Backup software for iPhone

What is there to back up that isn't handled by the iTunes backup feature or by syncing your phone with your computer? Contacts are synced from the phone to your computer (Address Book, Entourage, or Outlook), music and photos are already on your computer, texts are backed up in iTunes... sounds like you're looking for a solution to a problem that doesn't exist.

I don't see why iTunes isn't sufficient either but, if it helps, TrueSwitch Mobile Sync will sync/export your contacts to your gmail account.

Some apps using the webdav protocol allow you to browse the phone from your computer and move files back and forth. They can do a lot of what that $20 program seems to be capable of, although that program is probably slicker. Search webdav in the app store.

umiwangu said:

I'll look up webdav. So can I access the text messages that iTunes backs up?

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I don't know. I'm a linux guy that very rarely boots to windows to use iTunes. Webdav would only allow you to copy files back and forth. It would work something like this: start the app and start browsing the phone with your computer. Browse to the phone's /Library/SMS/ or Library/AddressBook directories and copy the .db files to your computer. To "restore" them to your phone, just copy them back to the phone.

Those are SQLite database files which contain all your texts and contacts. You can use a program on your computer to read them if you want but it's not a very good way of reading text messages.

You can also use the webdav app to backup the calendar and notes (same .db method as above), copy photos, safari bookmarks, etc. but I'm not sure if this is what you are looking for.

CrzyCanuck72 said:

What is there to back up that isn't handled by the iTunes backup feature or by syncing your phone with your computer? Contacts are synced from the phone to your computer (Address Book, Entourage, or Outlook), music and photos are already on your computer, texts are backed up in iTunes... sounds like you're looking for a solution to a problem that doesn't exist.

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A big problem is that iTunes only uses one backup. I mean, you can't roll back to the second to last backup.

I accidentally overwrote a file with a lot of confidential data in it by forgetting to choose a specific direction for the syncing of a database on my phone. iTunes will only restore the entire phone to my last backup a few days ago, which means I loose everything else in all other areas of the phone since that time.

I need a backup solution for the phone that allows me to restore specific files from a previous time, not just a one time recorded backup for the entire phone.