Jailbroken to Un-Jailbroken - Can you keep your data (texts, call logs etc etc)?

[RichUK89]

Hey guys,

Looked elsewhere and on here and can't seem to find a solution.

I'm planning on Jailbreaking my iPhone soon. But if I come to the point where I need to un-jailbreak it to bring it to Apple, will I be able to restore my phone from an iTunes backup made during the jailbreak period to the phone after being un-jailbroken and would that still not contain any jailbroken information.

i.e. would I be able to keep all my texts going through both processes and loose all jailbreak data at the end....?

Cheers

Rich

 

[psywzrd]

Hey guys,

Looked elsewhere and on here and can't seem to find a solution.

I'm planning on Jailbreaking my iPhone soon. But if I come to the point where I need to un-jailbreak it to bring it to Apple, will I be able to restore my phone from an iTunes backup made during the jailbreak period to the phone after being un-jailbroken and would that still not contain any jailbroken information.

i.e. would I be able to keep all my texts going through both processes and loose all jailbreak data at the end....?

Cheers

Rich

If you need to bring it to Apple, just restore it (not from backup though). Once you get back from Apple, restore it from backup and your texts, calls logs, etc will still be there. Contacts, calendar, music, etc will be added back via itunes anyway so no worries there.

 

[iPhone-power]

If you need to bring it to Apple, just restore it (not from backup though). Once you get back from Apple, restore it from backup and your texts, calls logs, etc will still be there. Contacts, calendar, music, etc will be added back via itunes anyway so no worries there.

iTunes does not sync texts to any application !

So if you choose "set up as new" which you should, your texts will not come back.

 

[thelatinist]

iTunes does not back up texts ! So if you choose "set up as new" which you should, your texts will not come back.

iTunes does backup texts. They are part of every backup. You are right that if you choose to set up as a new phone you will lose them, but that is because you haven't restored from backup, not because iTunes doesn't back them up.

OP: if you restore from backup some traces of your jailbreak may be restored. Usually it won't be noticeable and Apple isn't likely to look. But I would suggest following the other poster's advice and waiting until after you get back from the genius bar to restore.

 

[iPhone-power]

iTunes does backup texts. They are part of every backup. You are right that if you choose to set up as a new phone you will lose them, but that is because you haven't restored from backup, not because iTunes doesn't back them up.

I did correct my terminology from doesn't back up to doesn't sync with any app. You must have quoted this the second I posted it.

 

[NWI73]

If you need to bring it to Apple, just restore it (not from backup though). Once you get back from Apple, restore it from backup and your texts, calls logs, etc will still be there. Contacts, calendar, music, etc will be added back via itunes anyway so no worries there.

So right click on the phone in itunes, click restore then when it prompts, setup as new? I've read that doing this will create a backup at this time which will be of a fresh install (no personal data). I've read itunes only keeps the most recent backup so my data would then be lost? There has to be some way around this?

iTunes does not sync texts to any application !

So if you choose "set up as new" which you should, your texts will not come back.

Is this true?

iTunes does backup texts. They are part of every backup. You are right that if you choose to set up as a new phone you will lose them, but that is because you haven't restored from backup, not because iTunes doesn't back them up.

OP: if you restore from backup some traces of your jailbreak may be restored. Usually it won't be noticeable and Apple isn't likely to look. But I would suggest following the other poster's advice and waiting until after you get back from the genius bar to restore.

If I have to setup as new, read my post above about losing my stuff.

 

[heisenberg123]

if your bringing it back to apple you must select restore as a new device, if you dont like the jailbreak for some reason and will keep the phone you can restore from backup to delete all the cydia stuff and it will look stock again, but apple can tell somehow that there was a jailbreak if you bring it to them like that

 

[NWI73]

if your bringing it back to apple you must select restore as a new device, if you dont like the jailbreak for some reason and will keep the phone you can restore from backup to delete all the cydia stuff and it will look stock again, but apple can tell somehow that there was a jailbreak if you bring it to them like that

Do you have solid evidence that you MUST restore as new device to take it in for a swap? Can you back up your claim? I asked an ex genius bar employee on twitter about this and he said as long as the cydia icon isn't on the phone, the genius doesn't care.

 

[heisenberg123]

Do you have solid evidence that you MUST restore as new device to take it in for a swap? Can you back up your claim? I asked an ex genius bar employee on twitter about this and he said as long as the cydia icon isn't on the phone, the genius doesn't care.

dont have info to back it up just info ive read on forums, he could be right a restore does make it look stock and sounds like that genius only checks for a cydia icon but i guess if your bringing it back why would you want your info on there? restore as new seems like the better option when handing your deveice in regardless if it was ever jailbroken

 

[heisenberg123]

So right click on the phone in itunes, click restore then when it prompts, setup as new? I've read that doing this will create a backup at this time which will be of a fresh install (no personal data). I've read itunes only keeps the most recent backup so my data would then be lost? There has to be some way around this?



Is this true?




If I have to setup as new, read my post above about losing my stuff.

if you right click the device then say "backup" it makes a backup with that date and time, then when you get a replacement device set it up and when you say from backup you should have a choice and one would be the time and date for the backup you did manually

 

[NWI73]

if you right click the device then say "backup" it makes a backup with that date and time, then when you get a replacement device set it up and when you say from backup you should have a choice and one would be the time and date for the backup you did manually

Ah, I see. I have read that notes and sms are the only things that don't get saved with a "backup". Is this true? Any way to save my sms?

 

[heisenberg123]

Ah, I see. I have read that notes and sms are the only things that don't get saved with a "backup". Is this true? Any way to save my sms?

ive used this method before and it saves Camera Roll, SMS, Notes, Email Accounts

 

[h1r0ll3r]

Ah, I see. I have read that notes and sms are the only things that don't get saved with a "backup". Is this true? Any way to save my sms?

I'm pretty sure SMS and notes are saved in backups. This was the case with my bro's phone whenever he would update to newer OS's. Every time he'd restore from a backup, his notes and SMS's were right there. These two were really critical for him and I too wasn't sure if the backups saved the SMS's/notes but apparently they do.

 

[NWI73]

We are speaking about doing a right click, backup manually versus doing an itunes sync, right? I know that sync'ing saves everything but read that a backup and a sync does/saves differently.

 

[heisenberg123]

We are speaking about doing a right click, backup manually versus doing an itunes sync, right? I know that sync'ing saves everything but read that a backup and a sync does/saves differently.

yes right click then backup creates a backup with a date and time of that back up, thats the safer way to do a backup

syncing does backup also but i do the manual way becasue when i restore i know what backup im picking

 

[sbddude]

do you plan to jailbreak again after you get the device replaced? If so then follow this procedure:


right click > backup
restore
take to apple
once you have new/repaired phone:
restore to latest iOS
jailbreak
install your desired cydia apps
restore from backup

back to normal!

 

[NWI73]

do you plan to jailbreak again after you get the device replaced? If so then follow this procedure:


right click > backup
restore
take to apple
once you have new/repaired phone:
restore to latest iOS
jailbreak
install your desired cydia apps
restore from backup

back to normal!

This is false though. Step 2, restore, i'd have to setup as new phone as i've read that you have to have the phone working when you take it in and cannot have it on the "connect to itunes" screen. Secondly, if you JB then restore from backup, you lose the JB.

I think i've figured out what to do. Right click, backup. Navigate to the backup folder on my PC, copy that to my desktop. Then restore and setup my phone as new phone. Take my phone in to swap then when I get home, take the backup folder copy that's on my desktop, and use that folder to overwrite the current backup folder in the itunes folder. Then open itunes, and restore from backup on the new phone. Should work.

 

[sbddude]

This is false though. Step 2, restore, i'd have to setup as new phone as i've read that you have to have the phone working when you take it in and cannot have it on the "connect to itunes" screen. Secondly, if you JB then restore from backup, you lose the JB.

I think i've figured out what to do. Right click, backup. Navigate to the backup folder on my PC, copy that to my desktop. Then restore and setup my phone as new phone. Take my phone in to swap then when I get home, take the backup folder copy that's on my desktop, and use that folder to overwrite the current backup folder in the itunes folder. Then open itunes, and restore from backup on the new phone. Should work.

It's not false, I've done it more than once.

Yes, you do need to set it up as new, for the exchange at the apple store. But then when you go to restore the backup, that will NOT remove the JB. Especially since the backup you are restoring is from a jailbroken state.

And there's no need to mess with the backup files. iTunes lets you keep more than one backup.

To make things easier, when you set up as new, give the iphone a different name than before.

 

[NWI73]

It's not false, I've done it more than once.

Yes, you do need to set it up as new, for the exchange at the apple store. But then when you go to restore the backup, that will NOT remove the JB. Especially since the backup you are restoring is from a jailbroken state.

And there's no need to mess with the backup files. iTunes lets you keep more than one backup.

To make things easier, when you set up as new, give the iphone a different name than before.

Read these:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4137

 

[steven5210]

Or if you want to do more work you could manually copy over the text.smb database, I believe that's what it's called over to your computer from your iPhone by SSHing it. I've done it before and it could be a hassle if you don't set the permissions correctly after you copy it back to your phone. Also if you have pictures in your text if you don't copy certain files they will just be big blank boxes. Good luck

 

[NWI73]

It's not false, I've done it more than once.

Yes, you do need to set it up as new, for the exchange at the apple store. But then when you go to restore the backup, that will NOT remove the JB. Especially since the backup you are restoring is from a jailbroken state.

And there's no need to mess with the backup files. iTunes lets you keep more than one backup.

To make things easier, when you set up as new, give the iphone a different name than before.

itunes does not let you keep more than one backup. This is quoted from apples website:

"Remember: Syncing the device creates a new backup in iTunes that replaces the backup created by the restore process, previous syncs, and from choosing Back Up when right-clicking the device in the iTunes source list.

To restore your device using a previous backup, instead of restoring it as new (factory settings), quit iTunes and move the backup you set aside (or otherwise preserved) back into the Backup directory (for locations, see above). You may be warned that there is a file or folder with this name already in the Backup directory. This is because iTunes names backups after the unique ID of that device, and subsequent syncs since setting up as new have created another backup without your previous data in it. Replace the current backup in the Backup directory with your preserved backup, then launch iTunes and choose "Restore from Backup…" by right-clicking the device in source list and choose the desired backup from the list provided"

This is what I was worried about but apple says to locally save that backup as mentioned above. I'm crossing my fingers this works with no hiccups.

I even tried right click, backup from my computer last night more than one time and it only saved one backup. Each time I would backup, it would overwrite the last backup instead of creating a new one. WHen I went into itunes preferences and checked the backups, it only showed 1 backup instead of multiple ones with date/time.

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

I am very interested in this topic, because I am having home button responsiveness issues so I want to try to get it replaced before I reach the end of 1 year apple care (but do you think they will replace it even if I go a month or two over??)

This overwrite/non-overwrite backup is interesting because I used to have several saved backups back from when I tried out jbing back in late '08 (I recently went through and deleted them all). So I know having multiple is/was possible. Maybe this is new? or maybe there are special ways that the backup will be saved, like if you set up as a new device.

well apparently the apple site says

When you select Set Up As New, a sync occurs that writes over your previous backup. To prevent unwanted data loss, you should take steps to preserve the backup created by iTunes.

 

[NWI73]

I am very interested in this topic, because I am having home button responsiveness issues so I want to try to get it replaced before I reach the end of 1 year apple care (but do you think they will replace it even if I go a month or two over??)

This overwrite/non-overwrite backup is interesting because I used to have several saved backups back from when I tried out jbing back in late '08 (I recently went through and deleted them all). So I know having multiple is/was possible. Maybe this is new? or maybe there are special ways that the backup will be saved, like if you set up as a new device.

I am also in a hurry to get it taken care of before my 1 year expires as you mention. I think it may be 50/50 after 1 year but it's not worth chancing it. I don't know if it's new or not but like I said, I tried it out last night and sure enough, it just kept overwriting the previous backup. As you quoted, that is exactly what i've seen multiple times on apples website but people try to say otherwise. I am going to take my backup (before I head to apple today) and copy it to my desktop so that I don't take any chances. I'll try to restore from backup when I get home and see if my data is there but if not, i'll take my archived backup and drop it back into the itunes backup folder and restore from that as last resort.

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

Oh I have another concern with this process. I am currently running 4.3.1 (opposed to the current 4.3.3)

a few things...
-I think I may update to 4.3.3 before I go to the Apple store, because I know sometimes they ask if you are running the latest software before they exchange.
---Do I need my JBed backup to be 4.3.3 or would 4.3.1 be ok?
---How exactly do I update to 4.3.3? Meaning do I need to restore first and then update? Or can I just update (I assume it would remove the jb)?
---If my backup needs to be 4.3.3 would I also need to rejailbreak or could I keep the backup from the unJB state? (I don't really care about keeping any JB settings, I mainly just want it for the tethering)

Update: So today I was going to restore my iPhone and update to 4.3.3 before I went to the mall. Turns out I didn't have enough time to do the restore, so I brought my jailbroken iPhone into the Apple store, and walked out with a brand new (refurbished) iPhone 4. That simplified things a bit! haha. Of course I removed the only visual identification of a jailbreak (my 5 icon dock). I just restored from my backup (no issues with the 4.3.1 backup on the 4.3.3 iPhone) and everything is fine and dandy! Now I'll just jailbreak whenever I feel like it and I'm good to go!! At least until iOS 5...