How to Backup iPhone Contacts, SMS, Notes & Call History

Backup iPhone Contacts, SMS, Notes & Call History

23 July 2009 by Vinay 9 Comments

After updating your jailbreaked iPhone to a new firmware it is always advised to set you phone as a new phone during the first sync after updating and jailbreaking. This will save you from battery drainage, unexpected reboot, hanging etc. If you set your phone as a new phone you will loose many valuable data like Received SMS, Contacts, Call History, Notes, Calender etc. To overcome this problem you are advised to manually backup your iPhone data before updating your iPhone to new firmware. The process is very easy all you need is a Jailbreaked iPhone with SSH installed already. Now follow our guide to access file system of your iPhone here ” How to Access iPhone via SSH on Windows Mac ” Now follow the paths given below and copy save the certain files mentioned below.

How to backup Contacts :

Navigate to /private/var/mobile/Library/AddressBook
There will be two files save them on your computer.

How to backup Messages :

Navigate to /private/var/mobile/Library/SMS
Save sms.db on your computer

How to backup Calendar:

Navigate to /private/var/mobile/Library/Calendar
Copy Calendar.sqlitedb to your computer

How to backup Notes:

Navigate to /private/var/mobile/Library/Notes
Copy notes.db and notes.idx to your computer

How to backup your Call History:

Navigate to /var/mobile/Library/CallHistory/
copy call_history.db to your computer

To restore these databases after updating and jailbreaking navigate to specified paths and replace the files with you copied and saved earlier.

9 Comments »

Alejandro said:

Really NICE !

# 9 October 2009 at 1:00 am

Best way of backing up iPhone? - Mobile Phones | TechEnclave said:

[...] Re: Best way of backing up iPhone? HowTo: Manually BackUp Your iPhone | FSMdotCOM How to Backup iPhone Contacts, SMS, Notes & Call History | iPhone [...]

# 1 December 2009 at 10:17 am

AndryRandy said:

u can use this from Iphone Explorer a simple soft to use and backup anythin:) just drag and drop:)

# 8 December 2009 at 6:40 pm

KingKoala said:

Try this software:
http://www.icopybot.com/itunes-backup-manager.htm

Can export Contacts, SMS, Notes & Call History from iTunes backup, no jailbreak required!

# 28 January 2010 at 11:38 pm

Tay said:

I did this backup using iPhone Folders and it worked. I have all my notes, calendar, contacts, etc BUT for some reason I can’t edit or add anything! Basically I can’t use my contacts, my sms crashes & I can’t write in my notes. Does anyone know how to fix this?

# 30 April 2010 at 10:18 pm

Daniel said:

I am having the same issue as Tay. Please help. I only backed up my SMS messages, so my SMS crashes when I try to use it.

# 6 May 2010 at 10:51 am

Ande said:

Hey Daniel and Tay -

I have been having the same issue for this past day – as I just had to buy a new iphone 3gs. Though its the same model and memory i bought it on 3.1.3 and then jb with Spirit
Though I lost my old phone – fortunately just days before I had done a full folder backup of all my files through ssh. Contacts messages etc

After jb I started copying and pasting through ssh and began to have the crashing problem- then I did some research and realized that the mobilephone.app mobiletimer.app and all those programs – I was copying into- used the files from 3.1.2 firmware.
When only copying into mobile/library/msgs etc… I find the program works for a time then crashes.

I know that 3.1.2 firmware mobilephone.app was NOT compatible with 3.0 so POSSIBLY this is why there is significant trouble with the programs that the .db’s are copied into- are crashing.

I stopped replacing the entire folder and am now trying to only change the mobile/library folders. That I anticipate will cause a crashing issue as well. So I believe it is a problem with compatibility of the old Database files and the new firmware.

MAYBE thats what you guys are experiencing. Even if not- still check the permissions on all the files you institute and if you have mobileterminal- type

chown private/var/mobile/(<- and then the rest of the file path for the msgs calendars addresses etc)

I'll try and come back if I experience any new revelations

# 16 May 2010 at 2:49 am

rafaelo said:

You fix the above problem by SSH-ing in your iphone and giving full read and write right to all the folders that you’ve put back on the phone.

# 16 May 2010 at 11:20 pm

Tom said:

Great info. I found this tool kits is also helpful. It can backup and transfer iPhone songs, videos, photos, SMS, call list, contacts and books(you purchased via iBook Store) to computer.

Good luck to all!

# 25 May 2010 at 8:15 pm