Is there a way to install iPhone as new AND then restore app info?

[St. Germain]

My wife's 3GS is having battery issues since she didn't set it up as a "New phone" when she switched from her 2G iPhone. She restored from backup instead. There are reports that that can cause the 3GS to report the battery info incorrectly. The problem now is that she has some apps with quite a bit of data in them for work.

Is there a place where that app info is stored in OS X? Is it possible for me to restore her 3GS, set it up as a "New phone" instead of "Restoring from backup", THEN individually copy the data for those apps back to where they're stored in OS X?

 

[labman]

yes

search and ye will find the light!

 

[t3heford]

search and ye will find the light!

https://forums.macrumors.com/search/?searchid=17242930
Yeah...
This is the only topic of it's kind, and I'd kind of like to know the answer to this question as well...
Do you actually know how to do it?

 

[St. Germain]

search and ye will find the light!

I did search but apparently am not searching for the right thing. I'm seeing a lot of things on jailbreaking but this is not a jailbroken phone.

 

[-aggie-]

My wife's 3GS is having battery issues since she didn't set it up as a "New phone" when she switched from her 2G iPhone. She restored from backup instead. There are reports that that can cause the 3GS to report the battery info incorrectly. The problem now is that she has some apps with quite a bit of data in them for work.

Is there a place where that app info is stored in OS X? Is it possible for me to restore her 3GS, set it up as a "New phone" instead of "Restoring from backup", THEN individually copy the data for those apps back to where they're stored in OS X?

I think he just told you to search to tell you to search. Nevermind that.

Yes, it is best to set up a 3GS as a new phone.

There's no way to restore as a new phone and keep the app data. However, TheSpaz has reported that you can restore from a backup (as you have done), and then just "reset all settings" and get the same effects as restoring as a new phone.

You could restore your backup data to get all of your 3rd party data and settings. Once that's all done, go into Settings>General>Reset>Reset All Settings. This will clear all system settings but leave application data and settings in place. This is a pretty safe method and it does the same thing as setting up new.

It does indeed work. It doesn't reset third party apps, but it puts all the system stuff back to defaults (home screen arrangement, settings, network settings). It still keeps all of your data, including text conversations, notes, bookmarks, camera roll, music, videos, podcasts... etc.

If you have any questions about this method, go ahead and ask.

Edit: I don't think this method keeps bookmarks, but I used iPhone Backup Extractor to extract my bookmarks from an iPhone backup. Then I copied the Bookmarks.plist file to Users/spaz/Library/Safari/ on my computer and sync'd the bookmarks from iTunes. Then I put my old desktop Safari bookmarks back and deleted the MobileSafari bookmarks file and turned OFF bookmarks syncing in iTunes. That way it only syncs the MobileSafari bookmarks once, then it won't sync my desktop Safari bookmarks after that.

 

[colmaclean]

There's no way to restore as a new phone and keep the app data. However, TheSpaz has reported that you can restore from a backup (as you have done), and then just "reset all settings" and get the same effects as restoring as a new phone.

Doesn't work in all circumstances, unfortunately.

I tried to use it to sort the bug where apps close a second after opening. Didn't fix it...

 

[TheSpaz]

Doesn't work in all circumstances, unfortunately.

I tried to use it to sort the bug where apps close a second after opening. Didn't fix it...

That's because my method DOESN'T clear the third party app data. Just the system settings and homescreen.

 

[colmaclean]

That's because my method DOESN'T clear the third party app data. Just the system settings and homescreen.

So from this we can deduce that third-party app data is causing the problem.

A step forward for iPhonekind.

 

[firewood]

You can usually clear 3rd party app data by deleting the app, resetting the phone, and reinstalling the app from the App store.

 

[Moi un Mouton]

Doesn't work in all circumstances, unfortunately.

I tried to use it to sort the bug where apps close a second after opening. Didn't fix it...

If this is a problem you've had since doing an iPhone update, try this:

- In iTunes, delete the apps

- Sync the phone, and don't allow iTunes to copy the apps over from the phone. This will delete them from the phone.

- Reload the apps from iTunes