Nowadays, iPhone serve as repositories of our most cherished photos, essential contacts, vital messages, and more critical data. As we increasingly rely on these devices for various functions, it has become essential to safeguard this information through regular backups.
So, when data loss occurs due to accidental deletion or device damage, how can we view and extract them from backup? Unfortunately, if you are using iTunes or iCloud backups, there is no official way to read the content without restoring the entire backup after erasing your iPhone. This is where iPhone backup extractor software steps in.
In this article, we will share a list of top iPhone backup viewers available in the market. If you are wondering how to check and selectively restore data from iPhone backup, you’ve come to the right place.
What Does an iPhone Backup Extractor Do?
iCloud and iTunes backups are encrypted to protect the data stored within them, making it unreadable outside of the iPhone environment. An iPhone backup extractor is a software tool specifically designed to decrypt these backups, allowing to access and extract data using a computer.
Typically, with these backup extractor, users can recover specific types of data from their backups rather than having to restore the entire backup. This helps prevent further data loss as well as save time and storage space. Additionally, an iPhone backup extractor can retrieve a wide range of data, including Photos, Videos, Contacts, Messages, Notes and more.
Top iPhone Backup Extractor Software List
After evaluating user-friendliness, compatibility, and supported data types, we picked up the following iPhone backup extractor. By comparing their features, pricing and reviews, we hope you find what you need.
2.1 SoftTooler ReData
Recommended: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
If you wish to view and extract specific data from iTunes backup on your computer, SoftTooler ReData would be the best choice. This iPhone backup extractor fully supports almost all data types you may need, including picutres, videos, messages, notes, call history, contacts and WhatsApp chat history. After scanning, you can preview all details of your iPhone backup and selectively extract them to your computer in a readable format. This process will not harm any existing data on your iPhone.
Overview of ReData:
| Supported OS | Windows 11/10/8/8.1/7 macOS 15/14/13/12/11/10.10 iOS 18 and former |
| Available Backup Types | iTunes |
| Restore to iPhone | No |
| Free Features | Scan and view the content in iTunes backup |
| Pricing | $29.95 / mo |
- Offer a feature to recover lost data from iPhone directly, which can be useful when you fail to find the files you need from backup.
- Provide a competitive price and it is cost-effective.
- Full scan and show lost and existing data on your iPhone, helping you backup valuable information at the same time.
- Accessible even for users without technical exprtise, and perform faster backup extraction process.
- Compatible with the latest iOS 18 and includes comprehensive technical support.
- Cannot extract data from iCloud backup.
- Need to pay for extracting backup data to computer.
2.2 iMazing iPhone Backup Extractor
Recommended: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
iMazing iPhone Backup Extractor is a comprehensive iOS device management software that provides a wide range of features for exploring, managing, and extracting data from iPhone backups. Users can easily navigate the file system of iTunes backups with its powerful file browser, and view various types of data such as Pictures, Messages, Contacts, Notes, Voice Memos, and more. Furthermore, the plus point of this iPhone backup reader is that you can copy entire folders from backup to your desktop just with a simple drag and drop.
Overview of iMazing iPhone Backup Extractor:
| Supported OS | Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7/Vista macOS 10.11-15 iOS 18 and former |
| Available Backup Types | iTunes |
| Restore to iPhone | No |
| Free Features | Limit the number of items that can be extracted from iTunes backup (e.g. 50 Photos, 25 Messages) |
| Pricing | $39.99 / one-time purchase |
- Support to edit backups for advanced fixes and tweaks without jailbreaking the device.
- Ability to recover raw files and export data in PDF, Excel, CSV, or Text format.
- Not a freeware, need to pay for extracting more data from iTunes backup.
- Some advanced features may have a learning curve for users who are not familiar with iOS backup management.
2.3 Reincubate iPhone Backup Extractor
Recommended: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The next software we want to introduce is named Reincubate iPhone Backup Extractor. Like other iPhone backup viewer, it can read a wide range of data types including photos, messages, videos, call history, notes, and more. In addition, the most cheerful thing we noticed is that this software works with both iTunes and iCloud backup. It also helps in recovering forgotten Screen Time passcodes.
Overview of Reincubate iPhone Backup Extractor:
| Supported OS | Windows, Mac All iOS versions |
| Available Backup Types | iTunes, iCloud |
| Restore to iPhone | No |
| Free Features | View data in iTunes/iCloud backup |
| Pricing | $39.95 / yr |
- Work with both iTunes and iCloud backup, offering a high level of flexibility.
- Support to scan and transfer data from iPhone to computer.
- It is a paid software and the price is a bit high.
- Program crashes often occur.
2.4 Wide Angle iBackup Extractor
Recommended: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Wide Angle iBackup Extractor is also an iTunes backup extractor that works with both Windows and Mac operating systems, providing flexibility for users across different platforms. It enables users to find, view and recover various types of data from iPhone, iPad, and iPod backups. Moreover, data can be exported in various formats, such as PDF, CSV, VCard, or ICAL, depending on the specific data types. Even in the free version, some data can be extracted, which is suitable for those hesitant to pay.
Overview of Wide Angle iBackup Extractor:
| Supported OS | Windows 11/10 macOS 10.15 and newer iOS 18 and former |
| Available Backup Types | iTunes |
| Restore to iPhone | No |
| Free Features | Access and explore all files from iOS device backups on computer Extraction limitation: up to 20 items |
| Pricing | $25 / one-time purchase |
- User-friendly interface makes it simple for users to navigate and extract data from their backups without technical expertise.
- Images will be extracted in the same quality as they were stored on your iPhone.
- Cannot extract data from iCloud backup.
- Not be compatible with operating systems older than Windows 10.
2.5 iMacTools iPhone Backup Viewer
Recommended: ⭐⭐⭐
Another software we want to share is called iMacTools iPhone Backup Viewer. This tool makes it easy to read and extract almost all kinds of data from iOS device backups, including contacts, messages, photos, videos, and other SNS apps data. Particularly, it allows exporting contacts to Mac Address Book or Contacts.app, which is very convenient for Mac users.
Overview of iMacTools iPhone Backup Viewer:
| Supported OS | Windows 7 or later macOS 10.13+ iOS 18 and former |
| Available Backup Types | iTunes |
| Restore to iPhone | No |
| Free Features | View and extract contacts, sms messages, call history, safari bookmark, photos, and videos from backup Unable to save iMessages, WhatsApp, WeChat data |
| Pricing | $29.95 / one-time purchase |
- Supports extracting iPhone backup data to various formats, including PDF files, text files, CSV files, and HTML files, catering to different user preferences.
- The free version can recover a greater amount of data, while the paid version is reasonably priced.
- You may not be able to view attachments along with the messages.
- There is little information about after-sales service on the official website, and someone may be worried about technical support.
2.6 Macroplant iExplorer
Recommended: ⭐⭐⭐
Macroplant iExplorer is the final iPhone backup extractor we want to outline today. It serves as the ultimate iPhone manager, facilitating the extraction and transfer of music, messages, photos, files, and other data from any iPhone, iPod, iPad, or iTunes backup to Mac or PC computers. In addition, the plus point of this tool is that it allows users to mount their iPhone as a USB flash drive, providing access to data within apps or directories directly through computer.
| Supported OS | Windows 10//8/7 macOS 11 and former iOS 16 and former |
| Available Backup Types | iTunes |
| Restore to iPhone | No |
| Free Features | Only view data in iTunes backup and exporting is not possible |
| Pricing | $39.99 / one-time purchase |
- Allows for seamless transfer of various types of data between iOS devices and computers.
- The software is lightweight and quick to install.
- Do not support viewing social apps data in iPhone backup.
- The last update was in 2022, likely causing compatibility issues and insufficient support.
Conclusion
By considering the features, advantages, and disadvantages of each tool, we believe you can make informed decisions about selecting the iPhone backup extractor that best meets your specific requirements. In addition, it is important to note that there is currently no completely free backup extraction software available on the market. After exploring the free features, if you wish to extract data more easily, it is advisable to upgrade to the paid full version.
Furthermore, among all the software we have introduced above, we highly recommend SoftTooler ReData. It is both powerful and user-friendly. Not only can it quickly scan and read all the iTunes backups on your computer, but it also allows you to recover lost data directly from your iPhone. If you’re having trouble deciding which tool to use, starting with this is a great option!
