The first publicly released native gameplay mod for The Binding of Isaac: Repentance on iOS. It displays item descriptions inside the game without the desktop Lua mod API.
The project supports three loading modes from the same ARM64 code:
| Device | Release file |
|---|---|
| Jailbroken iPhone or iPad | IsaacExternalItemDescriptions-rootless.deb |
| Non-jailbroken iPhone or iPad | IsaacExternalItemDescriptions-Embedded.zip |
| LiveContainer private app | IsaacExternalItemDescriptions-LiveContainer.framework.zip |
The standalone dylib uses public iOS frameworks and does not link against ElleKit, Substrate, libhooker, or any jailbreak runtime. The rootless package uses ElleKit only as a loader.
- Native in-game overlay with no external application or server
- All 20 languages currently exposed by the original EID language manager, with English fallback for untranslated Repentance entries
- Collectibles, trinkets, cards, runes, known pills, horse pills, and Crane Game prizes
- Original collectible, trinket, and card artwork from the installed game
- Original EID-style object-name color (
ColorEIDObjName), outlined compact text, scale and opacity controls - Original EID inline icon atlas support for description markup, including Q0–Q4 quality icons
- Collectible quality read from Isaac metadata rather than a hard-coded item list
- EID-style Name, Icon, Quality and Description visibility toggles
- One consistent white icon for identified pills
- Descriptions for previously held cards after they are dropped
- Spoiler protection for untouched cards, unidentified pills, and Curse of the Blind pedestals
- Bottom-right, menu-only settings button with a native 20-language picker
- Configurable horizontal and vertical position (140 px from the left and 50 px from the top by default)
- Safe executable-version gate and read-only native entity snapshots
This release targets the ARM64 App Store build with bundle identifier com.Nicalis.Isaac-iOS and Mach-O UUID:
F4357753-A25F-30EE-BACF-63709F902895
Native layouts can change between game updates. An unknown executable UUID is rejected before entity memory is scanned, so an unsupported build shows no overlay instead of risking a crash.
Install IsaacExternalItemDescriptions-rootless.deb with a package manager or with dpkg, then restart Isaac. The package targets rootless ElleKit layouts.
Extract IsaacExternalItemDescriptions-Embedded.zip. Place its dylib and IsaacEID.bundle in the app's Frameworks directory, add this Mach-O load command to the main executable, and sign the complete app bundle:
@executable_path/Frameworks/IsaacExternalItemDescriptions.dylib
The dylib requires no JIT, executable-memory entitlement, daemon, or jailbreak filesystem access. The included patcher automates the bundle and Mach-O changes:
./tools/patch-ipa.sh Isaac.ipa Isaac-EID.ipaSigning is intentionally separate. See Installation for the available signing variables and important app-signing limitations.
Extract IsaacExternalItemDescriptions-LiveContainer.framework.zip, import the framework into an app-specific LiveContainer tweak folder, and select that folder in Isaac's settings. Isaac must be a private app, and both Don't Inject TweakLoader and Don't Load TweakLoader must remain disabled. See the LiveContainer instructions for the complete click-by-click setup.
The dylib can read Isaac's installed item metadata without extra files. The original EID language packs and visual atlas can be generated locally from an existing External Item Descriptions checkout:
make EID_SOURCE=/path/to/External-Item-Descriptions descriptions parity-assetsdescriptions combines upstream ab+ base tables with Repentance rep overrides. parity-assets copies the original EID inline atlas and ANM2 metadata into the build bundle and generates a compact token-to-animation map used by the native UIKit renderer. The asset importer also copies upstream attribution/license information when present.
The installed iOS 1.4 executable identifies itself as Repentance v1.7.9b.J754, so the correct Steam-equivalent dataset is Repentance (rep), not Repentance+.
The parity renderer follows upstream EID defaults where they translate cleanly to iOS: object-name purple, Q0–Q4 as dedicated inline icons, compact 11px-equivalent line spacing, 0.75 default opacity, scale 1.0, and independent name/icon/quality/description visibility. See EID parity.
Requirements: macOS, Xcode, Python 3, dpkg-deb, and an iOS SDK.
make EID_SOURCE=/path/to/External-Item-Descriptions descriptions parity-assets
make test
make dylib EXTRA_CFLAGS='-Wall -Wextra -Werror'
make package EXTRA_CFLAGS='-Wall -Wextra -Werror'
make livecontainer EXTRA_CFLAGS='-Wall -Wextra -Werror'
make auditCreate clean public release artifacts in dist/ with make release.
The iOS build does not expose Isaac's desktop Lua API. This implementation resolves the native pickup, player, and slot types in the main executable, takes bounded read-only snapshots of the fixed entity pool, and renders the nearest eligible pickup through UIKit.
Verified native layouts are documented in Native layout. Current device and packaging coverage is recorded in Test matrix.
Special thanks to wofsauge and every External Item Descriptions contributor for the original mod, its descriptions, translations, markup, visual resources, and years of maintenance. Visit the original External Item Descriptions GitHub project or Steam Workshop mod.
The bundled EID-derived resources remain credited to wofsauge and its contributors and are covered separately in Third-party notices. Item artwork is loaded at runtime from the installed game and is never stored in this repository.
This is an unofficial project and is not affiliated with Nicalis, Edmund McMillen, Valve, or the External Item Descriptions maintainers. No game files, DLC, receipts, or purchase bypasses are distributed. Project source code is available under the MIT License.