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/System/Library/Frameworks
Frameworks are folders each containing a dynamic library and resources for that, library such as images and localization strings. All frameworks have the file extension .framework.
On the iOS there are 2 kinds of frameworks: public frameworks and private frameworks. Public frameworks are those ones endorsed by Apple and are allowed to be used in AppStore apps. Private frameworks are intended to be used only by original apps, and are more unstable against firmware changes, but many of the interesting features are in the private frameworks.
Public Frameworks
All public frameworks can be found inside /System/Library/Frameworks/.
Private Frameworks
All private frameworks can be found inside /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks. The descriptions may be incorrect, since most frameworks are not documented after all.
| Framework | 2.x | 3.x | 4.x | Prefix | Language | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accelerate | Yes | Yes | Yes | -- | -- | High-performance vector-accelerated libraries [1]. Pulls in vecLib, which contains libLAPACK, libBLAS and libvDSP. |
| AccessorySupport | No | Yes | Yes | AS | C | Probably related to the new accessory API |
| AccountSettings | Yes | Yes | Yes | - | ObjC | (Mail) accounts managing. |
| AccountSettingsUI | No | Yes | Yes | - | ObjC | UI for managing accounts. |
| ActorKit | No | Yes | Yes | AK | ObjC | Actor model |
| AdminLite | No | Yes | Yes | - | C | Unknown. Provides only 2 functions: AdminLiteNVRAMSet and nvram_set. |
| AggregateDictionary | No | Yes | Yes | AD | ? | |
| AOSNotification | Yes | Yes | Yes | AOS | C | MobileMe Sync. |
| AppSupport | Yes | Yes | Yes | CP | C, ObjC | Distributed messaging, Phone number formatting, Geographical info, SQLite, etc. |
| Apple80211 | Yes | No | No | - | C | WiFi. On 3.0 the same functionality is provided by the MobileWiFi framework. |
| AppleJPEG | Yes | Yes | No | - | C | Create CGImage from JPEG. |
| ApplePushService | No | Yes | Yes | APS | ObjC | Apple push service. Manages connection to Apple's servers for push notifications. |
| AppleVXD375Framework | No | Yes | No | - | C | MPEG-4 hardware related (???) |
| AppleWirelessDiagnostics | No | No | Yes | - | ? | Related to the iOS Diagnostics app? |
| ApplicationScripting | No | Yes | Yes | - | ObjC | Simulator-only framework to allow users to use scripts (e.g. Javascript) to control the applications. |
| ArtworkCache | Yes | Yes | Yes | - | C | Process .artwork files |
| AssetLibraryServices | No | No | Yes | - | ? | |
| AXRuntime | No | Yes | No | AX | C | Supports accessibility (VoiceOver, etc.) |
| BluetoothManager | Yes | Yes | Yes | - | ObjC | Higher-level bluetooth manager using MobileBluetooth. |
| Bom | Yes | Yes | Yes | BOM | C | Filesystem and PKZip related (???) |
| Calculate | Yes | Yes | Yes | - | C | Compute results of mathematical equations (as a C string). See [2] for usage. |
| Calendar | Yes | Yes | No | Cal | C, ObjC | Manages the calendar (and events). |
| CalendarUI | Yes | Yes | No | - | ObjC | UI toolkits for the calendar. |
| Camera | Yes | Yes | Yes | - | C | Take and preview photos from camera. |
| CaptiveNetwork | ? | Yes | Yes | - | ? | |
| Celestial | Yes | Yes | Yes | AV, Fig | C, ObjC | (AV) Audio & video control; (Fig) Recoding, photo, video capturing and post-processing. |
| CertUI | No | No | Yes | - | ? | |
| ChatKit | No | Yes | Yes | CK | ObjC | UI toolkit for SMS and MMS messages. |
| Conference | No | No | Yes | ? | FaceTime? | |
| ContentIndex | No | Yes | Yes | CX | C | Document processing (???) |
| CoreDAV | No | No | Yes | - | ? | |
| CoreMedia | Yes | Yes | No | CM, Fig | C | ? |
| CoreSurface | Yes | Yes | Yes | - | C | Direct read/write of screen buffer. |
| CoreTelephony | Yes | Yes | No | CT, VM, Mms | C, C++ (for Mms) | Telephone services, Voice mailbox, MMS. |
| CoreTelephonyBypass | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | |
| CoreText | No | Yes | No | CT | C | Advanced font management. Public as of 3.2. |
| CoreVideo | Yes | Yes | No | CV | C | Frame-by-frame video processing [3] |
| CrashReporterSupport | Yes | Yes | Yes | CR | C | Crash reporter support. |
| DataAccess | Yes | Yes | Yes | AS, CalDAV, DA | ObjC | Push mail/calendar support. |
| DataAccessExpress | Yes | Yes | Yes | DA | ObjC | Query/search push mails (???). |
| DataAccessUI | ? | ? | Yes | |||
| DataDetectorsCore | No | Yes | Yes | DD | C | Match form fields to auto-fill fields (e.g. name, zip-code, etc.) or linkable texts (e.g. URL, phone number, etc.) |
| DataDetectorsUI | No | Yes | Yes | DD | ObjC | ? |
| DataMigration | Yes | Yes | Yes | DM | C | Migrate data on restoring to updated firmware. |
| DAVKit | No | Yes | Yes | AY, DAV, DK | ObjC | WebDAV support. |
| DeviceToDeviceManager | No | Yes | Yes | D2D | C | Device-to-device manager. |
| EAP8021X | Yes | Yes | Yes | EAP | C | Extensible Authentication Protocol for wireless network [4] |
| GameKitServices | No | No | Yes | For Game Center. | ||
| GeoServices | No | No | Yes | |||
| GMM | Yes | Yes | Yes | GMM | ObjC, C++ | Google Mobile Maps. |
| GraphicsServices | Yes | Yes | Yes | GS | C | Event handling, capability check, colors and fonts, etc. |
| H2ISPServices | No | Yes | Yes | - | C++ | Camera related. |
| IAP | Yes | Yes | Yes | IAP | C | Manages accessory connections. |
| iCalendar | No | Yes | Yes | ICS | ObjC, C++ | iCalendar support. |
| Image Capture | No | No | Yes | |||
| ImageIO | Yes | Yes | Yes | CG | C | Read/write images for common image formats. [5] |
| IMAVCore | No | No | Yes | |||
| IMCore | No | No | Yes | |||
| IOMobileFramebuffer | Yes | Yes | Yes | - | C | Framebuffer access. |
| IOSurface | No | Yes | Yes | - | C | Lower level interface of CoreSurface. |
| ITSync | Yes | Yes | Yes | - | ObjC | iTunes Sync. |
| iTunesStore | Yes | Yes | Yes | IS | C, ObjC | iTunes Music Store support. |
| iTunesStoreUI | Yes | Yes | Yes | SU | ObjC | UI toolkit for iTunes Music Store. |
| iWorkImport | Yes | Yes | Yes | - | C | Convert iWork documents to HTML. |
| JavaScriptCore | Yes | Yes | Yes | JS, WTF | C, C++ | WebKit's Javascript interpreter. Source code available in [6]. |
| JSON | No | No | Yes | |||
| LDAP | No | Yes | Yes | ber, ldap | C | Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP). |
| ManagedConfiguration | Yes | Yes | Yes | MC | ObjC | Manager for .MobileConfig profiles. |
| MapKit | Yes | No | No | MK | ObjC | Objective-C Wrapper and UI toolkit for maps. It becomes a public framework in 3.0. |
| MapSupport | ? | ? | Yes | |||
| MBX2D | Yes | Yes | Yes | mbx | C | 2D (and a little 3D) image operations (blending, affine transform, etc.) on the GPU. |
| MBXConnect | Yes | No | No | mbx | C | Send commands to GPU. This framework is merged into MBX2D in 3.0. |
| MediaToolbox | Yes | Yes | Yes | Fig | C | Manages media file formats. |
| Message | Yes | Yes | Yes | - | ObjC | Manages emails. |
| MessageUI | Yes | No | No | - | ObjC | UI toolkit for composing emails. It becomes a public framework in 3.0. |
| MessageUtilities | Yes | No | No | - | ObjC | String utilities for email parsing. It is merged with the new framework "MIME" in 3.0. |
| MIME | No | Yes | Yes | - | ObjC | MIME encoder/decoder. This was split from the Message framwork from 2.x. |
| MobileBluetooth | Yes | Yes | Yes | BT | C | Manages bluetooth connections. |
| MobileDeviceLink | Yes | Yes | Yes | DL | C | Send and receive file on device, with encryption support. |
| MobileIcons | ? | ? | Yes | |||
| MobileInstallation | Yes | Yes | Yes | - | C | Install apps. |
| MobileKeyBag | ? | ? | Yes | - | ||
| MobileMusicPlayer | Yes | Yes | No | PC, _MPlayer | C | Read and set properties about the global music player (current song, is Genius enabled, etc.). |
| MobileQuickLook | No | Yes | No | QL | C | View attachments. |
| MobileSoftwareUpdate | ? | ? | Yes | - | ||
| MobileSync | Yes | Yes | Yes | - | C | Sync calendars, bookmarks, mail accounts, notes and contacts with computer. |
| MobileWiFi | No | Yes | Yes | - | C | Obtain WiFi info, e.g. WEP/WPA, SSID, power output etc. |
| MobileWirelessSync | ≥2.1 | Yes | Yes | MWS | C | Sync calendars, bookmarks, notes and contacts with Mobile Me. |
| MultitouchSupport | Yes | Yes | Yes | MT | C | Multitouch support, e.g. pressure, proximity and path detection. |
| MusicLibrary | Yes | Yes | Yes | ML | ObjC | Access music library and photo album. |
| MusicLibraryDDB | No | Yes | No | - | ObjC, C++ | Looks similar to MusicLibrary, yet they are independent frameworks... |
| Notes | No | Yes | Yes | - | C | Read/write notes. It is split off from the Notes.app in 3.0 to support Spotlight. |
| OfficeImport | Yes | Yes | Yes | OI | C | Convert Microsoft Office documents into HTML. |
| PersistentConnection | Yes | Yes | Yes | PC | C | Maintain a persistent connection with another server. It also deals with power managements for this purpose. |
| PhotoLibrary | Yes | Yes | Yes | PL | ObjC | UI toolkit for the photo album, video list, the camera view and media publishing. |
| PhotoLibraryServices | ? | ? | Yes | |||
| PortableStorage | ? | ? | Yes | |||
| Preferences | Yes | Yes | Yes | PS | ObjC | Supports custom preference bundles. |
| ProofReader | ? | ? | Yes | |||
| ProtocolBuffer | No | Yes | Yes | PB | ObjC | Provides support for Protocol Buffers. [7] |
| ScreenReaderCore | No | Yes | ? | SCRC | ObjC | Screen reader (read text at finger position). |
| Search | No | Yes | ? | SP | ObjC | Spotlight support. |
| SMSCTServer | No | Yes | ? | SMS | ObjC | Server to receive and interpret SMS. |
| SportsTrainer | No | Yes | ? | ST | ObjC | UI toolkit for Nike+iPod workouts. |
| SpringBoardServices | Yes | Yes | ? | SB, SBS | C | Provides Mach port and convenient functions for apps to communicate with the SpringBoard. Content includes get/set app properties, get/set watchdog assertions, get accelerometer events and UI orientation, get/set status bar appearance, and send/receive push notifications. |
| SpringBoardUI | ≥2.1 | Yes | ? | - | ObjC | Supports SBAwayView plugins (lock screen widgets). |
| Symbolication | Yes | Yes | ? | VMU | ObjC | Analyze Mach-O executables, task sampling, memory view. |
| TelephonyUI | Yes | Yes | ? | TP | ObjC | UI toolkit for telephone system. |
| TextInput | No | Yes | ? | UI, KB | ObjC, C++ | Keyboard input managers. This framework is split from UIKit from 2.x. |
| UIAccessibility | No | Yes | ? | - | ObjC | Accessibility server. |
| URLify | Yes | No | ? | CP | ObjC | Match URL in a string. Replaced by data detectors in 3.0. |
| VideoToolbox | Yes | Yes | ? | VT | C | Video compression/decompression, encoding/decoding for H.264 and MP4 Video. |
| VisualVoicemail | Yes | Yes | ? | VV | ObjC | Supports visual voicemail. |
| VoiceMemos | No | Yes | ? | RC | ObjC | UI toolkit for recording voice memos. |
| VoiceServices | No | Yes | Yes | VS | ObjC | Voice recognition. |
| WebCore | Yes | Yes | ? | DOM, WAK, WK | ObjC, C++ | WebKit's Rendering engine. Source code available in [8]. |
| WebKit | Yes | Yes | ? | Web | ObjC | WebKit. UI toolkit to show a web page. |
| WebUI | No | Yes | ? | - | ObjC | Addition UI for Web views, e.g. Authentication view, certificate view, etc. |
| XMPP | Yes | Yes | ? | - | C | Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP / Jabber). |
| YouTube | Yes | Yes | ? | YT | ObjC | YouTube support. |
