Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Upgrading your iPhone? Protect your Dive Log logbook (and other application's data)

Many people will be getting new iPhone 4 and 4S's this week as upgrades for their existing iPhones. In general, switching from one iPhone to a newer model is a straight forward task, however there are some precautions you can take to ensure that you don't loose any important application data during the upgrade.

Most applications on the iPhone keep their data in a private "sandbox" (this allows Apple to ensure that one application doesn't affect the safe use of another application). Most of this data is backed up with iTunes during a Sync with your Mac or PC and can be recovered with a complete restore of your iPhone. Most of the built in applications (for example Contacts, Notes and Photos) also share that data with applications on your computer via iTunes. However, 3rd party applications like Dive Log can not use iTunes to automatically exchange data with desktop applications and must rely on a different mechanism for exchanging data with desktop applications. In the case of Dive Log, various desktop application can synchronize logbook data (and also backup and restore logbooks) via a WiFi based connection (for more information about syncing Dive Log with desktop applications visit www.moremobilesoftware.com/divelog-sync). When you upgrade to your new iPhone you'll want to ensure that your logbook data is transferred from your old iPhone either via iTunes or using one on the supported desktop applications (or use both).

The easiest way to pick up where you left off with your old iPhone is to use iTunes to backup the contents of your old iPhone and then transfer that data to your new iPhone. This process will require that you have a recent backup of your old iPhone. If you plan to sell your old iPhone before you get your new one, be sure to do a full backup of your old iPhone before you prepare it to be sold. In either case, your first step should be to connect your old iPhone to iTunes and either "Sync" or "Backup" your iPhone. When you "Sync" your iPhone, the first step iTunes takes is to take a backup of your device. You can also backup your iPhone by connecting it to your computer and then "right click" or "option-click" on your iPhone's name under Devices in the iTunes sidebar and select "Backup" from the menu. Then, when you activate your new iPhone you will want to choose the option in the new iOS Setup wizard to sync with iTunes the first time and connect your iPhone to your computer via USB. Then, when iTunes displays the "Set Up Your iPhone" screen you will be given the choice to "Set up as a new iPhone" or "Restore from the backup of: xxx" (where "xxx" is a popup menu of the backups available on your computer). You want to choose the "Restore from the backup of:" option to get all your application data transferred to your new iPhone. Once the sync process is complete, you should have all your existing applications and data from your original iPhone on the new iPhone. Note that your new iPhone will also have the same name as your original iPhone. You can change either of these names on the iPhone itself or by double clicking on the iPhone's name in the iTunes sidebar under Devices and typing in a new name (this is probably not necessary if you are not planning to keep your old iPhone).

Regardless of if you set up your iPhone by as a "new iPhone" or by restoring the backup from your previous iPhone, you should probably also take advantage of using one of the desktop applications to sync and/or backup/restore your logbook directly using Dive Log's WiFi synchronization feature. Since there is no practical ways to restore just one application's data using the iTune's backup/restore features it is useful to have a direct backup of your Dive Log data on your computer. This will be necessary to transfer your existing logbook data from your old iPhone to your new iPhone if you do not use the iTunes restore method from above (for example if you choose to set up your iPhone as a "new iPhone"). To sync your Dive Log data with your computer you will need one of the applications that supports direct Dive Log syncing on either the Mac or the PC. On the PC you'll want to get Diving Log 5.0. While Diving Log 5.0 is a paid application, you can use the free version if all you desire is the backup/restore function (for full editing and syncing with more than 10 dives you will need a license but the free version supports backup/restore of any sized logbook). On the Mac you can use Dive Log Manager (free), Dive Log DT (paid), or MacDive (paid) to sync and/or backup/restore your Dive Log logbook.

Once you have a suitable desktop application installed, you'll want to transfer your logbook from your old iPhone to your computer. Then you'll want to transfer your logbook data from your computer to your new iPhone. The various desktop applications all have slightly different interfaces for synchronizing with Dive Log on iPhone but the basic set up in the same in all cases. You need to ensure that your iPhone is connected to the same network as your computer via WiFi (your computer can be connected via ethernet, but must be on the same local network as your iPhone - see the FAQ & Tips section of our support site for help with connection problems). You'll then navigate to the "Synchronization" tab within Dive Log (it is usually under the "more" tab unless you have reorganized your tabs within Dive Log) and tap the "Enable Sync" button in the upper left hand corner of the screen (if this button is not visible it is most likely because your iPhone is not connected to the network via WiFi). Back on your desktop computer you'll want to access the iPhone/iOS Sync feature:

Diving Log 5.0 on Windows: Click the "Sync" button in the ribbon. This button will show an iPhone image in the future once you've selected it the first time.

Dive Log Manager/Dive Log DT: Your iPhone device should show up under the SYNCHRONIZE item in the sidebar. Simply click the name of your device to see the synchronization options.

MacDive: Click the "iOS Sync" item in the sidebar under Library.

The first step is to get the data from your original iPhone to your computer. If you have already been syncing your original iPhone with your application of choice on your computer, you'll just want to proceed as you normally do to make sure that any changes from your original iPhone are updated to your computer. If this is the first time that you have synchronized your iPhone with your computer, then it is likely that you have no logbook data stored on your computer and you'll want to import your iPhone logbook to your computer. You can either choose to "backup" your iPhone to your computer (this just makes a complete copy of your logbook file into a file on your computer) or you can add the data on your iPhone to the (presumably new) logbook on your computer. Let's start with the backup option:

Diving Log 5.0: Your iPhone's name should be showing in the Sync dialog (if it is not, make sure that sync is enabled on your iPhone and that your network and firewall is correctly configured - see FAQ & Tips). Now click on the "Info" button to reveal the "Backup/Restore" options and click the Backup button.

Dive Log Manager/Dive Log DT: The "Backup Logbook TO Desktop" button should be enabled (if not check that sync is enabled on your iPhone and that your network is properly configured). Click the "Backup Logbook TO Desktop".

MacDive: Once your iPhone is recognized by MacDive (again, if it is not, check that sync is enabled on your iPhone and that your network is properly configured). Click on the "Backup" button under Options.

In all the applications you'll provide a file name to save your logbook to. Just be sure that you can find it again for the next step. The second step is to disable sync on your original iPhone (if it isn't already) and enable it on your new iPhone. Once your new iPhone appears in your chosen desktop application, you'll "restore" the file that you saved in the last step to your new iPhone:

Diving Log 5.0: Click the "Sync" icon in the ribbon to bring up the sync dialog again. Once your new iPhone shows up click the "Info" button and then click the "Restore" button on the screen that appears.

Dive Log Manager/Dive Log DT: Click the name of your new iPhone in the sidebar under "SYNCHRONIZATION" when it appears and then click the "Restore Logbook TO Device" button.

MacDive: Click the "iOS Sync" option in the sidebar and when your iPhone is ready, "option-click" (i.e. hold the option key on the keyboard while clicking) the Sync button.

In all the applications, you'll then provide the name of the file that you saved in the previous step. Once that file has been uploaded to your new iPhone, just tap the "Use new Logbook" to tell Dive Log to start using the logbook that was just synced from your computer.

You can also proceed by syncing your data from your old iPhone to a logbook on your desktop (where you can potentially edit it, import dive computer data, etc.) and sync that logbook to your new iPhone. This case is very similar to the Backup/Restore except that your data will be synchronized with data that is added to your desktop logbook as well. The details of all the ins and outs of syncing with your desktop logbook and dive computer are beyond the scope of this posting, however, the basic steps that you'll want to follow are:

1) Create a new empty logbook in your desktop application (assuming that you have not previously synced with your iPhone and want to preserve your iPhone data).
2) Enable Sync on your old iPhone
3) Sync your data on the desktop application from your old iPhone by:

Diving Log 5.0: Click the "Receive from iPhone" item

Dive Log Manager/Dive Log DT: Click the "Copy Logbook FROM Device" button

MacDive: Answer "No" if/when asked if you want to replace the data on your iPhone with the current data in MacDive. Make sure that under "Options" the replace data on the iPhone check box is not checked. Click the "Sync" button

4) Disconnect your old iPhone (Disable Sync if it is not already disabled)
5) Enable Sync on your new iPhone
6) Sync your data in the desktop application to your new iPhone:

Diving Log 5.0: Click the "Send to iPhone" item

Dive Log Manager/Dive Log DT: Click the "Copy Logbook TO Device" button.

MacDive: Answer "Yes" if/when asked if you want to replace the data on your iPhone with the current data in MacDive. Make sure that under "Options" the replace data on the iPhone check box is checked. Click the Sync button.

7) Click the "Use New Logbook" button on your new iPhone once the transfer is complete.

You new iPhone should now have the same* data as your old iPhone. There is an asterisk next to "same" as the sync process with the desktop may modify your logbook before it is transferred back to the new iPhone depending on the contents on your logbook on the desktop. In the case of MacDive, the process will cause MacDive to build a new logbook based on the data that is imported from your old iPhone. There are some fields in Dive Log on iPhone that are not currently imported by MacDive during a sync. Therefore, these fields are not transferred to the new iPhone during the subsequent sync (this is not the case for the Backup/Restore approach above). In the case of Diving Log 5.0 and MacDive, the steps above will result in a different logbook on your new iPhone if there is data already in your logbook on the desktop at the time of the sync from your old iPhone.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions before you upgrade to your new iPhone. Hopefully this information will help you preserve your logbook data during the upgrade to your new iPhone. Also, while the details of other third party applications from the App Store will differ, similar strategies can help ensure a seamless transition of application to your new iPhone.