How to Restore Your iPhone and Your Angry Birds Progress

A few users have left comments stating that due to the loading bug in Angry Birds v1.6.0 they lost all their Angry Birds progress, thus have to start over (note, I think this is only true for those who took drastic action and decided to delete the AB from their device. DON’T DO THIS!). You might be able to get your progress back by restoring your iOS device via iTunes. This will bring your device back to the state of your last sync.

Let me get this out of the way first: DO NOT UNINSTALL ANGRY BIRDS. If you did and your progress is gone, DO NOT SYNC WITH ITUNES UNTIL AFTER YOU’VE RESTORED AN OLDER BACKUP. If you do you’re last backup won’t contain your Angry Birds data. Also, any progress you made between your last sync and your restore will have to be redone, so make sure this is right for you.

Update: We now have a complete backup guide for most platforms, including iOS. We greatly encourage all gamers to check this out: Angry Birds Ultimate Backup Tutorial for all Platforms.

Update: Thanks to mupo for pointing out that you don’t actually have to do a complete restore like shown in the video below. First, try the following:

  1. Connect your device to your computer and open iTunes (if it doesn’t open automatically)
  2. Right click on your device in the left hand menu and choose, “Restore from Backup”
  3. At this point, if you have more than one backup you will have the option to choose what backup you want to restore from the dropdown list.
  4. If you don’t see the dropdown then you’ll have to restore from the most recent backup. Hopefully this has your Angry Birds data intact. If it doesn’t, anyone here provide a possible alternative to restore an older backup?

For those of you loyal AB players who have lost everything and can’t get their progress back even after a restore all is not lost. Contact us and we may be able to provide you with a highscore.lua and a settings.lua file (we will handle this on a case-by-case basis). Using iPhoneExplorer or PhoneView you can place these onto your device. This will give you three stars on all levels and all the Golden Eggs; however, your scores will now obviously match those of the person who provided you the files (us!), so you’d lose your ranking on the leaderboards. That said, I think that’s a small price to pay for not having to redo every single level.

There is already a bug fix that addresses the loading issue (v.1.6.1), so be sure to update Angry Birds before loading again.

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Category: Guides

Comments (119)

By mupo

You dont have to restore your iOS device that way!!! This is equal to reinstall iOS!
What you have to do is just right click on your iOS device in iTunes and choice restore from backup.

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By Bird Leader (@birdleader)

Thanks. I’ve updated the post to include this tip. Do you know how to restore to an older backup even if it’s not in the list?

By Michał

I have lost all progress (it took me more than half a year to pass the game). First thing I wanted to do was the restore from backup, but my last backup was replaced by iTunes with the current one (with erased progress)! I searched in the finder for the iTunes backup folder, and there is only the last backup. It seems that i lost the scores permanently…

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By Bird Leader (@birdleader)

When you go into restore doesn’t it give you the option to select an older backup to restore from? During the process there should be a drop down where you can select which backup to use (if there is one).

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By Swine Trooper (@han-angry-solo)

In iTunes there is only the last backup and some really old ones (from 2010). Maybe it is because i jailbreaked the phone? (Angry Birds app is bought through the appstore).

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By Bird Leader (@birdleader)

That could be. I’ve updated the post above, but I’m not sure if it will help you. If you think all is lost contact me and maybe I can get you set backup using my highscore.lua and settings.lua file.

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By Swine Trooper (@han-angry-solo)

I think I’ll pass the game again since my highscores are still in Game Center. Anyway, it is great that you provide such help. This site is so friendly that I already made an account ;)

BTW, some of the games have the option to backup scores to the gamecenter and download them on any device. Also the iCloud is coming soon with its free backup features. The future is bright!

By angrybirdsfan

wow half a year it took me like 4-5 days

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By Bird Leader (@birdleader)

I presume that’s because he’s been playing levels as the come out. If you had to start over and had the time you could definitely do it in much less time, but the point is, you shouldn’t have to (unless you want to).

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By Swine Trooper (@han-angry-solo)

Well, i think it is about fun, not speed ;) I played mostly on my lessons and it took me some time to complete all achievements. And i play whole lot of games ;)

By rebecca

I removed all my apps from my iPhone so I could put on a couple of movies for a trip. Once I put the apps back on my phone I lost all of the progress I had on all my games. The only backup that iTunes has for my iPhone is from the day when I reinstalled everything (so the backup only contains the app without the old information). I also have an apple time machine that should have old backups as well. I can’t seem to find a way to get those old backups back on my phone. I’m lost and could use some help! As much as I love AB – I don’t want to go though each game and work to get the 3 stars and high scores again. Anything would help!

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By sal9 (@sal9)

I don’t use Time Machine.
If you have located your iTunes back up files on the external hard drive, you should be able to copy those files to your hard drive and restore iTunes from those back ups.
Here are some links for more information:
http://ipod.about.com/od/restoreandreformatipod/ht/Restore-Itunes-From-Backup.htm
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1792244?start=0&tstart=0

Keep in mind that this process will revert everything on your phone to it’s previous state. That means any photos, music, movies etc … that you might have uploaded to your phone since the last time machine sync will be lost.

I would do some more research on apple discussions to find the exact solution to your problem.

ps: We have a very good back up Tutorial that you should follow for now on.

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By chenken (@chenken)

Wait, what if your Angry Birds game is in a pc?

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By Bird Leader (@birdleader)

This article is not applicable to any other devices.

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By coyote3671 (@coyote3671)

All fantastic info and I am sure it all works…..but I still lost all data from angry birds and have to start over….. I am ok with that ….kinda…..but I still cant open the game…………..Even with the new update and that has me mad. Does anyone have any suggestions ? I think I have tried it all???????????????????????????????? :-(

By G

I can’t load 1.6.1 either. Maybe I have to just wait for 1.6.2? :-(

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By AMslimfordy (@amslimfordy)

Best option I think.

By Ianavak

I only lost my 3 stars in Poached Eggs level 3-5, which I re-played, nailed with one bird and upped my score to 122280. Strange that was the only loss. everything else is intact.

By reddo

it’s because they increased the requirement for that level to line it up with other platforms to get ready for sync

By DW

Would love to know how you nailed it with one bird, i have had another 50 attempts at getting 3 stars on this level and can only get back to 2 stars with a score of 105800

By Eric Sten

I to have lost three stars on Poached Eggs 3-5. Though when loaded version 1.6 I did experience all my progress disappearing.
It did come back on it’s own.

By JingKeff

Lost all my data after a restore. For some reason also my backups provided absolutely nothing and I thought all hope was lost but then I just dragged AB on to my ipod from the apps section in itunes and everything I’ve been working on since the game came out was back. Weird. Also when 1.6 didn’t load for me I opened it until it was stuck on the loading screen, exited to the homescreen, then opened it in multitasking and everything was great! Hope this helps.

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By Bird Leader (@birdleader)

Thanks for the tip. So you connected your ipod to iTunes, click on it, selected the Angry Birds icon under the “Apps” section and then drug it onto your desktop? How did you get the progress back on to you ipod? Did you drag it back into iTunes? Just checking because if this indeed works I will add it to the article above, but the directions need to be as specific as possible.

By JingKeff

No not onto the desktop. I was actually just setting up where the apps would go on the iPod inside iTunes (in the apps section of the iPod itself if that makes since) and put AB on first just because I wanted to see if it would miraculously work. So I put it on and synced it, tested on my iPod, and all my 3 stars were back. So my scores seemed to be stored on the computer in the app itself. I don’t know if this would work for everyone, but I hope it helps. If there is a way I could upload pictures I could try a step-by-step.

By Smith

Thanks a lot… NOT. Restored from backup and lost more than I did from the update.

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By AMslimfordy (@amslimfordy)

Sorry to hear that, but there is fair warning in the post that emphasizes:

Any progress you made between your last sync and your restore will have to be redone, so make sure this is right for you.

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By Bird Leader (@birdleader)

Indeed, definitely a bummer. If you synced prior to the restore you might be able to go back.

By Jennifer

Ok so I updated to 1.6 and the game would only load if I turned my iPod off and back on. I then updated to 1.6.1 and now it won’t load at all. I don’t care about losing my data as I can always do it again, but I’d love to know how to fix the loading issue. Uninstalling and reinstalling didn’t fix it. Is it jus that the second generation iPods are no longer supported?

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By AMslimfordy (@amslimfordy)

Not the case. This seems to effect devices from 2nd gen iPods all the way up to iPhone 4s, and even some Androids. I’m sure Rovio is working on another patch, but haven’t heard any ETA yet.

By rospondek

And when there will be such an easy method like backuping our game saves?! Really so impossible on iPod?!

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By AMslimfordy (@amslimfordy)

Rovio is working on their own backup system, but for now you can backup/transfer between iDevices using the directions here or by regularly backing up your iPod.

By Wakey77

Oh man how annoying and what a major flaw. Can’t access/ play mine and dine as all previous updates are locked and need to be played through again, 3 stared them all also. Maybe ur suggestion of the back up will help will try later but can’t see it.

Why hasn’t this happened with rio or seasons?

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By coyote3671 (@coyote3671)

I still cant play on ipod 2gen. game wont even load . guess i have to wait for new update maybe that will fix it. MAD :-(

By Ugly girl

So would this work if I got a new iPod? Dose it even work iPod touches?

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By AMslimfordy (@amslimfordy)

It does but it is not perfect. Personally, I would recommend trying this method

By Ugly girl

That method sounds kinda scary. And i am super scared to lose all

All my data and I Already beat 3 worlds on angry birds and 1 on angry birds seasons ( had two of them but lost my data)

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By spurs01 (@spurs01)

As someone who had NEVER synced her iPhone before (iPod yes, iPhone no), thanks for this info. Had to sync first, then update software, then sync again. Took quite a while, but am glad I read this post. Thank you!

By Boogiesbay

Ever since I updated to AB HD 1.6 and 1.6.1 I can’t finish the Facebook levels in Ham ‘Em High. Whenever I try to select the AB Facebook icon to choose ‘Like’, to unlock and finish the levels on my iPad, nothing happens. Selecting the Sign up for Facebook link doesn’t work, none of the links work. The only option I have is to Log in to Facebook and I don’t have an account. I don’t have this issue in AB Seasons or AB Seasons HD.
Does anyone know what I can do to unlock the Facebook levels in Ham ‘Em High?

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By Bird Leader (@birdleader)

There looks to be a glitch that prevents you from unlocking these if you dont have an account. I believe Rovio knows about this and hopefully it will be fixed soon. You could always sign up for a dummy Facebook account.

By Speliers

Hello, I have downloaded Angry Birds on my iPod Touch with installous which all my progress was still there but then I re-installed Angry Birds from another download and all my data was gone! Even thought I backed up my Angry Birds game progress with iPhone Explorer by dragging all the files on my computer but when I drag them back to the folder using Applinks the app won’t open, is there any solution for this? Because I have finished all the levels, have gotten all pineapples and had over 90 stars… If someone could help me on this, I would really appreciate it because I don’t want to do everything all over again.

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By Bird Leader (@birdleader)

Did you take the highscores.lua and the settings.lua files from the version that had progress? If you did, you need to copy them to the “documents” folder, overwriting the existing ones. Then completely close Angry Birds by either rebooting or double tapping the home key and closing it. You then can relaunch Angry Birds (if the Angry Birds loading screen doesn’t come up you didn’t completely close it).

I’ve done this more times than I can count now, so I know it works. Not exactly sure what you’re doing though. What is “Applinks”?

By Speliers

Applinks is an application downloaded with jailbreaked devices by using Cydia which is what I used to save my game progress.. http://ipodtouchtricks.net/tutorials/applinks-save-your-game-progress-before-restoring-iphoneipod-touch-ipad/

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By Bird Leader (@birdleader)

Sounds interesting, but I’ve never used it so I can’t confirm the fact that it will correctly transfer the .lua files off the phone. I know that iPhoneExplorer works both ways, as I’ve used it many times.

By Speliers

Yes I have the highscores.lua and settings.lua and pretty much all of the other .lua files such as the levels, animations, achievements, etc. I’m going to try and replace the files with them using iPhone Explorer and thanks for your help, hope it helps! Keep it up.

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By Bird Leader (@birdleader)

All you have to replace are the .lua files. Just overwrite the existing ones, or in the case of Seasons, add all the daily .lua files. Be sure to put them all in the right directories.

By Speliers

I dragged and replaced the highscores and settings.lua with iphone explorer but didn’t work :( when i start angry birds it exists when it gets to “loading” Now I just restored it again :( So sad.

By Speliers

Restored from a previous backup and got all my progress and everything back, this article really helped me
Thanks! :D

By wyrdd

I wish Apple and Rovio would store the game data in the cloud, if they have the data in the gamecenter it should be fairly simple.

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By AMslimfordy (@amslimfordy)

A plan is in place for a cloud between all devices

By bewan

what about symbian? i lost all my progress when i update AB 1.6..

By Dark Bird

Same here. I’ve lost my progress on Angry Birds as well. I’m going to try restoring a backup file, but if there is none, then my data is gone …

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By SymBird (@symbird)

I’m also Symbian user. I haven’t lost my data in Mine and Dine -update, but I would love to hear, how to make a backup on my Nokia C7. I have three stars in all levels, and I’m so scared, that if my progress would lost. So is there any way to save them?

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By AMslimfordy (@amslimfordy)

I would read these two articles combined.
First is our post for transferring between iOS devices. The concept appears to be very nearly the same as for Symbian. I think it is a good introduction on the general process.
Second is a Symbian-specific post I found using a google search. It includes the differences between the iOS method and the Symbian method.

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By SymBird (@symbird)

Thank you! I’ll try it maybe tomorrow, but I’m not very good in this kind of things. I hope that it doesn’t fail… :D

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By SymBird (@symbird)

OK, I have now connected my C7 to my PC, but I have a problem… In that second link, there reads that in mass memory there should be a folder named “Private”. I couldn’t find it :( So, what should I do? And in that first link (for iPhone) there was on the video that I would need some kind of program called PhoneWiew. Never heard, do I need that on Symbian?

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By AMslimfordy (@amslimfordy)

No you don’t need Phone View, since Symbian can be read directly through normal Explorer. As per the folder called Private, I am not at all familiar with Symbian, so you are better off searching Google. There are plenty of links on the topic.

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By SymBird (@symbird)

Yeah! Now I’m done. I finally find that Private-folder, but there was nothing about AB. Then I got it. I wrote the folders name (20030E54) to the search, and there it was! (I can’t understand, why it didn’t appear any else way.) I made a new folder to my desktop, and copied highscores.lua and settings.lua to there. Isn’t it now a backup? If this really works (english isn’t my mother language, so I didn’t understood that first comment on that second link…), I have to say thanks of that link to AMslimfordy!

By Amateur Pig Hunter

Thank-you! Thank-you! Thank-you! What a relief!

By natalie

Can you provide info on how to restore with the PC version of Angry Birds?

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By Bird Leader (@birdleader)

Unless you have a backup mechanism in place the only thing I could think of would be to do a system restore.

By Littleman

I lost everything on a sync. Tried to restore from old backup and nothing. Tried all your tips (thanks) above… still nothing :-(

I’ve completed all levels (not the sardine can) up until the lastest RIO and Summer and can’t bring myself to play them all again.

How do I request game data?

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By Bird Leader (@birdleader)

Use the contact us link above (or just click it here in the comment) and enter your details. Please be a bit patient though as we get a lot of requests.

By Brendon

Hey guys, I’ve lost everything (see above). Absolutely gutted and just can’t bring myself to start again. I was pretty much up to date on all 3. About 2 levels on Seasons left.

If you can help out I’d appreciate it.

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By Bird Leader (@birdleader)

Hey Brendon, I sent you an email.

By Isabella

I’m about to change my phone and I want my Angry Birds progress to go to the new phone, both of them from Apple. And no, I’ve never did a back-up. How can I do one? And if I do so, will I be able to put what I’ve played in my old one into ANOTHER DEVICE? thanks

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By AMslimfordy (@amslimfordy)

Backing up can be done by syncing with iTunes. You can then sync the two devices that way (all progress should transfer). Otherwise, you can manually transfer the files between the devices, as directed by this post. I do this from time to time with my iPad and iPhone.

By Alyssa

All u have to do is POWER UR IPHONE DOWN FOR LIKE THIRTY SECONDS. I realized that I hadn’t tried the most obvious of solutions, and when I did this, guess what reappeared amongst my apps…Angry Birds. And ALL my previously beaten levels and corresponding scores were still there. When I updated my AB and it ‘disappeared,’ it was still in my ‘Settings’ under ‘Notifications.’ It was the icon that was gone from my apps. So before u try all these crazy maneuvers, power down, and more often that not ur AB icon will reappear with all scores and levels beaten INTACT :D

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By Bird Leader (@birdleader)

This is a long shot, but there is never any harm in rebooting your device. It frees up memory and restores order, which in some cases (like yours) can fix issues.

By Heather

I have downloaded the new angry bird rio airfield chase and it kicks me off to the main screen every time I try to enter level 9-1? There is an updated version v1.6.1 but when I went into Apps store I couldn’t find it. Can you let me know where it is. I have an I pad.

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By AMslimfordy (@amslimfordy)

There are helpful tips about this issue in the Update Post.

I believe you are looking at the wrong update. Airfield Chase is v1.3.0. I can’t imagine a patch update would come out that quickly. Check out the tips. They seem quite successful.

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By Bird_Follower (@bird_follower)

I am beginning to get confused about angry birds save data..
Is the save data (high scores, stars, eggs etc..) backed up on itunes when you perform a backup or is it not? I’ve never had a problem with losing save data, but I am worried that one day it will happen and I wont have any backup data. iPhone explorer doesnt work for me so I just want to check that my data is safe somewhere if I have a problem..

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By AMslimfordy (@amslimfordy)

iTunes backups are supposed to save game data, but it is far less controllable and every so often, backups fail. This method is very controllable, and it also works for transferring data between iOS devices.

If you have iOS 4.3.5, then unfortunately iPhone Explorer does not work. There is some message about a messed up DLL file in iOS’ version of Safari and so forth. So yes, until that issue is resolved, you must rely on iTunes. That said, in case you ever need to restore, you should turn off “Sync on Connect”. If you are looking to restore, the last thing you want is to overwrite the backup you wish to restore from.

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By Bird_Follower (@bird_follower)

Thanks for the quick reply! My iPod is iOS 4.2.1 so iPhone explorer should work, but I kept on getting a message about temp files etc.. I read that I should try to navigate around iPhone explorer quicker before windows locks the files, but my computer is pretty old and slow so it’s not really possible. I guess I will rely on the itunes backup for now, and wait for the day that rovio bring out something better themselves.

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By Bird Leader (@birdleader)

I don’t think this is related to iOS 4.3.5, but rather the Safari 5.1 update, hence the warning about the DLL. I could be wrong though.

By Sat'

Hum. Very strange issue… I’ve lost all my scores on Seasons, but I still can play to any level of it, no level locked…

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By AMslimfordy (@amslimfordy)

Your settings file is probably fine, but your highscores file is not. Be sure to transfer both files over.

By Sat'

Well, I’ve not transfered any file! I assume I have my highscore file corrupted or soomething like that, but as I don’t have any backup, I’m afraid I have no choice than redo all the levels on Seasons…

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By KOL79 (@kol79)

Try to back it up and still no stars. Please help

By Chris

Bummer.. I had a bug in my Angry Birds Rio… on 8-5 I couldn’t get more than 1 star. My score was just over 75k. I had forgotten about this until I was going through the Rio levels with the Might Eagle just now. So.. I unstalled the game thinking I could remove it and replace it and it might fix the issue… was a little disappointed to see all my progress gone.

I’m in the process of restoring from most recent backup.. but I’m thinking I synced just after the uninstall. So I might be screwed. :( Hoping I don’t have to repurchase the Mighty Eagle, too.

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By AMslimfordy (@amslimfordy)

We noted about the 8-5 issue in the v1.3.3 release post. And your purchase is logged with Apple, so you can “re-purchase” for free.

By Chris

Restore worked.. but still only 1 Star on 8-5. The walk-throughs I’ve seen show 3 Stars at 68k.. Anyone see this? Is there a way to fix it?

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s118/Predictable57/ABR8-5.png

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