Backing up your Trip Splitter data

Your Trip Splitter data is stored in a database on your iPhone or iPad. Only the Trip Splitter app can access this database, but since release 3.0, you can manually get to the database via iTunes.  So you can now backup your Trip Splitter data if you desire. And you can restore it if you need to. This is a Trip Splitter unique backup technique - if you are backing up your whole iPhone, then you are backed up for cases like losing your phone or a total crash of your phone.  But if you have a lot of data in your Trip Splitter records and you would feel better having a backup copy of the database, that is now possible.

Here are the steps for backing up. This is for iTunes running on a Mac, you'll have to make a few translations if you are running on a PC.

1. Connect your iPhone (or iPad) to your computer running iTunes.
2. Select that device from the devices listed in the upper right corner of iTunes.
3. When your phone's information is shown in the main window, go to the Apps tab.
4. Scroll down to the File Sharing section and select Trip Splitter in the list on the left (there should be a list of apps on the left).
5. Go into the panel to the right that should now be called "Trip Splitter Documents" and there should be a folder called "SharedCoreDataStores" in the list. It should be the only thing in the list.
6. Position the iTunes window so that a part of your desktop is showing and drag that "SharedCoreDataStores" folder out and drop it onto the desktop (this won't affect the copy on your phone)
7. If you have a large database, a progress bar will show in the top-center panel of iTunes. 
8. When the transfer is complete, get Finder running and find that file and right click on it and change the name to something like SharedCoreDataStores20130906.pkg.  It is important to give it a file type of .pkg. This turns the folder and the contained database into the kind of data object that can be restored back to Trip Splitter later.

To restore Trip Splitter back to a previous backup copy:

1. Connect your iPhone (or iPad) to your computer running iTunes.
2. Make sure Trip Splitter is truly terminated.
3. Select that phone from the devices listed in the upper right corner of iTunes.
4. When your phone's information is shown in the main window, go to the Apps tab.
5. Scroll down to the File Sharing section and select Trip Splitter in the list on the left (should be a list of apps on the left).
6. Go into the panel to the right that should now be called "Trip Splitter Documents" and there should be a folder called "SharedCoreDataStores" in the list. 
7. That folder will be the database that you are about to overwrite. You can't actually overwrite it though, so you have to delete it or change the name first.  Change the name if you think you might want to ever go back to that version of the database.
8. Now, in Finder, find the backup copy (in this example, the file named SharedCoreDataStores20130906.pkg
9. Drag this file to the Trip Splitter Documents window in iTunes.
10. Change the name of the file back to the original "SharedCoreDataStores", with no extension.
11. Start up Trip Splitter and it should be using the restored database.