Restoring your iPhone and re-jailbreaking, and wondering how to save your App Store app data? We recently checked out how to use appbackup to save App store app data but now there's a new app on the block called DataDeposit. What's unique about DataDeposit is that you won't need to save any files via SSH or iPhone Explorer. It simply backs up your app data to your Dropbox account. Awesome, right? Hit the jump for a quick walkthrough!

Backing up your app data

  1. Download DataDeposit from [Cydia](/2010/12/26/cydia-jailbreak-app-store/)
  2. Make sure any apps that you want to back up are not running in the multitasking tray. If they are, simply [close them out](/2010/11/24/beginner-tip-home-button-works-ios-42-ipad/). (I completely emptied out my multitasking tray before backing up data.)
  3. From the main screen, select Backup my save data. You'll be prompted to sign into your Dropbox account if you haven't already done so.
  4. DataDeposit will populate a list of apps you have installed. Tap the app you would like to create a backup for and select Backup.
  5. Once you're done backing up all the apps you'd like to be able to restore, go ahead and restore your device and re-jailbreak.

Restoring your app data

  1. Once you have re-jailbroken your device, re-download DataDeposit from Cydia.
  2. Launch DataDeposit and this time you'll select Restore from Dropbox.
  3. DataDeposit will automagically populate all the apps you have restore points for in Dropbox. Simply go through the list and restore any backups you'd like. Again, make sure they aren't running in the multitasking tray.
  4. You're done!

I didn't have too many issues with DataDeposit but there were a few instances where a backup didn't sync up to Dropbox for some reason. So before restoring, I'd make sure your backups really are in Dropbox. I have Dropbox installed on my iMac so I made sure my Mac gave me a notification that it received the backup file for an app before I proceeded onto the next one. If you have issues uploading to Dropbox, there is a setting under change options that allows you to turn off HTTPS uploading to Dropbox. Try that if uploads or downloads fail.

I would really like to see a backup and restore all option added at some point too. Either way, DataDeposit definitely made it a bit less painless to restore a jailbroken iPhone. If you guys try it out, let us know what you think!

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you'd like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to news@tipb.com. (If it's especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we'll even give ya a reward...)