Sysdiagnose files are a full archive of the system unified logs (introduced at WWDC 2016 from Apple). These files and logs can be very helpful when troubleshooting issues on iOS and iPadOS devices.
To generate a full archive of the logs a few steps need to be taken on the device to make the archive and then you can AirDrop or USB transfer (after saving to local device storage) that file to your macOS device for further data analysis and reading.
There are two ways to generate the sysdiagnose on the device:
- Hard button combination
- AssistiveTouch
Generating the sysdiagnose via the hard buttons
- Press and hold both volume buttons and the side or top button on iPad for 1 to 1.5 seconds to start iOS sysdiagnose.
- When you release the buttons, iOS sysdiagnose starts, and the iPad takes a screenshot. On iPhone, but not on iPad, you feel a short vibration when sysdiagnose starts.
- See the Apple documentation
Generating the sysdiagnose via AssistiveTouch:
- Navigate to the device’s AssistiveTouch Settings
- Enable AssistiveTouch and select "Customize Top Level Menu"
- Select the option to add a new function
- Select "Analytics" from the list and press "Done".
- With Analytics now added to AssistiveTouch you can close the settings
- Re-create the failure or behavior of the iOS or iPadOS device you are trying to troubleshoot
- Select the AssistiveTouch tool and pick Analytics from your Top Level Menu
- The file will now generate and it will be denoted by the top of the screen when it starts and finishes.
Start:
Finish:
Finding the sysdiagnose file on an iPad or iPhone
The sysdiagnose can take up to 10 minutes to finish. The log file can be found in Settings > Privacy & Security > Analytics & Improvements > Analytics Data. This will list all the data on the device. You might need to search for the sysdiagnose to find it. Play close attention to the date time stamp on the file to get the latest one just generated.