Depending on what you’re doing with your iPhone or iPad, there may come a time when you need to find your device’s Exclusive Chip Identifier, otherwise more recognizable by the acronym ECID.
The process for finding your phone’s ECID will differ depending on whether your computer is Mac or Windows. In today’s tutorial, we’ll show you how to find it in any of these scenarios.
Why you might need to know your ECID
Most regular iPhone users will never need to know their ECID, but if you ever decide to mess around with unconventional firmware rollbacks, use SHSH blobs, or use signature status apps like MobileTSS, then you may need to find and/or use the ECID in the future.
Exclusive Chip Identifier (ECID) is exactly what it sounds like – a special code used to identify the chip inside your device. No two ECIDs are the same. ECID is not the same as UDID, the latter of which means a unique device identifier.
If you need help finding out what your device’s ECID is, you can follow the steps for macOS and Windows, which are described separately below.
Finding iPhone ECID in macOS
Now that macOS uses the Finder to manage the connected iPhone instead of iTunes, differences in user interfaces and data availability affect ECID detection. We recommend using checkra1n instead. This powerful jailbreak tool displays the ECID of your iPhone whether it is jailbreak compatible or not, and below we will show you how to do it:
1) Download and install checkra1n if you haven’t already. It can be obtained from the URL below:
2) Open the checkra1n app:
Note. You may need to trust checkra1n under System Preferences → Security & Privacy if you are running it for the first time as it is not owned by an Apple verified developer. To do this, click “Open anyway”.
3) Connect your iPhone to your Mac with a Lightning to USB cable.
Note. You may need to trust your iPhone on your Mac via the Finder window and trust your Mac on your iPhone via a tooltip. Do it now if prompted; otherwise, go to the next step.
4) The ECID of your iPhone is conveniently displayed in the checkra1n window, for example:
Find iPhone ECID in Windows
If you are using Windows, you can use iTunes to find your ECID. We will show you how below:
1) Download and install iTunes from the Apple website or Microsoft Store if you are not already using it. The URLs are below:
iTunes via Microsoft Store:
iTunes for Windows 10 or Windows 8:
2) Open iTunes:
3) Connect your iPhone to your Windows PC with a Lightning to USB cable.
Note. You may need to trust your iPhone on Windows PC through iTunes window and trust Windows PC on iPhone through tooltip. Do it now if prompted; otherwise, go to the next step.
4) Click on your device in the navigation bar of iTunes:
5) In the following interface, click on the serial number of your device:
6) The serial number is now changed to UDID, click on your device’s UDID:
7) Your ECID is now conveniently displayed in the iTunes window:
Conclusion
Getting ECID for iPhone isn’t all that difficult, however this has been a frequently requested guide given how hidden the information may seem at first glance. While you may never need your iPhone’s ECID, it’s always good to know how to get it in the unlikely event you need it for your next exciting hack.
Were you able to find your iPhone’s ECID with the steps above? Be sure to let us know in the comments section below.