Setting up the Gecko iPhone Toolkit is not plug-and-play. It requires a specific environment:

Official methods provided by Apple require placing a locked device into Recovery Mode and clearing all internal data via iTunes. The Gecko Toolkit bypasses this limitation. It reads the raw hardware or utilizes an isolated custom ramdisk environment to brute-force or extract the 4-digit PIN. The code displays directly inside the Windows interface.

| Feature | Gecko iPhone Toolkit | Cellebrite UFED | GrayKey | Elcomsoft iOS Forensic Toolkit | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | | $1,500 - $3,500 (one-time) | $15,000+ (annual subscription) | $15,000+ (hardware box) | $1,500 (annual) | | Target Audience | Mid-tier labs, freelancers | Government, large agencies | High-end LE, military | Corporate, enterprise | | Newest iOS Support | Up to iOS 17 (partial) | Full iOS 17 | Full iOS 17 | Full iOS 17 (limited extraction) | | Checkm8 Support | Yes (best in class) | Yes | No (only newer methods) | Yes | | Ease of Use | Moderate (requires technical skill) | High (guided workflows) | Very High (plug and press) | Low (command line heavy) |

The toolkit included features to boot the device into a "pwned" DFU state, allowing the user to restore the device to a custom IPSW file or downgrade the iOS version—something that is largely impossible on modern devices due to Apple’s signing windows.

Police departments, cybercrime units, and private examiners use the Gecko iPhone Toolkit as one of several tools in their write-blocker arsenal. When a search warrant is executed, they need to extract evidence without altering the device. The toolkit's forensic mode maintains chain-of-custody checksums (MD5/SHA256).