In October 2017 alone, Apple sold more than 170,000 iPhones and more than 33,000 iPads according to released sales records. While iOS is the leading operating system for tablets worldwide, Android continues to be the leading operating system for smartphones worldwide. Regardless of the statistics, if you are a forensic examiner, the chances are that you will need to conduct an examination of an iOS device.

In order to perform a forensic examination of an iOS device, the examiner must understand the internal components and inner workings of that device. Developing an understanding of the underlying components of a mobile device will help the forensic examiner understand the criticalities involved in the forensic process, including what data can be acquired, where the data is stored, and what methods can be used to access the data from that device. So, before we delve into the examination of iOS devices, it is necessary to know the different...