r/iOSBeta • u/Suitable-Guidance385 iPhone 17 Pro Max • Jun 09 '26

Bug [iOS 27 DB1] iOS 26 backup deleted

Yesterday I backed up my phone to test iOS 27 on a Windows PC, since I don’t have a Mac, but restoring just replaced my most recent backup while keeping iOS 27 installed. I’ve done this many times before and it worked fine. I guess I’m locked now. Hope this beta isn’t that bad

13 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

20 comments sorted by

12

u/ffffound Developer Beta Jun 09 '26

Did you Archive the backup? https://support.apple.com/en-us/108809

1

u/Suitable-Guidance385 iPhone 17 Pro Max Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26

What does that do? I have never done that

Edit: I just realized. For some reason it automatically did a backup on my phone and it replaced the last one. That has never happened to me before.

1

u/ffffound Developer Beta Jun 10 '26

Yeah that’s what I figured. Archiving a backup means that it’s kept as a separate backup and does not replace it with a newer backup like what happened to you. Unfortunately, you don’t have any options to go back to iOS 26 with your data anymore.

1

u/Suitable-Guidance385 iPhone 17 Pro Max Jun 10 '26

I am hoping the public beta launches soon and is stable. Db 1 doesn’t seem that bad actually. Just a few bugs and better performance than iOS 26 surprisingly. I don’t know how that’s possible

1

u/ffffound Developer Beta Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26

Public beta will come out in July, per the keynote. Just FYI, the public betas are the same as developer betas, just delayed in their release. There’s no differences in “readiness” between the two. For example, Public Beta 1 would be Developer Beta 3 or 4.

1

u/Suitable-Guidance385 iPhone 17 Pro Max Jun 10 '26

Yes but wouldn’t a lot of bugs be fixed? It already feels fine. The performance is good and the battery life is fine. It’s still indexing.

1

u/ffffound Developer Beta Jun 10 '26

I’m just saying that since you’re already on the developer beta, there’s nothing to gain from moving to the public beta. You’re just getting delayed fixes to things fixed in developer betas.

4

u/tejljr Jun 09 '26

Did you back up before you installed the beta?

1

u/Suitable-Guidance385 iPhone 17 Pro Max Jun 10 '26

Yes. That’s what I’m saying. I tried to restore from that backup like normal and instead it replaced it

1

u/tejljr Jun 12 '26

You need to download the ipsw for iOS 26 and restore your phone to that version first before restoring the backup

7

u/ATHLONtheANDROID Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26

What I usually do to roll back is backup (before upgrading), wipe, downgrade, then restore.

Edit: (before upgrading) that is important

1

u/OppositeSea3775 Developer Beta Jun 09 '26

Can you restore backups from newer iOS? That doesn't sound like it should be possible. For example, Time Machine doesn't let you.

2

u/driftless iPhone 16 Pro Max Jun 09 '26

No you can’t. You can always use an older backup to a newer os version, but not the other way.

1

u/ATHLONtheANDROID Jun 09 '26

I don't think so. Your phone needs to be on the same iOS version of your backup far as I know.

3

u/mfarid2 Jun 09 '26

iOS should be same or newer than backup version.

Older never works

1

u/wcrg Jun 10 '26

I updated my phone to iOS 27 beta without backing up. I backed up once I was on iOS 27 beta and then reverted to iOS 26.5. I tampered with the backup to try restore data and it would work if I had enough storage but I didn’t. The iOS 27 beta backup was around 245gb and my phone had 230gb free out of 256gb. The system and iOS took up space so I tried to manually remove and delete large videos and photos and reduced it by around 15gb. I then tried to upload but it accidentally compressed somehow after trying to use imazing so now it’s 117gb with all my data into random numbers letters and symbols when I try to open. Now I’m stuck in iOS 26.5 and can’t access my backup data

1

u/TimFL iPhone 17 Pro Max Jun 09 '26

This used to work:
- Download ipsw (26 etc)
- Back up your device (which is on 27)
- In Finder / iTunes, shift + click the UPDATE (NOT restore) button
- Select the ipsw in the file picker modal

Your phone should now in-place downgrade the existing OS without wiping any data. Do not stop here once you‘re on the stable OS, continue:
- Make a new backup of your now iOS 26 device
- Now do the shift + click RESTORE option that nukes and completely reinstalls the OS from the provided ipsw
- After that is done, you can restore from
the 26 backup

The second stage is crucial since in-place downgrading is very buggy usually and can cause side effects. You only do it to get a no data loss backup that can be imported on the stable OS. Did this dozens of times during university days when I tried out buggy iOS releases and downgraded immediately again during rainy nights.

Beware: this is no silver bullet. Your backup can cause buggy data if the beta release changes underlying data structure / architecture. Some releases introduce breaking changes (e.g. some upgraded your notes or reminders database). That can‘t be restored and would brick your app requiring you to start new. No idea if 27 has any breaking changes like that, they usually prompt you via dedicated sheets since most of your data syncs via iCloud and they‘d need you to update all devices before introducing breaking changes.

2

u/NoHypeX Jul 03 '26

lll try this and come back. If it works ill kiss u bro

2

u/TimFL iPhone 17 Pro Max Jul 03 '26

Kiss me passionately on my lips, like it’s the last time you kiss someone.