Backing up iPhone applications data

I just read a long but interesting post over at Just Another iPhone Blog. Brandon talks about backing up the data that is contained in your applications. He takes the example of the Fuel Gauge app but it applies to any other application, especially games (I just reached level 36 at Enigmo and I’d be pissed to lose this in case I had to restore the phone).

Brandon highlights a great application that is available from Cydia: AppBackup.

How does AppBackup works?

  1. Install from Cydia
  2. Open AppBackup
  3. Select the application you want to backup
  4. Select “Backup”

Backups are stored in /var/mobile/Library/AppBackup/tarballs as files called bundleid.tar.gz, where bundleid is a given app’s bundle identifier (e.g. com.ooi.supermonkeyball). Backup times are stored in an XML property list at /var/mobile/Library/AppBackup/backuptimes.plist as Unix timestamps. If you want to “backup the backups,” you should back up the entire /var/mobile/Library/AppBackup directory tree.

How to restore?

  1. Open AppBackup
  2. Select the app you want to restore
  3. Hit “Restore”