If you have a jailbroken iPhone, here’s how to backup all your iOS 8 Cydia tweaks so you have it handy if your iPhone crashes or dies.
We already showed you how to backup your iPhone using iTunes on your Mac and this will back up everything on your iPhone except jailbreak tweaks. Not surprisingly, Apple doesn’t count jailbreak tweaks or other jailbreak files when backing up your device, so you’ll need to back them up separately.
In fact, Apple wasn’t too keen on jailbreaking in general, as the company recently fixed the jailbreak when it released the iOS 8.4.1 update last month. It was a very minor update that came with some general bug fixes and performance improvements, but the biggest change was the jailbreak patch.
Of course, those still running iOS 8.4.0 and older can jailbreak their iPhones and iPads, but these users will also want to find a way to back up their jailbreak tweaks separately from iTunes backups.
Fortunately, Cydia has apps and tweaks you can install that will quickly and easily back up your other iOS 8 Cydia tweaks.
Here’s how to backup your iOS 8 Cydia tweaks.
Backup iOS 8 Cydia Tweaks
To back up your jailbreak tweaks, you need a separate backup system from iTunes as it won’t back up your jailbreak tweaks.
Perhaps the best backup tool for backing up your jailbreak settings is called PkgBackup and you can download it from Cydia. The only downside is that it costs $9.99, but it’s worth it and you won’t find a better backup solution.
After purchasing and installing the tweak, it will appear as an app icon on your home screen. Before opening the app, I highly recommend restarting your iPhone as many users have issues with PkgBackup the first time they try to use it, and a simple reboot usually works.
After opening the app, if you get a popup that says something like “Scanning for packages and apps is disabled”, you need to go to your iPhone’s settings and go to and then enable whatever you want. backed up, in which case you really only need to back up your Cydia packages.
From there, go back to PKGBackup and then tap Settings where you can choose how to save the backup. I personally like to save the backup to Dropbox.
From there, return to the home screen of the app and tap on it and then tap on the smaller orange button.
Tap on it to continue, then you will be prompted to enter a title and description for the backup so you can find it easily when you need it. Go ahead and the app will start backing up your jailbreak tweaks.
Restoring Backed Up Jailbreak Settings
If you’ve restored your iPhone and factory reset it, you’ve lost all your jailbreak settings unless you back it up. Here’s how to restore your jailbreak settings.
After re-jailbreaking your iPhone, open Cydia and reinstall PkgBackup. Once installed, open the app and tap on it.
The app loads a default backup (usually the latest one) to restore, but only if you have one. From there, tap the orange button. After the process is complete, you will be prompted to reboot your device, after which all your tweaks will appear when you reboot.
Backing up your jailbreak tweaks is a real lifesaver, especially if you have a bunch of them installed. If you’ve only installed a few, it’s probably not worth spending $9.99 to back up these few tweaks, but if you have a lot of tweaks that are hard to track, then PkgBackup might be worth it for you.
