How to delete game save data manually?

[timidhermit]

I have a number of games for which I want to permanently delete all game save data so that I can restart each game fresh and anew. The device (running iOS 10) on which these game are installed does not connect to iCloud, so there are no iCloud saves to deal with.

The problem I am having is that for a few games the game progress is somehow still saved even after I manually deleted the app and removed all data related to the app using the manage storage settings. Consequently, the game would pick up from the previous save once the app is re-installed. The app itself has no built-in option to reset the game data. Are the game data saved somewhere else hidden or in the keychain? As a test, I even tried to monitor the install using a jailbroken device so that I can have access to the entire iOS file system with root privilege, but I still could not figure out what the cause is.

Can someone please help?

 

[Shirasaki]

I would try to restore the device using DFU mode with a recent backup.
Sometimes, developers store app data outside of regular documents folder to achieve something like retains key data, either through hack or through creative use of Apple official API. I have no idea. A full format should be able to wipe them out.

I encountered a more tricky example. The Red alert 3 campaign progress is not saved in a typical location, meaning each time I delete the game, I need to play the entire campaign from scratch after a re-install. Very annoying.

 

[timidhermit]

Thanks, Shirasaki, for confirming that this is not unique to my setup. Very surprised that this is not written about elsewhere (at least what I could find).

Agree that this is extremely annoying behavior when developers are not properly sandboxing their data as to make their management impossible by users. For a game, this behavior just annoys me greatly because it means that I can't start a new game unless I install it on a new device.

I would try to restore the device using DFU mode with a recent backup.
Sometimes, developers store app data outside of regular documents folder to achieve something like retains key data, either through hack or through creative use of Apple official API. I have no idea. A full format should be able to wipe them out.

I encountered a more tricky example. The Red alert 3 campaign progress is not saved in a typical location, meaning each time I delete the game, I need to play the entire campaign from scratch after a re-install. Very annoying.