All my apps stopped working, then after a reboot they disappeared

[MoodyM]

First of all, I'm running a jailbroken (with blackra1n) 3.1.2 3G S 32GB.

Everything worked fine this morning, then I updated MobileSubstrate and an update to RockApp, both from within Cydia.

I just noticed a moment ago that when I tried to open the eBay app and Facebook app, as soon as I pressed their icon it was as if the app opened for a millisecond, then closed again. I rebooted my phone, now all my apps are gone!! All I'm left with is the stock apps (YouTube, iTunes, etc), and ones I've installed from Cydia/Rock, plus the Cydia/Rock apps themselves - ALL my AppStore apps have simply disppeared!!

Help!

 

[jmann]

Maybe try enabling restrictions then going to the home screen, and then disable them again. Or try resetting your home screen layout by going into settings > general > reset > reset home screen layout. Does spotlight bring them up?

 

[MoodyM]

Restrictions thing didn't help, and resetting the home screen layout simply moved all the stock apps back to the 1st page.

What's weird is if I go to Settings, all my apps that had entries in the Settings page are still listed there (Facebook, eBay, etc etc), but they have no icon next to them now, and if I press on any one, it takes me to a blank page with no settings.

Also trying to search for a missing app's name in Spotlight returns no results.

 

[jmann]

Well I would try a hard reboot, (hold down the lock and home buttons until the phone turns off). You might have to restore your phone. The new mobile substrate has been messing up people's phones.

 

[MoodyM]

I tried a hard reset, no luck.

What worries me about restoring is as soon as I plug my iPhone into iTunes, won't it do a backup first, and thereby backing up my phone as it is now, with all the missing apps?

I think I'll wait before updating Mobile Substrate on my girlfriend's iPhone.

 

[jmann]

I tried a hard reset, no luck.

What worries me about restoring is as soon as I plug my iPhone into iTunes, won't it do a backup first, and thereby backing up my phone as it is now, with all the missing apps?

I think I'll wait before updating Mobile Substrate on my girlfriend's iPhone.

You can choose a specific backup to use. But if you want to prevent the auto sync do this:

Prevent automatic syncing one time, without changing settings:
Open iTunes, connect iPhone to your computer, then press and hold Command-Option (on a Mac) or Shift-Control (on a PC) until you see iPhone appear in the sidebar.

via apple.com

 

[MoodyM]

Thank you. Good ol' Option key!