iPhone Backup Extractor is a Windows and macOS application for browsing and extracting data from iPhone, iPad and iPod touch backups. It turns backed-up messages, photos, contacts and application files into data you can read or save on your computer, without restoring the entire backup to a device. It also provides access to supported data stored separately in an iCloud account.
Backup selection
The backup browser lists local backups found in the current user’s default backup folder. You can add other locations in Preferences, including folders copied from another computer or kept on a network drive. Selecting a backup displays information about its device and the data it contains, helping distinguish several backups before extracting anything.
iPhone Backup Extractor reads backups created through Finder or iTunes. An encrypted backup requires its encryption password before its contents become available; purchasing a license does not remove that requirement. The backup itself is the source for local extraction, so a working phone is unnecessary when the required data already exists in that backup.
Exporting messages, contacts and photos
Overview groups the backup’s contents by data type and shows how much information is available in each category. Selecting a category starts an export, while Preview lets you inspect supported records and select individual entries.
Supported content includes SMS, MMS and iMessage conversations, WhatsApp messages, contacts, notes, call history, calendar data, photos, videos and recordings. iPhone Backup Extractor offers readable exports such as PDF, HTML and CSV where appropriate to the data. Contacts can be exported in vCard format, and calendar information in iCal format, giving those records a form that other address-book and calendar applications can import.
Deleted records
A backup made before a deletion may still contain the original item. iPhone Backup Extractor can also recover some records deleted before the backup was created when their contents remain inside its database files. This applies to data such as messages, notes and contacts whose deleted records have not yet been purged from the stored databases.
The Show deleted data control includes recoverable deleted records in previews and exports. Recovery therefore depends on what survives in the backup; it cannot recreate information that is absent from the available files.
App files
App View organizes files by the applications present when the backup was made. Choosing an application provides access to its backed-up files, including data from apps that do not have a dedicated category in Overview.
Expert Mode exposes the backup’s individual files and folders. You can extract files by selecting them or dragging them to the computer, and edit or replace files within the backup. The built-in Plist viewer and editor can open binary preference files that would appear unreadable in an ordinary text editor.
iCloud data
iPhone Backup Extractor can connect to an iCloud account using its account credentials and, when enabled, a two-factor authentication code. Account data such as synchronized contacts and iCloud Photo Library is separate from a device’s full iCloud backup. The account views let you browse supported content and download it to the computer.
Full iCloud backup retrieval is currently unavailable. Local backup extraction remains a separate route for accessing the data included in Finder or iTunes backups.
Screen Time and restrictions passcodes
The Utilities controls also handle forgotten Screen Time and older restrictions passcodes. The available operation depends on the device’s iOS generation: supported backup-based recovery reads the relevant passcode data, while other supported cases use a connected-device removal wizard. Backup-based Screen Time recovery requires an encrypted backup containing that information. These controls concern Screen Time and restrictions, rather than the passcode used to unlock the phone.
iPhone Backup Extractor editions
The free edition lets you browse and preview local backup data and extract four files at a time, including files from an encrypted backup when you supply its password. Paid licensing unlocks unrestricted local extraction and the full supported iCloud functions. A Business license adds commercial use and priority support.
