iPhone Backing up a jailbroken iPhone 4

[mauroskov]

Hi everyone,

I am totally new to the forum and couldn't find anything that could clear my doubts. I am thinking of jailbreaking my factory unlocked iPhone 4 iOS 5.1 32 GB in order to enjoy more apps. I read about the warranty problem and that it is legal to jailbreak, but I have doubts about backing up, syncing and restoring.

I back up regularly my iPhone and sync it to my PC and my Yahoo, so I am concerned about backing up, syncing and restoring from back up my iPhone once it is jailbroken.

Let's say that I back up and sync my iPhone just before jailbreaking it and then jailbreak it. Now I'd like your help to understand:

1- after the jailbreaking, when I back up... does anything from Cydia and the whole jailbreking software get backed up? can this give any problems with iTunes?

2- when I sync to my PC, will there be any problems with the syncing of my contacts and calender?

3- if for any reason, after some time, I need to restore from the latest back up that was done after the jailbreaking... what will be restored? only the Apple apps and files (including contacts, sms, pictures, etc.) or also Cydia and the Cydia applications? will there be no trace of Cydia like in the case of a restore to factory settings?

My main concern is to not be able to restore from a recent back up once the iPhone is jailbroken and hence lose all the info after the jailbreaking. If I need to take my iPhone to Apple I understood that I can restore it to factory settings and there will be no trace of Cydia, but after taking it to Apple I would like to be able to restore it to my most recent back up which was done after the jailbreaking.

I hope I was clear enough with my explanation. Thank you for any advice you can give me...

 

[dhlizard]

Hi everyone,

I am totally new to the forum and couldn't find anything that could clear my doubts. I am thinking of jailbreaking my factory unlocked iPhone 4 iOS 5.1 32 GB in order to enjoy more apps. I read about the warranty problem and that it is legal to jailbreak, but I have doubts about backing up, syncing and restoring.

I back up regularly my iPhone and sync it to my PC and my Yahoo, so I am concerned about backing up, syncing and restoring from back up my iPhone once it is jailbroken.

Let's say that I back up and sync my iPhone just before jailbreaking it and then jailbreak it. Now I'd like your help to understand:

1- after the jailbreaking, when I back up... does anything from Cydia and the whole jailbreking software get backed up? can this give any problems with iTunes?

2- when I sync to my PC, will there be any problems with the syncing of my contacts and calender?

3- if for any reason, after some time, I need to restore from the latest back up that was done after the jailbreaking... what will be restored? only the Apple apps and files (including contacts, sms, pictures, etc.) or also Cydia and the Cydia applications? will there be no trace of Cydia like in the case of a restore to factory settings?

My main concern is to not be able to restore from a recent back up once the iPhone is jailbroken and hence lose all the info after the jailbreaking. If I need to take my iPhone to Apple I understood that I can restore it to factory settings and there will be no trace of Cydia, but after taking it to Apple I would like to be able to restore it to my most recent back up which was done after the jailbreaking.

I hope I was clear enough with my explanation. Thank you for any advice you can give me...

iTunes works exactly the same on a jailbroken phone, contacts, calendar, all work the same
Cydia apps do not get backed up. Buy PkgBackup to do that if you wish.
To remove all traces of a jailbreak, restore the phone, choose set up as new, do not restore to backup.

Being and staying jailbroken takes some extra effort as you have 2 sets of apps (App Store and Cydia) to restore.
Impatient and lazy folks do not do well being jailbroken in the long run.

 

[mauroskov]

iTunes works exactly the same on a jailbroken phone, contacts, calendar, all work the same
Cydia apps do not get backed up. Buy PkgBackup to do that if you wish.
To remove all traces of a jailbreak, restore the phone, choose set up as new, do not restore to backup.

Being and staying jailbroken takes some extra effort as you have 2 sets of apps (App Store and Cydia) to restore.
Impatient and lazy folks do not do well being jailbroken in the long run.

Thank you very much for your help!

So basically I can still back up my iPhone as usual, and restore from back up as usual, unless I have to go to Apple right?

What if I get e new iPhone (not jailbroken) and set it up from a back up coming from my current jailbroken iPhone? Will this work and will there be traces of Cydia on the new iPhone?

 

[bandofbrothers]

Like already said, just back up as new.

Ive had little issue with backing up and syncing with my iPhone 4 and iTunes.

The only issue i did get was when iTunes detected i was jb and would not sync with an app that allowed streaming. A simple tweak that makes iTunes think I'm not jb solved that !

I prefer to you apt backup for my cydia tweaks.

When you jb some of the original iPhone files are moved around a little for cydia to work so i don't think if you backed up from a jb backup it would install anything onto the new iPhone concerning jb file.

Im hoping a more learned member can confirm this or put me right !!

One word of caution with jail breaking.

Once you have jail broken and started allowing your iPhone to work as you want and not how apple wanted you will be hard pressed to return to a stock iPhone and be content....lol

 

[Barneygumble47]

I find aptbackup much easier to use than pkgbackup

 

[mauroskov]

So basically:

- I can back up my "official" iPhone part with iTunes and restore it as usual. If I do so however there will be traces of Cydia as the only way to restore without having any traces of Cydia is to restore to the original settings.

- I can back up the Cydia part with one of the two above mentioned applications and restore it.

- I can set up a brand new iPhone from a iTunes back up, even if that back up comes from a jailbroken iPhone. In this case though, it is not clear if there will be any traces of Cydia on the new iPhone. Right?

But can I also restore the Cydia back up onto a brand new iPhone after having restored the official iTunes back up?

Thanks!

 

[TriJetHero]

Yes, there will be some traces, plist files, the settings files for JB apps are in the itunes backup as well.

Yes, aptbackup and pkgbackup backup which JB apps you have installed, if you restore via 1 of them it will redownlod all your previous installed JB apss.

If your restore with a firmware (so not the itunes backup) it will completely wipe your phone and no traces will be left.

 

[mauroskov]

Yes, there will be some traces, plist files, the settings files for JB apps are in the itunes backup as well.

Yes, aptbackup and pkgbackup backup which JB apps you have installed, if you restore via 1 of them it will redownlod all your previous installed JB apss.

If your restore with a firmware (so not the itunes backup) it will completely wipe your phone and no traces will be left.

Thanks for your help!

So if I buy a new iPhone and set it up from the latest iTunes back up of an old JB iPhone... the new iPhone will also have some traces of JB? Have I understood correctly? Even if the new iPhone has not been JB yet?

 

[Anorax]

itunes tweak hides jb status?

@bandofbrothers

if I may ask, what was the itunes tweak that hides jb status of device?

 

[bandofbrothers]

Xcon

 

[Anorax]

Xcon

thanks bro