DearMob iPhone Manager is a Useful Tool for Normies and Power Users
A few years back, I had an iPhone that just stopped backing up to iCloud. I went through every troubleshooter I could find, and nothing worked. At the time, I had a MacBook with a small hard drive (256 GB), and using Finder to back it up resulted in a file of over 90 GB, taking up a significant chunk of space. Not only that, it took about 30 minutes to complete. I had to hack together a way, using symlinks, to move the backup to an external drive. It was a huge PIA.
That's when I started using DearMob iPhone Manager. Its backup capabilities beat Apple's by a mile. You can choose your backup location. You still get encryption, and you can use Wi-Fi (which is slow but acceptable). It works all the way back to Mac OS X 10.9 but doesn't require Rosetta on Apple silicon.
I also recently used it to recover 80 GB of music from my dad's old iPod Classic with just a few clicks.
Useful Features
- Selective Control - Pull just the data off a phone that you want, in a usable format, without having to back up the whole phone. Very useful for specific groups of photos. You can transfer, backup, transcode, and restore photos easily.
- Wide File Type Support - Works with HEIC photos, RAW formats, 4K video, and more, and can do conversions on the fly.
- Speedy - Standard photo copies happen at the rate of 5,000 images a minute via a USB connection.
- Security - You can encrypt anything you export, including photo albums.
- Supports Cloning and Migration - Whether you're getting a new phone or doing a nuke and pave on your current model, DearMob has you covered with more flexibility than what Apple offers.
- Two Way Management - Supports messages, contacts, podcasts, files, apps, books, calendars, and more. You can add apps that are no longer in the App Store without jailbreaking your phone. You can also use your phone as a mountable drive for times when you need to Sneaker Net files around.
Pain Point
The main drawback with an app like DearMob is that you are always at Apple's mercy, and future changes to iOS and macOS may affect functionality.
The Good News
A lifetime license normally goes for $39.95, which lets you install it on one Mac and use it with unlimited phones. It's currently on sale for just $3 at Bundlehunt. At that price, it's hard to resist. Its main competitor is iMazing, which is subscription only ($49.95 a year) and limits the number of devices you can use.