How to prepare jailbroken iPhone for Absinthe 2.0 release

For those of us already running a jailbroken iPhone or iPad, the task of upgrading iOS then jailbreaking after the update can seem quite daunting. Jailbroken device users often have dozens of Cydia add-ons, and have customized the device layout to their liking. With a jailbroken device, iTunes doesn't preserve the layout and add-on tweaks like it does with a standard iOS upgrade. So some users opt to stay with an older jailbroken version of iOS because of the hassle of having to download and set up dozens of tweaks and add-ons after the upgrade and jailbreak.

It's anticipated that in the next several weeks, Absinthe 2.0 will be released, allowing users to jailbreak 5.1.1 devices, and many of you have been asking about the best method for preserving settings and mods once a new jailbreak comes out.

To address this plaguing issue, we've found a great Cydia application, PKGBackup by Jibril Gueye. It offers a solution to backup every aspect of your jailbroken device. It features a plethora of options such as the ability to backup the device to your address book, Sugarsync, or Dropbox. Restoring the device is as simple as installing PKGBackup on the newly jailbroken device, then logging in and restoring the backup. Once restoration is complete, the device will look and feel exactly as it had prior to the upgrade, except on the newer OS.

PKGBackup archives and restores almost every aspect of the iOS device:

• Cydia sources
• Jailbreak applications
• Preferences files
• Springboard files
• Apple defaults apps

PKGBackup is available in the BigBoss repo of the Cydia app store for $7.99, so if you would find such a tool useful, just go ahead and grab it!

Is your iOS device jailbroken? Do you plan to update when the 5.1.1 untethered jailbreak is released? Do you backup and restore your device, or do you start fresh with each jailbreak update?


source: Pragmatix Consulting