Remember iPod touch Apps’ Location in the Springboard

I restore my iPod touch very often. That’s primarily because I love to fiddle inside it and often mess it up. I dare to do that because I know this little toy simply won’t break. I read people “bricking” their iPod touch and wonder if they know what they are talking about. They simply don’t know how to break out of the mess they created and restore the device.

In any case, one thing I hate doing is to painfully re-arranged apps after restoration. My iPod touch is filled to the brim with App Store and Third-party apps, so re-arranging them is really tough.

Today I look into this matter. Sheesh. The solution is so simple! The iPod touch keeps track of an app’s Springboard location in the “~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.springboard.plist” file. Just back up this file and restore it afterwards! It’s as simple as that! 😛

So… my procedure to “reformat” and “reinstall” my iPod touch (firmware 2.1) is as follows:

1. In Mac OS X, delete the content of “~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/; it’s a good idea to start afresh.
2. Launch iTunes. Select the device and right-click to select “Backup” from the pop-up menu.
3. Backup “~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.springboard.plist” from the device to the desktop (or wherever).
4. Proceed to “Option+Restore” in iTunes.
5. Quit iTunes after it has done restoring — do not proceed with setting it up “as new” nor “restoring from a backup”.
6. Launch Cydia and perform essential updates (if necessary.)
7. While connected, upload Gee Theme, Gee Theme for PocketTouch, and my Slots’ highscore! Don’t forget mobileinstall too.
8. Reboot.
9. Launch iTunes and select “Restore from previous backup”… and go take a nap; it’s a long process.
10. Done restoring everything but them apps are in a mess in the SpringBoard? Upload and restore the backup-ed “com.apple.springboard.plist”, and reboot immediately!
12. Voila! Every apps are back in their pre-arranged location. Sweet!