Did you know that with a little legwork and a free application you can easily transfer your Angry Birds progress across an iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, or Mac? This is great if you happen to have more than one iOS device (i.e. an iPhone and an iPad) or recently upgraded. This is also a great way to backup your Angry Birds progress in the event something goes awry.
Update: We have created a more-comprehensive guide, including many more platforms and some specific file paths. The iOS directions circle back here, but if you are looking for a different device, check out our Ultimate Backup Tutorial for all Platforms.
Disclaimer: We are not responsible if something goes wrong while performing the steps below.
Step 1: Before We Begin Lets Take Some Precautions
Be sure you have the same version of Angry Birds installed on both devices (exception, SD and HD versions of the same app are OK).
Be sure you’re copying the files off your device and not removing them.
Before you overwrite any .lua file on your device create a backup copy first.
Sync ALL devices with iTunes first. This way if something happens you can always restore.
Step 2: Install DiskAid
Direct Link Change! DiskAid has become a product called iMazing. Our personal preference is still for DiskAid in terms of user-interface and cost. The direct link in (1) below has been updated to reflect the change, which can be a little tough to find. Let us know if you have any questions.
Install DiskAid, which is available for both PC & Mac. While a paid version is available and can do a whole lot of cool stuff, the free version will work perfectly fine for this guide.
Configure DiskAid. In the Menu Bar, click DiskAid > Preferences > Storage. Enable all three options: “Show all Apps even if…”, “Show root path for Apps”, and “Show hidden files and folders”.
Step 3: Copying the Angry Birds .lua Files Off Your iOS Device
Open DiskAid.
Connect the device you want to transfer your progress FROM. Once your device is connected, DiskAid should recognize it.
Click “Apps”. Look through the app icons to find the application directory that you’re looking to transfer / backup.
Click to open the desired app folder, then open the “Documents” folder.
In the “Documents” folder you’ll see a few .lua files. You will want to copy over any of the following .lua files that you see:
highscores.lua
settings.lua
{purchases}.lua (if applicable, such as Space and Star Wars)
highscores_<hash>.lua and settings_<hash>.lua (if applicable via Rovio Accounts; learn more!)
Select them all and drag them into a folder on your PC / Mac. Once all these .lua files are copied over you effectively have a backup copy.
Step 4: Copying the Saved .lua Files onto Another iOS Device
Connect the iOS device you want to transfer your progress TO and sync it with iTunes (if you already did you can skip this step). This way if something goes wrong you can restore.
After the sync with iTunes is complete disconnect the device, launch DiskAid, then reconnect the same device again.
Now repeat steps 3 and 4 above in order to navigate to the version of Angry Birds you’re looking to copy your data too. Remember, if copying from an iPhone or iPod Touch to an iPad you can go from non-HD to HD versions (the directory on the iPad includes “HD” in the name).
Once you have the “Documents” folder open in DiskAid copy or drag the respective .lua files you previously saved on your computer onto your device (in other words, drag them from you computer into DiskAid, which will in turn copy them to your device — overwriting what was previously there).
Once this is done you’ve effectively transferred your progress from one device to another, but in order to see the progress on the new device you need to completely close and reopen Angry Birds.
Step 5: Completely Restarting Angry Birds
If you’re running a next generation iOS device you don’t have to restart to completely close Angry Birds, Angry Birds Seasons, etc. Rather, double-tap the home key. That will open the multitasking menu. Swipe the windows upward to close the programs.
For those running older devices, such an older iPod Touch, just old down the power key and restart your device.
Finally, reopen Angry Birds and you should see your progress correlates with what was on your other device.
