Restore

iCloud: The ultimate guide

By Rene Ritchie, Monday, Apr 23, 2012 a 12:49 pm

Everything you need to know about setting up, backing up, restoring, and updating your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, and managing your iTunes apps, books, music, TV shows, movies, Match, and Photo Stream in the cloud

iCloud is Apple's online service designed to make managing your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, and Apple TV, and your iTunes content easier and more automatic than ever. Like the name implies, iCloud is based in the "cloud", which is a trendy way of saying giant data centers filled with servers that you can access from your device over Wi-Fi or 3G/4G internet, wherever you are, whenever you want. It consists of several services that work with the apps on your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, and with iTunes and a handful of desktop apps on Mac and Windows. Most iCloud services are completely free, although additional storage and services are available for purchase.

How to set up, back up, restore, and update using iCloud

By Rene Ritchie, Monday, Apr 16, 2012 a 12:37 am

Everything you need to know about setting up, backing up, restoring, and updating your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad with iCloud

With iCloud, you no longer need to plug your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad into iTunes on your Mac or Windows PC to set it up for the first time, to keep it backed up, or to upgrade the software. Now you can do all of that, and more, faster and more easily, over-the-air (OTA) on your local Wi-Fi network. Because routine tasks, like backups, happen automatically, you don't have to worry about forgetting them and then finding out you don't have one when you need it most.

Are you using iCloud? [Poll]

By Georgia, Thursday, Apr 5, 2012 a 10:25 am

iCloud has been called Apple's key to the next decade, an online hub in the clouds to replace the outdated Mac hub in your home -- but are you using it? Introduced alongside iOS 5, iCloud was the subject of Steve Jobs' final keynote appearance and the way Apple finally "cut-the-cord" to iTunes and kicked off their Post-PC era.

More on Apple and ZFS, speculation on iOS

By Rene Ritchie, Saturday, Feb 4, 2012 a 4:02 pm

Following up on the information iMore received yesterday on potential ZFS hooks in iOS 5.1, a reliable source let us know that Apple has been investing heavily in ZFS appliances from Oracle. (Whether or not this will be made public is unknown; it doesn't seem to be right now.)

Daily Tip: How to erase all personal data from your iPhone 4 before upgrading to the iPhone 4S

By Andrew Wray, Thursday, Oct 13, 2011 a 9:42 am

Interested in selling or giving away your old iPhone to pick up a nice new iPhone 4S but need to know how to make sure you've erased all your personal information from the device first? Luckily Apple makes it easy to securely wipe all your data. We'll show you how after the break.

Daily Tip: How to upgrade from an existing jailbreak

By Allyson Kazmucha, Wednesday, Jun 1, 2011 a 10:27 pm

This tip will help you learn how to upgrade from an existing jailbreak. If you're currently jailbroken on an older firmware version and want to update, it can sometimes be a bit trickier than just restoring in iTunes and backing up. In most cases, it's always best to start with a clean slate and not restore from a jailbroken backup (with a few exceptions). Luckily there are a couple apps and tweaks out there that make the process not as daunting. Hit the break for some suggestions and a walk-through!

xBackup for iPhone creates jailbroken backups quickly and easily

By Allyson Kazmucha, Tuesday, May 3, 2011 a 4:28 pm

xBackup for iPhone is a new jailbreak tweak available in Cydia that allows you to easily create backups of all your jailbroken applications and tweaks. I have personally always dreaded restoring my iPhone and re-jailbreaking to a new firmware since the task has always been so daunting. This program sets out to make that task not so irritating anymore.

xBackup will simply save your backup as part of your iTunes backup. All you'll need to do is open xBackup, tap Backup and it will create a backup of all your Cydia packages and settings. Then sync your iPhone with iTunes. After you're done with that, upgrade or restore your iPhone like you normally would (or use PwnageTool or another custom upgrade method, however you prefer). After you are done jailbreaking again, instead of having to re-download and install all your jailbreak settings, simply download xBackup again from Cydia.

You'll simply have to open xBackup and choose the restore tab this time. You should see your last backup. Just tap it and all your Cydia settings and apps will come back down. If you don't see your backup, you'll need to make sure that you chose to restore from your most recent iTunes backup.

You can also SSH into your iPhone and save your backup somewhere on your computer as well. I'd recommend this for safe keeping.

If you guys give this a try, let us know. xBackup is currently $1.50 in Cydia. Hit the jump for a few more screenshots of xBackup in action!

Daily Tip: How to save your application data using appbackup [jailbreak]

By Allyson Kazmucha, Monday, Apr 4, 2011 a 11:40 pm

How to back up application data is a question I get asked almost on a daily basis. This question seems to get asked even more frequently every time a new jailbreak is released. I never recommend restoring from a jailbroken backup, ever. It can bring all kinds of problems with it and cause crashes and freezes. I always recommend a new restore.

But what about all your game save data and other app data? If you don't restore from a backup, it's gone right? Not exactly. There's tons of reasons why you may need to completely restore your device. Whatever the reason is, appbackup is a huge aid that helps bring your application data with you.

Hit the jump for a walkthrough!

Daily Tip: How to fix a slow or frozen iPhone or iPad

By Georgia, Thursday, Mar 24, 2011 a 9:42 pm

iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad moving at a slow crawl or frozen entirely and trying to figure out how to get it back up to speed? There are few things that you can do try. Stay with us after the break to find out how to help your iPhone out.

Daily Tip: How to transfer data from your old AT&T iPhone to your new Verizon iPhone

By Allyson Kazmucha, Monday, Feb 7, 2011 a 9:48 am

Switching from an AT&T iPhone to a Verizon iPhone and curious how to transfer all your information, apps, and data over? Luckily Apple makes this process almost painless thanks to iTunes iTunes. Click through for a couple easy steps that will ensure all your AT&T iPhone data and settings get transferred over to your new Verizon iPhone smoothly.