iPhone data recovery

iPhone back up

It is a good idea to regularly back up your iPhone.  Just connecting the phone to iTunes does not back it up it just syncs the iPhone.  To back it up, connect to iTunes click on the picture of the iPhone top right of the screen then select ‘backup to this computer’. It will backup everything except maybe some apps including pictures.  It is also a good idea to download your pictures to your computer.

Updating the software

If the phone is working well and you have had no issues, then don’t update the software.  If you do decide to update, back it up first.  If the software is a much earlier version and you update it, you may not be able to restore it from your backup once you have updated the software.  Things do go wrong with the update.  They do, believe me.

Unlocked iPhones

Commonly know as ‘Jail Breaking’.  This is a 2-stage process, the first step is to Jail Break it to allow you to use unauthorised Apps on you iPhone or iPad, the second is to unlock the phone from your carrier. If you have unlocked your iPhone, restoring from iTunes in the normal way will remove both steps. If you have unlocked your iPhone you probably understand all this, if in doubt, then don’t do it.  There is a lot of information on the Internet, so do your research, the software is free so don’t pay for it.  Some unlocking especially the iPhone 4 is only a ‘tethered unlock’, which means once the iPhone goes flat you will need to run the program again you will not be able to connect to your carrier of choice.  Since this was first written things have changed, Your phone can now be unlocked at the network, We can arrange this, the fee varies depending on the Carrier and the device.

Recovering data

Recovering data generally means repairing the phone. Apple have made it almost impossible by encrypting the data. People generally come to us with a water damaged phone. If we can repair the phone to the extent that it can be backed up, you will be able to recover data; the phone may not be stable though, and may have issues in the future.

If we are unable to repair the phone the data my still be retrieved but it is expensive so we usually discuss the option with the client first.