iPhone Backup Extractor overview

Updated

iPhone Backup Extractor can extract files from iPhone backups and iCloud for your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch data. It works with all versions of iOS, and any mobile Apple device.

Our product page explains the details, but we've included a summary below to get you started.

Key features of iPhone Backup Extractor

Supported data

Reincubate iPhone Backup Extractor supports data directly from a number of Apple and third-party apps.

Supported Apple data

Supported third-party data

Additional third-party data

iPhone Backup Extractor also supports a huge number of additional third-party applications via its "App View" and "Expert Mode" functions, recovering data from both iPhone backups and iCloud.

Compatibility

Windows and macOS

iPhone Backup Extractor runs on any modern Mac (macOS 10.11 or newer) and any modern PC (Windows 7 SP1 or newer).

iOS

iPhone Backup Extractor works will all versions of iOS, and all iOS devices including iPhones, iPads, and the iPod Touch.

iCloud

Status Notes
Real-time iCloud data OK for all iOS versions, with or without 2FA.
⚠️ iCloud backup data retrieval not possible as of May 2020, following Apple's Q4 2018, Q3 2019 and Q2 2020 changes. There are three alternatives:
  1. Our support team can guide you through creating a temporary iTunes backup as a workaround
  2. Our support team are able to convert iCloud backups to iTunes on request
  3. Using real-time iCloud data, by choosing the account (rather than the backup) from the left-hand navigation in iPhone Backup Extractor
Users may see "This backup cannot currently be accessed" in the meantime.

How can we help?

Our support team are here to help!

Our office hours are Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM GMT. The time is currently 6:44 AM GMT.

We aim to reply to all messages within one working day.

Our awesome support team

Comments (45)

Есть ли эта программа на русском языке?

Пока нет, но мы можем помочь на русском языке...

Do I need to purchase to upper version if want to extract media (including videos)? and can i transfer the data to my android device?

Hi Mihir, thanks for your comment. The free version of our software will let you recover up to 4 records at a time, so it's possible to pull the data out with the free version... but will be easier and quicker with the paid version.

Yes, you can transfer the data to your Android device, although how you do so depends on the type of data you want to transfers. Do check out our how-to on importing to Android.

ALL I CAN SAY IS WWWOOOOWWWW!! I thought all my stuff was gone after I had to do a full restore on my iphone. WOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOOWWOWOWOW!!! This is SOOOOO worth it! U GUYS ROCK LIKE A MOUNTAIN!

If every company had the excellent customer support as you life would be much easier. Your team is awesome and I tell everyone about it. Also, special thanks to Andy for his patience and compassion. Kudos to him!!! Thanks again.

just checking to see if comments are real.....

Hi Chris! We moderate comments to block spam, so they appear once we've reviewed them.

a super application - I retrieved all of my photo's from my stolen iphone from the backup file - well worth the £15 ! nice one guys!

You saved 500 photos which would have been irretrievably lost. These included my honeymoon photos. MANY MANY THANKS, you deserve a medal. And some $$$.

Un grand merci !!! car j ai galéré av de trouver avec toutes ses version payante en anglais en plus . tester ok j ai retouver mes photo . thanks !!

Hi buddy Thanks to post this article on web. I really happy and feeling relax with iPhone Backup Extractor.......

Ah! I have it working. Contacts weren't working after I copied/overwrote them (via ssh) back onto the phone. Finally it occurred to me to try turning off/on the phone. Everything's there.

Again - Best thread on the internet and I'm so saving this every which way and upside down!

Seriously, this is the best thread on the web!

OK, I've been digging around my iPhones since launch but got stupid yesterday and 'set up as a new phone' nuking my contacts.

Went back in Time Machine to retrieve some files, did iPhone Extractor, and SSH'd SMS, call history, etc. back into phone. BUT Contacts don't work. I can't get them back for anything. I went to AddressBook's sqlitedb files and dragged those in. Nothing there.

When I run the above SQLite program, I see all the contacts. So they are in my computer 'somehow'.
I'm not clear on what running SQLite does other than confirm to me my contacts are in that file. But how do I then get them into my phone?

I copy (ssh) the AddressBook folder into the phone but nothings there. Yet SQLite says they are when executing the query stated above. ???

...sql request to get contacts type:

SELECT abp.first, abp.last, abp.organization, REPLACE(REPLACE( abmvl.value, "_$!<", ""), ">!$_", ""), abmv.value 
  FROM ABPerson abp, ABMultiValue abmv, ABMultiValueLabel abmvl
  WHERE abmv.record_id = abp.ROWID AND abmv.label = abmvl.ROWID
  ORDER By abp.Last, abp.First, abp.CreationDate

This will work for 3GS phones?

Hi Simona, it sure will!

Does anyone know how to decrypt iPhone backup on Vista?

Steven -- iPhone Backup Extractor runs on Vista. Are you running into problems with it?

You are a LIFE SAVER. I needed to recover info from just one note and I was afraid I didn't have the know how to open the one .db file by myself, but I DID IT!!! I feel smart and I have my info and it's because of you. YOU ROCK!!!

Hi Aidan, can I run your SW on a W2k?

Hey Eddie, you sure can. Reach out if you get stuck.

I spent 25$... But it was worth it!!!!!! Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you!

Thanks so much for this software! I recovered all the data lost by syncing with outlook. :)

OMG!!! Thank you so much!!! I had all my pictures of my son for the last 4 months, and him being only 10 months now, 4 months is a big deal. Was gutted when I thought I had lost them all because of a stupid software update, but with this Extractor, I was able to recover them all!!! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!!

This is the BEST software I have ever found.

You are the BOMB! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for creating this software. It is FANTASTIC, WONDERFUL, there just are not enough words to express my gratitude!

Hey, i am a bit slow with stuff like this...so can you tell me will this application be able to find lost notes which never made it to the computer....they were lost in the process of trying to synch??

thanks heaps.

Hi Jayatma: it'll find anything that was on the device which got backed up to your PC or Mac (whether or not a sync was completed). The free edition will show you what's in your backups, so there's no harm in trying. 🙂

Hi, Aidan - I really appreciate all the extra attention you gave to me to help me restore my files. We got about 90% of the data which is still a miracle. My assistant can enter the rest by hand. You were so patient with my operator errors. I know there has to be a way to get the rest with your program, but it's way smarter than I am. Your attention to your customers is outstanding. I think a lot of other companies could learn from you! Look me up if you ever come to Alaska!

This software is extremely useful for recovering photos, voice mail, and videos and other data from an iPhone. While iTunes does not directly import photos voice mail, and or videos, the data is backed up onto a Mac or Windows when the phone is being "backed up", prior to an upgrade or during a sync. The files are stored in the "MobileSync" folder buried in the user folder on either platform. Each sync adds more data (incrementally) to the same folder. If problems occur during a sync, the files can become corrupt. This is why Apple creates a separate folder before each upgrade. All users should consider backing up their MobileSync folder periodically, and before major changes to their phone. With a clean, backed up MobileSync folder, Backup Extractor for iPhone can recover everything!

Just wanted to add something to the "contacts" restoral query:

If you change the query to this:

select ABPerson.first,ABPerson.last, ABPerson.organization, ABMultiValue.value from ABPerson,ABMultiValue where ABMultiValue.record_id=ABPerson.ROWID

(adding the "ABPerson.organization" in there) you will be able to see the "Company" name that the contact info is listed under.

Thank you Aiden, you were very helpful

You guys are GODS !!!!

£15 is f''all and I got all the addresses back !!

I love you ... I truely, truely love you !!

I have a question ... my iphone has important voice memos on it. Something has gone wrong and screen is locked onto image of plug into itunes. Only option is to restore to default settings. Anyone know whether this software will allow me to access the voice memos?

Hi Emma: it'll pull them out if they're in your backup, which is a good possibility. Give it a go. 🙂

This software has helped me get my contact and SMS back along with Iphone Browser.

hi, does your software support notes retrieval?

Yes, it does!

how would i recover notes from an iTunes backup

Hi Jordan, thanks for commenting. I've got instructions for notes here.

Thanks for your help

EXCELLENT SOFTWARE PUT PHONE IN WASHING MACHINE... RUN A BUSINESS GOT EVERYTHING BACK WITH THIS TOOL MY BUSINESS THANKS YOU!!!!

if I buy this can I used it on my laptop ( if i buy it from my desktop computer?)

Yes, the license lets you run it on a handful of machines. Reach out if you get stuck!

I love you!!! I struggled with this but got there in the end, all my contacts and text messages were retrieved, thank you!

You guys should make a YouTube tutorial! I know plenty of people who have had their iphones either lost or stolen, and can't replace their valuable contacts without buying another phone.

Thanks so much for making this a free program! I retrieved my prized contacts! If you can't make a YouTube tutorial on how to view your iPhone backup files on your pc/mac, an illustrative step by step page would do just fine.

:)

Thank-you for helping me save my most recent contacts! Great job!!

Hi, I have a problem. I restored my iPhone and lost all of my contacts. I don't have the numbers saved on iTunes. Will this program work for me if I had them on my iPhone before I restored it. ?

@Alex. If you connected your iPhone with iTunes and it backed up the phone, yes, they will be. If you have connected the iPhone to iTunes since the restore, it may have overwritten your last backup. If you run the backup extractor it should give you some clues. Good luck!

I had an audio recording on the phone before i lost all of my information, where would i find that once i have opened all of the previous back ups ? The file was created with FiRe audio recording software

@Jon Thanks for your interest in the iPhone Backup Extractor. I don't know that voice recording software, but it's likely to store whatever files it creates under it's own folder, which will be somewhere under "Applications". Why not download it and have a look?

Hi - just updated to OS 3.0 and as a result seem to have lost half of my photos from camera roll...?! (VERY ANNNOYING!)

Is there any way, using your software, to retrieve these missing photos from the backup of my phone?

Any help much appreciated.

@JH: Sorry to hear about your upgrade problem. If your iPhone was backed up when the photos were on it -- and you still have the backup -- it will be possible to restore them with the iPhone Backup Extractor. Load it up and browse to the Media/DCIM/100APPLE folder and you should see your photos.

Is there any other way to copy the backed-up files on the devices except ssh..

@Nish: Thanks for your interest in the backup extractor. I believe there are some applications available in the AppStore (AirShare, DataCase) that expose your iPhone's filesystem over the wireless network, and they may be suitable for copying some of the files back to your iPhone. Let us know how you get on!

Is there a way to retrieve call history?

@Scott Yes, use the tool to restore /Library/CallHistory/call_history.db. You'll find that file is a SQLite DB containing your call history.

Does this work with iTunes 8.2.0?

Jon yes, iPhone Backup Extractor fully supports iTunes 8.2.0. It will also support unencrypted backups from OS 3.

What if you sync more than one iPhone to the same computer. How do you retrieve the texts from the phone that you need them from? I'm only getting the texts from one phone and can't seem to find the ones from the other. Any suggestions?

Hi Tiffany, each device will get its own backup, and you can use the drop-down to switch between them. Drop us a note if you get stuck!

I have some simple questions. I want to retrieved deleted text messages from my Itunes backup. Can I get these and what folder are they located in? After the extractor does it's thing and I have the extracted file. What do I do next?

Hi Cathy

It's easy to restore your SMS text message history from an iPhone backup. Follow these steps:

  1. Using the iPhone Backup Extractor, restore the file Libray/SMS/SMS.db. This is a SQL Lite database file with all of your SMS messages.

  2. Download and run the free SQL Lite database browser.

  3. Open the restored file with the database browser, choose the "Browse data" tab, and then select "message" from the "Table" drop-down.

  4. When you press the magnifying glass button, you will see your full SMS history shown in the "Data returned" field.

Hope this helps.

I've tried the iPhone Backup Extractor, but it doesn't seem to recognise backups from iTunes 8.1.

Is this going to be fixed in a future update soon?

Thanks,

Tim

Thanks for the comment, Tim. Version 1.0.0.3 (available above) fully supports the new backup format introduced in iTunes 8.1.


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