Have you ever experienced the loss of your important files: messages, contacts, photos or documents, on your iPhone, iPad or iPod? Unexpected situations sometimes cause your Apple devices to lose the information stored on them. These losses are often caused by a jailbreak, a new iOS update, or simple careless deletion. If this happened to your iPhone, iPad or iPod, there’s no need to worry! It is indeed possible to recover the missing data on Apple devices. You have the choice between doing it yourself or requesting the assistance of a professional for the recovery.
Recover and back up your data from a computer
Restoring your data with a computer is possible using iOS Data Recovery software. Connect your iPhone, iPad or iPod to the computer with the USB cable supplied with the device to transfer data, following the instructions that appear on the interface.
Then proceed to scan your device.
- Enter DFU mode if you have iPhone 4/3GS, iPad 1 or iPod touch 4 models. Then, scan the lost files on your device. For a later version of iOS devices, go directly to scanning your device.
- Click the “Start” button shown on the recovery interface for the iPhone, iPad or iPod.
- Enter DFU mode on your device using the Home and Power buttons.
- Once the scan is complete, all your files will be displayed by category. Preview them one by one before selecting the files to restore.
Depending on the data you want to search for, all or just the deleted files, select the items, transfer them to your computer and recover them.
Recover data with an iTunes backup
Deleted apps or files can be recovered via iTunes, if you have already backed them up to iTunes before, and they are saved in that backup. You must therefore connect your device to the computer and open iTunes.
Once your Apple product has been detected, right-click and restore your device by choosing Restore from backup. Otherwise, select Summary in iTunes, and click Restore.
Choose Recover from the iTunes backup file. A list of your backup categories synced with iTunes will be provided. Select the files you’re looking for. Then click Start Scan to extract it from the iTunes backup.
Note that a full restore of the iTunes backup to the Apple device will occur if you use iTunes. This will overwrite all information, so you may lose the existing data on the device. It is advisable to extract the iTunes backup and restore selectively. To perform this selective recovery, do not connect your device to iTunes when you realize you are losing information. Otherwise, the iTunes backup file will be updated. You can also only restore apps available on the App Store.
Recover data via iCloud backup
This type of recovery requires you to connect to the Wi-Fi network to recover the data erased from your Apple devices, by extracting the iCloud backup files.
Here’s how to proceed:
- Launch the software. Select the “Recover from iCloud backup files” mode. Enter your Apple ID and password to log in to your iCloud account.
- A list of data stored in iCloud will be displayed after the automatic search performed by the software. Choose the one that contains the records of deleted content and click the Download button. You can then select the file types to download in the pop-up. Then click Scan to extract the backup.
- To carry out a selective recovery of your device’s information, preview the contents of the backup file in detail once the scan is complete. Mark the ones to be restored and click Recover to save them to the computer.
As with restoring from iTunes, all existing information on your devices will be overwritten in the event of a full restore. To avoid data loss, in the same way as with iTunes, you can extract the iCloud backup.
Entrust your iPhone, iPad or iPod to professionals
Various tutorials are available online to help you restore files and apps on your Apple product. They come with videos demonstrating the steps to follow to recover your files yourself.
However, there are risks that none of the methods presented will work, or that the existing information may become damaged. Professionals can, moreover, use data recovery methods and software on your iPhone, iPad or iPod. This method is a very good alternative for recovering your information. For greater assurance in restoring your device and avoiding any damage to your data, request the assistance of professionals in the field.