How I Updated to 2.2.1 & Jailbroke an already Jailbroken 2.2 - From Backup

JNHohol

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I have a jail broken phone using 2.2. If i jailbreak to 2.2.1 will i loose all my apps and everything i've installed sense my first jailbreak.

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I asked the same question when I wanted to update to 2.2.1, then jailbreak it again, but I didn't get an answer from anyone, so I just tried it on my own. I had a couple of apps that didn't offer a sync option and I didn't want to lose the data. (Such as: "1Password", "Lose It", and a couple of games.)

I am not an expert, but here is what I did. I am running Windows XP, iTunes 8.0.2.20, and used QuickPwn 2.2.5-2. (I updated in iTunes, did a restore from a backup, and then did the jailbreak with only a few apps on my iPhone - See Below.)

And to quote TiPb's Disclaimer on jailbreaking:
"Neither TiPb nor I take any responsibility for any problems/issues/bricking/etc. that may occur while using this software to modify your iPhone. Please be aware of what you are doing."

**Also, Before you update to 2.2.1 be sure you understand that if you are or ever want to unlock your iPhone, the Dev Team says that YellowsnOw 0.9.7 won't work with the baseband update in 2.2.1 and not to update through iTunes because you need a custom .ipsw that keeps the older baseband. QuickPwn can't do this.**

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As far as the question goes, most people will tell you that you won't lose the apps but you will lose the app data. I think on a mac there is way to keep all the data using the PwnageTool, but I am on pc and I had to use QuickPwn which you can't re-jailbreak with.

Most recommend that if you want to update to 2.2.1 and you don't ever want to unlock your iPhone but just want to jailbreak by using QuickPwn, you install the new update from iTunes and do a restore as new phone. This eliminates the jailbreak and wipes the iPhone of all data, call logs, text history, music, etc.

You can sync all your App Store apps, music, calendars, and all the other sync data, back to your iPhone once the update is finished. So you will not lose any of your App Store apps, just the data that the apps save natively on the iPhone. (For example, game stats, score, levels; logging apps that keep track of passwords, expenses, car service history, etc.) If your apps have their own sync option, such as ToDo with Toodledo.com or a wifi sync with your computer, you will be able to sync the data back.

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This won't be recommended and its not a complete guide, but this is what I did:


1.) I did a sync with iTunes to backup my iPhone. (Make sure you select the items you want to sync under the info tab under your iPhone before you sync. You also need to transfer any music you purchased on your iPhone to your iTunes library or it will be lost.)

2.) With all the apps that had a sync option in the app, I did a sync so they were backed up.

3.) I took screen shots of all my home screens and "Catagories" screens to remember where I had stuff.

4.) I emailed myself all my important safari bookmarks, along with, notes and text files in apps that don't sync for a backup.

5.) I copied all the photos under "Apple iPhone" in "my computer" and put them in a temporary folder.

6.) I downloaded AptBackup from Cydia and made a backup of all my Cydia apps. This app remembers what you have downloaded in Cydia so when you jailbreak your iPhone again after you have updated to 2.2.1, you reinstall AptBackup, it will let you restore all the cydia apps you had previously on your iPhone. You can read how it works under more info under details if you look it up on Cydia.

7.) In iTunes, under my iPhone, under the applications tab: I unchecked all the apps I wasn't worried about losing data on and left only the important apps on my iPhone. (You don't want a bunch of apps on your iPhone when you jailbreak it because it can cause the-stuck-in-boot-logo problem.)

8.) I updated to 2.2.1 through iTunes and then restored from the backup it created in the beginning of the process. (Make sure you use the most recent backup.)

9.) UPDATE: There is now a guide on TiPb for 2.2.1 under the "Help & How To" tab: How to: Jailbreak iPhone 3G 2.2.1 - Windows PC QuickPWN Edition. Follow this guide for jailbreaking with QuickPwn. (I had used the 2.1 guide and replaced 2.1 with 2.1.1, but this is no longer necessary.)

10.) After the jailbreak was complete, I went to Cydia and downloaded AptBackup again and did the restore. I have over 40 jailbroken apps/tweaks so this took quite a while for me, maybe 10 to 15 mins. or more, it looked like it was stuck or frozen but it did eventually finish. I would imagine if it goes for more than a half hour to an hour you might have a problem and have to do a reboot, though if you have downloaded any of the game emulators, they and the games might add quite a bit of time. (More items = more time.)

11.) After all my jailbroken apps were back, I did a sync with iTunes to put back the App Store apps I took off so I could do the jailbreak. Unfortunately, I put them all back on at the same time, around 60, and I had the sync freeze multiple times during this process. It would sync a group of them back on my iPhone then the iPhone would reboot by itself. I just kept doing the sync again and again until it finished putting them all back on. It would probably be better to sync the apps back in groups of 5 (+/-), so you don't overwhelm the sync all at once.

12.) Then I was finished. I put all my apps back in the locations I like and I was able to update to 2.2.1 and keep all my data, call logs, text history, app data (for the apps I wanted), etc. Aptbackup seemed to remember which apps I had chosen to hide, my doc apps in SBSettings, and a some of the winterboard preferences I had chosen, but I wouldn't count on it.

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I can't guarantee that this will work and I tried to remember everything I did, but this did work for me. So far, after doing the restore from backup and then doing the jailbreak again, I haven't had any more trouble than the normal jailbreak things with my iPhone. I did have some data connectivity issues late last week, but I think that was a problem with the at&t network because they haven't reoccurred since.

Worst case scenario if it doesn't work, you will have to do a restore as new phone, which is what everyone recommends anyways. So I didn't feel it would hurt to try it and I am glad that I still have all the app data I didn't want to lose.

No one in the forums let me know if Apple could track back an iPhone that was Jailbroken, that did the restore from backup and then did the Jailbreak again, but so far I haven't heard Apple yet. ;)

Let me know if you have any questions and I will try to help the best I can, or if the are any omissions or corrections to be made.

Again, I figured I would just give the restore from backup a try since if it didn't work, I was going to have to restore as a new phone anyway. So hopefully this helps anyone, like me, who didn't want to lose their app data.

If I do run into any problems, I will post them.
 
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Jeremy

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Just a fair warning to anyone thinking about restoring from a jailbroken back up... I'd say don't do it. You are begging for trouble. That's just my opinion though.
 

RedBaron

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Other recommendations on doing this?

I had heard that it was not a good idea to restore from a jailbroken backup. So, the recommended scenario is to update back to a new phone, jailbreak and then re-sync, losing all app settings, text messages, etc.? Is there any way to save all the current system and app settings on a currently jailbroken phone so that they can be restored after an update and re-jailbreak?

TIA!
 

JNHohol

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I had heard that it was not a good idea to restore from a jailbroken backup. So, the recommended scenario is to update back to a new phone, jailbreak and then re-sync, losing all app settings, text messages, etc.? Is there any way to save all the current system and app settings on a currently jailbroken phone so that they can be restored after an update and re-jailbreak?

TIA!

Not that I know of with Windows, once you update back to a new phone, everything is gone. The only way to keep it is to use the backup after all the firmware is updated. That is why I gave the restore from backup a shot. I figured that every time I did a sync with iTunes, the backup it was storing was jailbroken.

I was only able to listen to 10 mins of the Live #7 podcast today while I was working out, but it sounds like the jailbreak is allowing the apps to access the api's Apple blocks out normally. So to me it seems that a jailbroken back up would still only contain the files that iTunes looks for to make the backup that are legitimate, settings, history, logs, etc. I'm not really sure about this though, its just an assumption and we know what happens when one assumes.
 

Jeremy

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Mar 27, 2005
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I had heard that it was not a good idea to restore from a jailbroken backup. So, the recommended scenario is to update back to a new phone, jailbreak and then re-sync, losing all app settings, text messages, etc.? Is there any way to save all the current system and app settings on a currently jailbroken phone so that they can be restored after an update and re-jailbreak?

TIA!

Yeah, everything will be wiped out. Settings and all.
 

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