iOS Backups in Racket: Groundwork

For the last little while, I’ve been spending my spare programming time working on a slightly larger project than I normally do: a Racket library for reading iOS backups.

Basically, I want to take the mess that is an iOS backup (not particularly designed to be easy to read by other programs) and extract some information from it, backing it up in a more easily readable format.

Specifically, I would like to be able to backup:

  • Contact information: Even thought they’re mostly from Facebook, it will be useful for the other parts
  • Messages: These are taking up a large portion of my phone’s hard drive, mostly due to attachments. Back them up just in case12
  • Photos: I’m already backing these up, but it would be nice to have it in the same process
  • Application data:
  • List of applications over time
  • Moves: GPS location
  • Downcast: List of current podcasts
  • Sleep Cycle: Sleep data
  • Boardgame Scorer: High scores for board games

read more...