How to Detect Frida Attach in iOS Apps Using AI

Last updated March 18, 2025 by Appdome

This Knowledge Base article describes how to use Appdome’s AI/ML in your CI/CD pipeline to continuously deliver plugins that Detect Frida Attach in iOS apps.

What is Frida Attach?

Frida Attach is a technique used by attackers to dynamically connect the Frida client to a running application or process without requiring prior embedding or spawning. Once attached, attackers can inject malicious scripts, bypass security controls, inspect internal app logic, hook API functions, and modify critical app behaviors in real time. This method is commonly used to disable SSL pinning, extract sensitive data, and bypass authentication mechanisms, including the device passcode, posing severe risks to mobile apps and users. Since Frida Attach does not require app modifications, traditional static defenses fail to detect it, making real-time monitoring and blocking essential to prevent unauthorized runtime tampering.

How Appdome Protects iOS Apps Against Frida Attach

Appdome’s dynamic Detect Frida Attach plugin for iOS detects and blocks any attempts to attach the Frida toolkit to an application. Here’s how it works:

  • Detects Frida Attach Attempts: Monitors the app’s environment during runtime to identify if any unauthorized Frida-based tools are attempting to attach to its processes.
  • Blocks Attachment Attempts: Immediately terminates the app session if a Frida Attach attempt is identified.

This feature is essential for protecting sensitive applications from external manipulation and ensuring a secure runtime environment for users and systems.

Prerequisites for Using Appdome's Detect Frida Attach Plugins:

To use Appdome’s mobile app security build system to Detect Frida Attach , you’ll need:

How to Implement Detect Frida Attach in iOS Apps Using Appdome

On Appdome, follow these simple steps to create self-defending iOS Apps that Detect Frida Attach without an SDK or gateway:

  1. Designate the Mobile App to be protected.

    1. Upload an app via the Appdome Mobile Defense platform GUI or via Appdome’s DEV-API or CI/CD Plugins.

    2. iOS Formats: .ipa
    3. Detect Frida Attach is compatible with: Obj-C, Java, Swift, Flutter, React Native, Unity, Xamarin, Cordova and other iOS apps.
  2. Select the defense: Detect Frida Attach.

      1. Create and name the Fusion Set (security template) that will contain the Detect Frida Attach feature as shown below:
        fusion set that contains Detect Frida Attach

        Figure 1: Fusion Set that will contain the Detect Frida Attach feature

      2. Follow the steps in Sections 2.2-2.2.2 of this article to add the Detect Frida Attach feature to your Fusion Set via the Appdome Console.

      3. When you enable Anti Frida Detection Bypass you'll notice that the Fusion Set you created in step 2.1 now bears the icon of the protection category that contains Detect Frida Attach.

        Fusion Set applied Detect Frida Attach

        Figure 2: Fusion Set that displays the newly added Detect Frida Attach protection
        Note: Annotating the Fusion Set to identify the protection(s) selected is optional only (not mandatory).

      4. Open the Fusion Set Detail Summary by clicking the “...” symbol on the far-right corner of the Fusion Set. Copy the Fusion Set ID from the Fusion Set Detail Summary (as shown below): fusion Set Detail Summary image

        Figure 3: Fusion Set Detail Summary

      5. Follow the instructions below to use the Fusion Set ID inside any standard mobile DevOps or CI/CD toolkit like Bitrise, Jenkins, Travis, Team City, Circle CI or other system:
        1. Refer to the Appdome API Reference Guide for API building instructions.
        2. Look for sample APIs in Appdome’s GitHub Repository.
    1. Add the Detect Frida Attach feature to your security template.

      1. Navigate to Build > Anti Fraud tab > Mobile Malware Prevention section in the Appdome Console.
      2. Toggle On Anti Frida Detection Bypass > Detect Frida Attach.
        Note: The checkmark feature Detect Frida Attach is enabled by default, as shown below.

        (a) Choose to monitor this attack vector by checking the Threat Events checkbox associated with Detect Frida Attach as shown below.

        (b) To receive mobile Threat Monitoring, check the ThreatScope™ box as shown below. For more details, see our knowledge base article on ThreatScope™ Mobile XDR.
        Detect Frida Attach option

        Figure 4: Selecting Detect Frida Attach

        Note: The Appdome Platform displays the Mobile Operation Systems supported by each defense in real-time. For more details, see our OS Support Policy KB.

      3. Select the Threat-Event™ in-app mobile Threat Defense and Intelligence policy for Detect Frida Attach:
        1. Threat-Events™ OFF > In-App Defense

          If the Threat-Events™ setting is not selected. Appdome will detect and defend the user and app by enforcing Frida Attach.

        2. Threat-Events™ ON > In-App Detection

          When this setting is used, Appdome detects Frida attach and passes Appdome’s Threat-Event™ attack intelligence to the app’s business logic for processing, enforcement, and user notification. For more information on consuming and using Appdome Threat-Events™ in the app, see section Using Threat-Events™ to Detect Detect Frida Attach Intelligence and Control in Mobile Apps.

        3. Threat-Events™ ON > In-App Defense

          When this setting is used, Appdome detects and defends against Frida Attach (same as Appdome Enforce) and passes Appdome’s Threat-Event™ attack intelligence to the app’s business logic for processing. For more information on consuming and using Appdome Threat-Events™ in the app, see section Using Threat-Events™ for Detect Detect Frida Attach Intelligence and Control in Mobile Apps.

      4. Configure the User Experience Options for Detect Frida Attach:
        With Threat-Events™ OFF, Appdome provides several user experience options for mobile brands and developers.
        1. App Compromise Notification: Customize the pop-up or toast Appdome uses to notify the user when a threat is present while using the protected mobile app.
        2. Short message Option. This is available for mobile devices that allow a banner notification for security events.
        3. Localized Message Option. Allows Appdome users to support global languages in security notifications.

          Localized Message

          Figure 5: Default User Experience Options for Appdome’s Frida Attach

        4. Detect Frida Attach Threat Code™. Appdome uses AI/ML to generate a unique code each time Detect Frida Attach is triggered by an active threat on the mobile device. Use the code in Appdome Threat Resolution Center™ to help end users identify, find and resolve active threats on the personal mobile devices.
    2. Initiate the build command either by clicking Build My App at the bottom of the Build Workflow (shown in Figure 4) or via your CI/CD as described in Section 2.1.4.
    Congratulations!  The Detect Frida Attach protection is now added to the mobile app
  3. Certify the Detect Frida Attach feature in iOS Apps

    After building Detect Frida Attach, Appdome generates a Certified Secure™ certificate to guarantee that the Detect Frida Attach protection has been added and is protecting the app. To verify that the Detect Frida Attach protection has been added to the mobile app, locate the protection in the Certified Secure™ certificate as shown below: Detect Frida Attach shown in Certificate secure

    Figure 6: Certified Secure™ certificate

    Each Certified Secure™ certificate provides DevOps and DevSecOps organizations the entire workflow summary, audit trail of each build, and proof of protection that Detect Frida Attach has been added to each iOS app. Certified Secure provides instant and in-line DevSecOps compliance certification that Detect Frida Attach and other mobile app security features are in each build of the mobile app.

Using Threat-Events™ for Frida Attach Intelligence and Control in iOS Apps

Appdome Threat-Events™ provides consumable in-app mobile app attack intelligence and defense control when Frida Attach is detected. To consume and use Threat-Events™ for Frida Attach in iOS Apps, use AddObserverForName in Notification Center, and the code samples for Threat-Events™ for Frida Attach shown below.

The specifications and options for Threat-Events™ for Frida Attach are:

Threat-Event™ Elements Detect Frida Attach Method Detail
Appdome Feature Name Detect Frida Attach
Threat-Event Mode
OFF, IN-APP DEFENSE Appdome detects, defends and notifies user (standard OS dialog) using customizable messaging.
ON, IN-APP DETECTION Appdome detects the attack or threat and passes the event in a standard format to the app for processing (app chooses how and when to enforce).
ON, IN-APP DEFENSE Uses Appdome Enforce mode for any attack or threat and passes the event in a standard format to the app for processing (gather intel on attacks and threats without losing any protection).
Certified Secure™ Threat Event Check
Visible in ThreatScope™
Developer Parameters for Detecting Frida Attach Threat-Event™
Threat-Event NAME FridaDetected
Threat-Event DATA reasonData
Threat-Event CODE reasonCode
Threat-Event REF 6801
Threat-Event SCORE
currentThreatEventScore Current Threat-Event score
threatEventsScore Total Threat-events score
Threat-Event Context Keys
message Message displayed for the user on event
failSafeEnforce Timed enforcement against the identified threat
externalID The external ID of the event which can be listened via Threat Events
osVersion OS version of the current device
deviceModel Current device model
deviceManufacturer The manufacturer of the current device
fusedAppToken The task ID of the Appdome fusion of the currently running app
kernelInfo Info about the kernel: system name, node name, release, version and machine.
deviceID Current device ID
reasonCode Reason code of the occurred event
buildDate Appdome fusion date of the current application
devicePlatform OS name of the current device
updatedOSVersion Is the OS version up to date
timeZone Time zone
deviceFaceDown Is the device face down
locationLong Location longitude conditioned by location permission
locationLat Location latitude conditioned by location permission
locationState Location state conditioned by location permission
wifiSsid Wifi SSID
wifiSsidPermissionStatus Wifi SSID permission status
threatCode The last six characters of the threat code specify the OS, allowing the Threat Resolution Center to address the attack on the affected device.

With Threat-Events™ enabled (turned ON), iOS developers can get detailed attack intelligence and granular defense control in iOS applications and create amazing user experiences for all mobile end users when Frida Attach is detected.


The following is a code sample for native iOS apps, which uses all values in the specification above for Detect Frida Attach:


Important! Replace all placeholder instances of <Context Key> with the specific name of your threat event context key across all language examples. This is crucial to ensure your code functions correctly with the intended event data. For example, The <Context Key> could be the message, externalID, OS Version, reason code, etc.



Using Appdome, there are no development or coding prerequisites to build secured iOS Apps by using Detect Frida Attach. There is no SDK and no library to code or implement in the app and no gateway to deploy in your network. All protections are built into each app and the resulting app is self-defending and self-protecting.

Releasing and Publishing Mobile Apps with Detect Frida Attach

After successfully securing your app by using Appdome, there are several available options to complete your project, depending on your app lifecycle or workflow. These include:

Related Articles:

How to Detect Frida Tool in Mobile Apps Using AI

How to Prevent Android Objection Framework in Mobile Apps Using AI

How to Detect Frida Server in Android & iOS Mobile Apps

 

How Do I Learn More?

If you have any questions, please send them our way at support.appdome.com or via the chat window on the Appdome platform.

Thank you!

Thanks for visiting Appdome! Our mission is to secure every app on the planet by making mobile app security easy. We hope we’re living up to the mission with your project.

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