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Bitpim

BitPim is a free, open source, cross-platform program for viewing and editing data on a CDMA cell phone. Roger Binns was the founder, project manager, and lead developer of the project, first releasing it on March 1st, 2003. Since then leadership has been handed over to another party and over two million users have downloaded it. The program has been developed in python and originally only supported the LG VX4400 but it now supports a variety of phone manufactures including:

  • Audiovox
  • Kyocera
  • LG
  • Motorola
  • Nokia
  • Palm
  • Samsung
  • Sanyo
  • Toshiba

In order to use the program, a data cable and it's drivers, usually available from the supplier/manufacturer, are required. BitPim will try and automatically detect a phone but its recommended that settings are manually configured.

Features

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The program can examine the phonebook, calendar, media (e.g. sounds, ringers, images), memos, todo lists, SMS messages, call history, play lists, and raw filesystem from devices.

Features are dependent on the phone model. For a full list of each phones supported features see BitPim's supported phones list.

The data can be manipulated through the software and changes can be uploaded to the phone. Calendar, Phonebook, Memo, Todo, and Playlist data can all be imported from an external file. For backup purposes all of the data can be exported to external files.

Forensics

If doing a forensic investigation the application should always be in read only mode, which claims to block all write commands to the phone. The program will not recover deleted data nor does it always recover all undeleted data. The file system view is a very important feature forensically as it allows a raw view of data from the phone, possibly uncovering data that BitPim missed or found unimportant. An advanced feature that could also be vital to a forensic investigation is BitFling. This feature allows another computer to remotely access a phones data over the internet. A phone could be confiscated in California, connected to BitPim with BitFling configured, and be forensically analyzed in New York. Lastly exporting the data is very important so that copies of the data can be made, ensuring no data is lost or manipulated.

Compatability

BitPIM runs on Windows, Linux, and MacOS.