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Is it possible to back up short messages from an iPhone on Linux, without iTunes?

grg
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Toothrot
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1 Answers1

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Yes, you can use the libimobiledevice project to backup your iPhone.

The project website is: http://www.libimobiledevice.org

However, most Linux distributions have it available in their package managers for easy installation.

After you have libimobiledevice installed, run idevicebackup2 to take a backup of the short message and other data from the phone:

idevicebackup2 backup myfolder

where myfolder is a path to a folder, where you want to store the backup.

If you neeed to enter passwords, you'll want to run it as:

idevicebackup2 -i backup myfolder

where -i means to ask for passwords interactively.

To then browse the backup in a traditional file tree format run:

idevicebackup2 unback myfolder

or

idevicebackup2 -i unback myfolder

A thorough guide can be found at this link.

dubc
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jksoegaard
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  • Thanks. I tried using the programme idevicebackup2, but it fails. Also, it seems an encryption password is set, even though I haven't chosen one. – Toothrot Jul 16 '17 at 19:38
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    In order for anyone to be able to help you, you need to specify how it fails. I.e. which command did you enter, and what kind of error messages and other output did you get? The encryption password cannot set itself automatically, you (or another person using the iPhone) must have set it. If you have set it in iTunes for example, this is the same password you must enter here with idevicebackup2. – jksoegaard Jul 17 '17 at 07:16
  • https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/291052/exporting-sms-messages-from-iphone-into-plain-text-files – Toothrot Jul 17 '17 at 09:20
  • I may have set the encryption password in i-tunes a long time ago. (didn't realize it was stored on the phone.) any way to reset it without knowing it? – Toothrot Jul 17 '17 at 09:21
  • No need to ask the same question twice in two different postings - just update the current one with your program output. – jksoegaard Jul 17 '17 at 11:35
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    Try with the password "1234" - it is the default password for some. Apart from that the only way to change the password without knowing it is to erase the iPhone and set it up as new. – jksoegaard Jul 17 '17 at 11:37
  • the linked page doesn't seem to give any information on how to do the thing in question – Toothrot Nov 24 '19 at 12:51
  • @Toorhrot the link is not to a tutorial - as I wrote in the answer, it’s a link to the project web site, where you can download the programs. Use for example the included idevicebackup2 program to take the backup. – jksoegaard Nov 24 '19 at 14:15
  • you might consider putting that in the answer – Toothrot Nov 24 '19 at 14:18
  • I can do that - but I’m not sure why you’re asking? You have yourself in this exact same thread described how you have downloaded the program, run idevicebackup2 and found that you had forgot your password? – jksoegaard Nov 24 '19 at 14:24
  • i just saw that this is a much-viewed question, and found that the answer itself is less helpful than it easily might be. being altruistic. – Toothrot Nov 24 '19 at 14:30
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    @Toothrot Good idea! I have added info on how to run the command. Another time - you can just edit the question yourself to add any information you feel is lacking. It doesn't have to be the original author - anyone can chime in with added info! – jksoegaard Nov 24 '19 at 17:56