Is there a private API in iOS that I can use to read/write save data from another app?

Question

My sons iPod is suffering from this issue http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1368

Basically the only thing I can to to fix this is to reset the iPod without restoring a backup. He wants to fix his iPod but he does not want to lose his saved games (at least PvZ). I have an iOS developer account so if I could write a small app to save off this data and later write it back he would be golden.

What I am looking for is a way to write a simple app like http://www.imore.com/app-data-appbackup-jailbreak but I do not want to jailbreak his phone I just want to use the private api to accomplish the same thing and just load it using the dev account.

This is a valid question I simply what to know if these API's exist. I do not plan to us this except for personal devices. If you down-vote please explain why.

Answer 1

You shouldn't have to write new code - other people have had this problem.

Several 3rd-party apps (that I haven't personally tried) purport to be able to get other apps' data:

• http://addpod.com/juicephone
• http://www.macroplant.com/iexplorer/features/mount-iphone-disk-mode-file-folder-access/
• http://www.ecamm.com/mac/phoneview/

Note that there are some limitations - if the data is encrypted you'll have to retrieve the key somehow. Probably that requires a jailbreak or some more serious hacking.