tldr
A recent incident in which I lost important data due to a buggy iPad app and found out too late is having me question: why isn’t there an easy way to save and retrieve previous versions of iPad data—like Macs have with Time Machine?
For devices that you depend on for work, an automated way to backup versions of data and a straightforward way to retrieve them is CRITICAL to a good workflow while safeguarding against data loss. I understand why this didn’t exist when iPads were introduced as primarily consumption devices, but iPads are advertised as work devices now.
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iCloud doesn’t keep versions. Backing up to iTunes can save versions (by either opting to not overwrite previous backups or by backing up iTunes to Time Machine), but having to plug my iPad into my Mac often to backup is a non-starter (in this day and age, why shouldn’t that be wireless and automatic just like the iTunes Wifi Sync feature—also aren’t iPads supposed to be Mac-independent?). But maybe equally important, as far as I’m aware, it doesn’t allow you to restore individual app data. You have to make a backup of the current state of your iPad, restore to a previous backup (guessing which previous backup to use since you can’t see the actual backup data), extract the specific data from the app if the app allows it, then restore the iPad to the most recent backup. And hopefully if the app allows it you would import the data back into the app. I’m not even sure this would work for all apps and types of data.
Or is there a better, surer way to do it that I’m not aware of?
Apple needs to add versioning to iCloud backup or allow automatic wifi iTunes backups, preferably both. And support restoring of individual app data.
I sent them feedback.
A recent incident in which I lost important data due to a buggy iPad app and found out too late is having me question: why isn’t there an easy way to save and retrieve previous versions of iPad data—like Macs have with Time Machine?
For devices that you depend on for work, an automated way to backup versions of data and a straightforward way to retrieve them is CRITICAL to a good workflow while safeguarding against data loss. I understand why this didn’t exist when iPads were introduced as primarily consumption devices, but iPads are advertised as work devices now.
—————
iCloud doesn’t keep versions. Backing up to iTunes can save versions (by either opting to not overwrite previous backups or by backing up iTunes to Time Machine), but having to plug my iPad into my Mac often to backup is a non-starter (in this day and age, why shouldn’t that be wireless and automatic just like the iTunes Wifi Sync feature—also aren’t iPads supposed to be Mac-independent?). But maybe equally important, as far as I’m aware, it doesn’t allow you to restore individual app data. You have to make a backup of the current state of your iPad, restore to a previous backup (guessing which previous backup to use since you can’t see the actual backup data), extract the specific data from the app if the app allows it, then restore the iPad to the most recent backup. And hopefully if the app allows it you would import the data back into the app. I’m not even sure this would work for all apps and types of data.
Or is there a better, surer way to do it that I’m not aware of?
Apple needs to add versioning to iCloud backup or allow automatic wifi iTunes backups, preferably both. And support restoring of individual app data.
I sent them feedback.
