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.
- Rejoice!
Would this work if you restore your iPhone new from no backup and copy that file back into it?
Yes it will!
I have Angry Birds on my computer, but no Rovio file. How can that be?
Could it be in a different location?
I have the same problem. No Rovio file on my iMac. Tried spotlight search and find in Finder searching invisible files too. No sign of Rovio folder or highscores.lua. Any thoughts?
You can find highscores.lua file on PC version of Angry Birds at C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Application Data\Rovio\Angry Birds
You may need to enable viewin hidden files as ‘Application Data’ folder is hidden. (My Computer > Tools > Folder Options… > View > Show hidden files and folders > OK)
Remember imported scores (i.e. highscores.lua file) from iPhone/iPod touch/iPad/Mac won’t work on PC and vice versa. You can only transfer your scores/progress on Apple devices as of now.
In fact, I think iPhone Explorer is better.(The method is same, but it’s a freeware.)
Here’s the link: http://www.macroplant.com/iphoneexplorer/
Thanks for sharing. I’ll add this link to the tutorial.
Did anyone try transferrin scores/progress between an Android and iOS version?
If anyone can provide me with highscores.lua file from Android version, I can test it! :)
Thanks for the guide!
Two corrections here:
You need to copy BOTH the highscores and settings.lua files in order for this to work. Also, if you are transplanting them into the Mac version, it will NOT unlock Episode 5 (Ham ’em High). D’oh! Presumably, Mac users will get Episode 5 in a future update…? :P
That said, this is extremely awesome if you are like me and played Angry Birds iOS on, say, an iPod Touch… then just happened to pick up a Verizon iPhone, transferred your apps only to find that you’d have had to start over. Not anymore. :D
I have the iPod Touch generation 3 and bought the new iPhone 4. Can I transfer angry Birds from my iPod Touch to my iPhone?
Check out this forum post and let me know if it helps. If it does we can do a detailed write-up here.
Yep. I just did it. Although Rio didn’t work for some reason, Seasons and the original worked well. Just follow the steps above and then shut down and restart your phone.
This just isn’t working. I’m trying to transfer from an iPhone 4 to an iMac flat panel using iPhone Explorer. I can find the highscores.lua and settings.lua in iPhone Explorer. The highscores will transfer to my desktop but the settings will not. It keeps popping back to iPhone Explorer. There is no file anywhere that says Rovio. I can right click on the Angry Birds icon and click on show package contents. Still, no Rovio. There is a file called levels. The contents has 12 files beginning with goldeneggs1 then listing each different file as pack1, pack2, pack3, all the way through pack 11. Each pack file has a page icon for level1.lua, level2.lua, etc. with a total of 21 .lua levels in pack1.
Then to add insult to injury, I have gone through as far as I can and can’t get one of the golden eggs on my mac because level 8-1 where you have the treasure chest and have to type “open” to get the golden egg will not work! I’ve looked at every video showing how, have copied it exactly and no golden egg! I sent an email to Rovio but no answer.
Why does this not seem to be working for me? Snow Leopard and an iPhone 4. When I drag the highscores.lua from my iPhone to my Mac App, it turns the .lua document into a Unix executable file. Any help?
I have the exact setup and it doesn’t work for me, either.
Interesting. Were you guys using PhoneView or iPhoneExplorer?
iPhone Explorer. My problem isn’t that the iPhone Explorer didn’t show everything. My problem is that my computer doesn’t match what you have on your Angry Birds files. Mine looks totally different. I deleted it today, used “CleanMyMac” then reinstalled it and still have the same problem. The funny thing is that I didn’t lose my old scores.
I wasn’t able to get iPhoneExplorer working either. Try the PhoneView free demo. I was able to use that to sync two iPhones and my Mac.
OK, I was able to transfer all my high scores from my iPhone to my Mac and to my iPad. However, the golden egg doesn’t transfer nor does the 3 stars award. What to do?
I used iPhoneExplorer. Didn’t wanna tempt myself with a $20 app.
Check out my comment to @Chris above. I am going to edit this post and warn people that I didn’t have much success with iPhoneExplorer either. It looked promising, but didn’t deliver — PhoneView did (I only used the free demo, but I will probably buy it at some point).
For Windows 7, iPhoneExplorer works for me. While I kept getting a “directory not found” error, it went away once I closed iTunes and then unlocked my iPhone and kept it unlocked.
What do you mean by ‘unlocked’? Good advice about closing iTunes, didn’t think of that.
I think he might mean “active” or “not asleep”. I know that when I’m transferring files to or from my iPhone it’s easiest if I set my auto-lock to “never” in my settings. Letting the phone go to sleep disrupts the download/upload.
I’m using Windows 7 and tried iPhone Explorer, but I couldn’t find any directory with application files. Does the phone have to be jailbroken for this to work or is there some other issue?
Hey Debbie – Sorry for the slow response. I hope I’m not too late.
No the phone doesn’t need to be jailbroken. iPhone Explorer is a little finicky, but I’ve used it successfully a few times. First be sure you have the latest version from their website, it’s much more stable than the previous one.
After you connect your iPhone you’ll notice there are two toggle groups in the left hand pane. You’ll be looking in “Apps”. Here are the folders related to Angry Birds:
The “highscores.lua” file is in the “Documents” folder. You can drag it to your desktop or another folder. Alternatively, you can back everything up.
Some users recommend that you shut down iTunes after you connect your iPhone, otherwise you’ll see a “File or Directory not found” error. With the new version I don’t seem to have this problem as often, but it does crop up occasionally. When it does you typically have to disconnect and reconnect your iPhone. It’s a pain, but that’s the price we pay for free software.
Good luck.
P.S. Rovio has announced they’re working on a cloud backup service. When this is done we shouldn’t have to bother with this anymore.
No problem on your timing – I really appreciate your help!
I’m using iPhone Explorer Version 0.9.19.1 from http://www.software4u.de, but I’m not seeing the two toggle groups that you mention and no “Apps”. Am I looking in the wrong place? I’m in the Multimedia tab, File Explorer sub-tab. The left hand pane lists [root] with subdirectories ApplicationArchives, Books, DCIM, Downloads, PhotoData, Photos, Podcasts, PublicStaging, Purchases, Recordings, Safari, and iTunes_Control. I can see files under some of the directories, such as Recordings, but ApplicationArchives and Purchases are both empty (I mention them because they looked promising).
I’m using Windows 7 and the iphone explorer works, but I can only open one game folder and explore, but if I go to another game it says “File or Directory not found”. I have to make very precise moves. I did get this to work though! I experimented on Rio Free first before I tried on the seasons and Original since those are the scores I care about. IT WORKED!!! I deleted the Angry Birds games, reinstalled, tested to make sure they could come up, then transferred the highscores and settings.lua files and it worked!
Experiment on Rio Free first people! This way you can get the process down before you try it on the big games!
Yes, iPhone Explorer is extremely temperamental. I discovered that you don’t have to disconnect / reconnect your iDevice; you can simply close / reopen iPhone Explorer. But yes, you have to know what you’re doing. Great to have a backup, too!
Yeah, I agree, it’s not perfect, but if you close iTunes right after you connect your device I find that it works for a little longer. Also, once you know what directories you’re looking for, it makes browsing that much simpler. I not going to complain though, as its a free tool that is able to give you piece of mind that not even iTunes can offer. I store my .lua files in Dropbox for even more redundancy.
Does this work if I want to transfer my data from my Android to my MacBook Pro?
No, I don’t believe so. The Mac and iOS highscores.lua file is encrypted.
Okay, thanks
if it’s only browsing the iphone/ipod to copy some files, winscp and filezilla should works perfectly for windows….
Interesting. Would you mind explaining how?
When I try to backup seasons it only show the days of Xmas does that seem right?
Not sure I follow.
The video wasn’t clear on what you do if you’re moving the files to another iPhone. You have to hook up the new phone and drag or copy the files on your desktop into its Apps > Angry Birds > Documents folder. It will ask you if you want to replace the existing files, and you do. Might be obvious but just thought I’d share. Thanks for all the other helpful hints!
Just a reminder, that before you “replace” or overwrite your files back them up just in case. Better safe than sorry.
Hi there
I’m trying to do this on windows 7, with an iphone 4 because I had to restore my iphone after the last update. The back up file won’t work but I did manage to retrieve the highscores.lua file from it.
I can’t find highscores.lua in the link above e.g. users > my name >app data >rovio
that location doesn’t exist. I have set it to view hidden folders etc.
Can anyone please help, I’d just got to about 90 levels on 3 stars and it took me bloody ages!
Thanks
p1ow
Are you trying to reload the data onto your iphone or are you trying to load it onto your PC?
I want to reload on iphone – so i have the old highscores.lua
I’m sorry, I’m still a little confused. You said you have the highscores.lua file but below that you said you can’t find the highscores.lua location. If you found it your phone once it just needs to be replaced in the same location it was originally found. Also if you restore your phone from a backup in itunes, you shouldn’t have to mess with the lua file anyway. But it is nice to have a backup of your lua lying around anyway!
Sorry mate, i’m probably not explaining it well.
I got the highscores.lua from an iphone back up.
The back up won’t restore the iphone to it’s old state so i used back up extractor to remove the highscores.lua
now i have angry birds on my iphone with none of my progress, so i am hoping that i can get my old highscores.lua onto my new iphone config
Perfect, Now I’m getting ya. ;)
So basically you need a pc version of a program like Phoneview. A quick look brought up Touchcopy Not sure how well or even if it works but it might be worth a try.
Your best bet is going to be a program that actually lets see the apps on your phone by name (as opposed to numbers). It’s kinda tough to navigate without that.
After you find something like that, the LUA goes in the folder AngryBirds–>Documents. That’s it. Restart your phone and it should work. I’ve heard you MAY have to re-get the eggs. but it’s better than having to redo EVERYTHING. Good luck, my friend.
I just want you to know that if I didn’t love my husband so much, I love you forever and ever. I thought months of Angry Bird progress was forever lost, even my Mighty Eagle scores. You are the greatest benefactor known to mankind! ;)
BTW, I used iPhone Explorer. It took a few attempts but it was worth it!
Haha, thanks Mari. Glad you had success.
What if you only have a pc
I’m pretty sure PCs use a different type of save file making this difficult if not impossible to do. Someone please correct me if I’m wrong.
It depends on what you’re trying to do. If you’re just trying to backup your progress you can backup the data folder. The location of this folder depends on what OS you’re running. Check out this comment for the location on Windows 7.
How can I reset the game on my iphone/ipad altogether as if I’ve never played it before?
Deleting these 2 files don’t work.
Deleting the app and installing it again doesn’t work.
Wait so, you’re TRYING to get rid of all your progress and start with a completely fresh game? Is this correct?
Sure sounds that way..
Two other options exist. You can either:
1. Rename them as something unique (its best to retain the .lua file extension though), or,
2. Move them into a separate folder outside of the Rovio folder tree.
Now at this point, at least in theory, the act of opening the game should create new blank .lua files that the program uses to write and store data. If this didn’t work, then as an old hand PC/Windows guy, I would check the file attributes and/or permissions to determine if you can do what you wish to do. I don’t know if these options are available in iOS or are even possible, but I thought I’d throw them out there.
As a final note, I play on an unrooted Android device and I’ve accomplished what you’ve tried to do twice, once unwittingly, and the other on purpose for AB:Seasons.
Yes that is correct. I want my kid to start fresh having to complete each test before continuing.
Hi! if i have an ipod touch 2nd generation and i bought an ipod touch 4th generation, Can I transfer angry Birds from my iPod Touch to my new ipod? only sync into itunes?
Depends what you are asking…
If you mean transfer your data, then I believe if you want the quick method, you would sync / backup your 2nd gen to iTunes. Then when you hook up your 4th gen, you want to sync it to an existing backup. Everything should transfer that way. Worst case scenario, you can go through the method outlined here using iPhone Explorer.
If you mean transfer the app, then either the iTunes sync should work. Else, you can “re-buy” from the same Apple ID and will no be charged again.
Yes, you can transfer from an older iOS device to a newer one (I’ve done it many times using the method above). As shown in the video, syncing with iTunes first is just a precaution in case you mess up or if something goes wrong while using iPhoneExplorer. When you sync with iTunes first you can always restore from your last sync. The only other requirement is that you need to be sure you have Angry Birds installed on both devices.
ok, so if i sync my 2nd gen ipod and then sync my 4th gen ipod (new) ill have angry birds with all my achievements? and all the progres?? :D
Sounds like a new method for people to cheat to me
Howso? The only “cheating” possible would be sending your “highscores” data file to someone else. That’s cheating in that the latter person did not achieve those scores, but those scores are still legitimate and obtainable.
As far as I know, the files are encrypted and therefore cannot be altered to change a highscore to say 1M.
There is no way to cheat using this way. All the files are encrypted, so impossible for someone to open them up and change their stats.
You’d have to break the encryption to do it. It would require something the like of NSA and their supercomputers to do it.
At our level, if you were lucky enough to break the encryption, it would avail you naught, as all you’d get back is machine code…
Does it work for androids?
Unfortunately the same process does not work in Android, but there is a write-up in the forum you might want to check out.
Ok thanks
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=13438675
Source: http://twitter.com/AngryBirds/status/90680983401148416
Thank you SO much! This worked perfectly (had the iPhone 4 and just got a new iPad) and didn’t want to have to loose all of my progress. I admit I love playing the levels but that was A LOT of levels to replay lol.
Glad it worked for ya!
It works! Thank you very very much! :)
Just went from the iPhone 3GS to the 4 and was excited to keep my high scores. I downloaded the iPhone Explorer and moved all the appropriate files to my PC (Windows 7). When I try to move them to the iPhone 4 the files won’t move into the iPhone Explorer. I get that black circle with the line through it. I’ve opened, closed, opened as administrator, left the game open on the phone, closed the game on the phone, deleted and reinstalled the app. Nothing works. Anyone have an idea?
Open (particular angry birds app) on your new iPhone 4 and play the first world. Perhaps even earn 1 star. Then force-close the app. (hit the home button to leave the game, double-tap the home button to bring up multitasking, hold down an icon, click the – to close the app).
Now plug your phone in and open iPhone explorer. Navigate to the app, open the documents folder, and you should be able to drag your highscores and settings files over.
Nope, that didn’t work. However, using a PC with XP and not Windows 7 did work with iPhone Explorer. And yes, I did have to restart quite a few times – it is finicky but in the end I have my scores! THANK YOU!
Im sorry to ask this question here but I need some help immediately!lol anyway so today I got a new phone the samsung infuse. I had all my AB’s saved to my sd card, on my new phone I went to the android market and redownloaded all the AB’s. then put in my sd card and opened them all up and all my progress was gone what do I do?
I don’t have a ton of advice, but you might check out this article and this forum post.
I know this must have been asked a million times but i was wondering if i were to get either an iphone or 4th gen ipod would this same method work? I have way too much progress in all my angry birds games and would really hate to start all over. and how do you back it up in itunes? i think i am doing it right by syncing it when i plug it in to my computer. Any suggestions?
The method works for iOS devices in general. I went iPhone 3Gs –> iPad 2. I’ve heard 2gen to 4gen iPod touch as well. I’m sure the other combinations work as well.
thank you so much i will try that when i get my iphone.