Restoring from a backup for iPhone, jailbreak or not!

Here's a myth that most people believe, "You cannot backup or restore a jailbroken iPhone". The fact is, you can. And yours truly have done it a million times (over exaggerated of course). I personally do not use AptBackup, PKGBackup or any Cydia apps to help me backup my apps' settings and data. iTunes can do all that for you. What does that mean? It means that not only are you able to backup your iPhone's settings, the legitimate apps and its data (and settings), but you will be able to also backup your Cydia apps' settings. I will tell you how...

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Before anything else, there are a few points to be aware of prior to restoring your iPhone. These points are necessary whether or not your iPhone is jailbroken. In no particular order:

1. Your new firmware has to be the same or higher iOS version than iOS version the backup was done. For example, say you have a backup which was iOS 4.02, you can restore it to an iPhone which has iOS 4.02 or above. You cannot restore to an iPhone which has iOS that is below version 4.02.
2. Sync and backup your iPhone with iTunes first.  
3. Make sure you make a copy of your backup file prior to restoring. That way if anything goes wrong and you have to do it all over again, you have a backup of the backup to redo the whole thing again. Your backup file is usually stored at:
   
   • Windows: C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup
   • Mac: /Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup
   Once there, the folders are individual backups of your iDevices. Each folder stores all the backup data of the one iDevice. Backup (create a copy) the folder of the iPhone which you want to restore later. You can then go in the folder and edit the info.plist file to give it a meaning full name. Find the part which says:
   <key>Device Name</key>
   <string>My-iPhone 2011-05-01</string>
   <key>Display Name</key>
   <string>My-iPhone 2011-05-01</string>
   
   

If you have a jailbroken iPhone, rest assure that your settings of your Cydia (jailbreak) apps are also backed up with this iTunes backup. I cannot confirm that all Cydia apps are backed up but many are. Here are some Cydia apps that I have used and found that after restoring from backup, their settings are restored.

• Lockinfo (and its add-ons)
• Infinifolder
• Infinidock
• SBSettings

Please note that only the settings of the apps are backed up, not the app itself. And also prior to restoring, make sure the Cydia apps supports the version of iOS that you are upgrading to.

So here are the steps I use every time I update my iOS firmware:

1. Backup iPhone in iTunes
2. Make copy of backup folder and edit info.plist file.
3. Restore iPhone (NOT update)
4. After restoring iPhone, jailbreak immediately, DO NOT activate or "restore from backup" it in iTunes yet.
5. Install all the necessary Cydia (jailbreak) apps that you need.
6. Once you have installed all your Cydia apps as before your iOS restore, you can use iTunes to "restore from backup". Choose the copy of the backup that you have made in Step 2. 
7. Let iTunes restore your apps and data. Depending on how much stuff you had before, it may take some time. Sit back and relax.

Once you have done that, your iPhone will reboot and you will have your iPhone with the new iOS firmware with all your previous settings all intact. Even your icon and folder settings and placement will be restored. So if you are like me, using infinifolder and infinidock, all your app icons will be in its place that you had it before.

Enjoy!