Just like how you can backup all the contents on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch via iTunes or iCloud, there’s also a way to backup all the installed Cydia tweaks and sources on your device and restore them later. 

Taking a backup of the jailbreak apps and tweaks can be useful when you’re updating to a newer firmware as all the jailbreak related contents including the jailbreak will be wiped off your device, and save you the trouble of installing the tweaks one by one.

PKGBackup is a solid tweak by Jibril Gueye that allows you to a backup all the Cydia tweaks and sources on your iOS device and save it in your local storage or on the cloud such as Dropbox, Box, SkyDrive etc. It also takes a backup of preferences & springboard files. It supports iOS 8 and is available on Cydia’s BigBoss repository for $9.99. The price might seem a little hefty, but in the long run, it will definitely worth it as it gets updated regularly to fix all the known bugs and support the latest iOS firmwares.

To find out how to backup all the Cydia packages and sources on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, follow our step-by-step tutorial below.

How to backup Cydia Apps and Tweaks on iOS 8

Step 1: Launch Cydia and purchase PkgBackup.

Step 2: After installing the tweak, a new standalone app will be added to your Home screen for PkgBackup. Tap on it to open.

Step 3: Go to the Settings app and choose the source where you want to save your backup such as local storage.

Step 4: Tap on the round Backup button.

Step 5: Press the orange Backup button next to ‘Details’. The size of the backup will also be displayed above it.

Step 6: Tap on the Yes button to continue. You’ll be asked to enter the Backup title and the description. Give it a meaningful name to be able to locate it easily next time.

Step 7: After you’ve entered the name, the tweak will start to take a backup of all the jailbreak related contents on your device. It should be done within a few minutes depending on the amount of Cydia packages you’ve installed on your device.

How to restore Cydia tweaks and sources from a backup

After you have updated your iOS device with new firmware update, and have re-jailbroken your device, then you can follow these steps to restore the backup you had taken previously.

Step 1: Launch Cydia and install PkgBackup again.

Step 2: Open PkgBackup app and tap on the Restore button.

Step 3: The name of the backup that it will restore from will be displayed above the orange Restore button. To change it, tap on its name and you’ll view a list of all the packages it contains. To choose a specific backup, tap on the current backup’s name at the top of the list to choose the one you want to restore from and then press Select -> Close.

Step 4: To restore from the backup, press the orange Restore button.

Step 5: A confirmation message pops up. Tap on Yes.

Step 6: The tweak will now start to restore from the backup and after it has been completed, press the Reboot button on the pop-up box to restart your device.

You can also save your backups on a cloud by going to the Settings section and connecting it to a cloud service.

If you face any problem while backing up your device or restoring, make sure to leave a comment below.