guys for the answer :-). it really clears my mind...

@texmex5 so you mean Desktop app is fetching all this info from Desktop backup files rather than form iPhone device directly ? meaning If I JUST connect my phone to PC (withouht syncing/backing up) the information fetched will be all outdated

/V

Answer 4

UPDATE: I found that Desktop App still shows the most updated info from iPhone device, without having to sync/back-up the device to desktop. Which makes me conclude that the Desktop app must be fetching info directly from the device and NOT from the back-up residing on Desktop (Windows PC: C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup) Pls. correct me if am missing something here..)

Answer 5

Well i think it depends on the app and how crucial it is to have the most recent info - I've seen both done.

But I think getting the data directly from the phone is also possible as I found this project from Google - http://code.google.com/p/iphonebrowser/

Another way some apps do it is by asking your computer and your iPhone to be on the same network and then they also get direct access to iPhones filesystem (Things app does that and also the Apples own Remote app for iTunes)