Where iPhone Backup is Stored on Your Mac (And How to Make One)

Apple recently changed where the iPhone backups are stored on your mac. In this video, I will show you how to find your iPhone back up on your mac, where it is stored, how to make a backup as well as how to delete the backup to free up space.
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[@OnlyiPhones]

Is the iPhone 13 pro max still worth buying? kzbin.info/www/bejne/gGmQfJKObKikock

[@JoyceChristopher]

Great information but is it possible to “view” old backups to make sure you want to delete them? I would like to see what old photos I have.

[@newsigmundfreud3023]

Very helpful. THANK YOU.

[@kevincheruiyot5672]

Super helpful, thanks

[@jlpk_fl6934]

Thank you for very clear and accurate instructions!

[@OnlyiPhones]

You are welcome!

[@VIC-ce4fb]

Thanks. Short and to the point.

[@llaviniu]

thank you for the video!

[@rahuls4863]

Thanks a lot.... regarding the reason for such high compression 04:10 - i check a bit - it is because it only stores the metadata for apps - so huge files like xcode, fifa etc. will occupy no space. But it will ensure to save the app's own metadata like settings etc. This way the major bulk is not required to be stored. It downloads later on and will then use the old metadata. We feel its all the same. Thanks a lot for sharing!

[@javbaes1427]

so do the photos get fully backed up, like original sizes, or the backup shrinks them to save space? his 50 plus gb of data drastically only occupied 12 gb in size?

[@adlancn5379]

Thank you sir. Very clear instruction.

[@chuka_chiezie]

Thank you so much. The Tip was very great

[@OnlyiPhones]

You're so welcome!

[@kathytsu1]

Very clear. Thank you🙏

[@OnlyiPhones]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Hgggjjv]

What about if I use that back up for the new upgrade iPhone, would it be possible? Thank you for your videos, very educational.

[@joseaavellanet4322]

Thanks for your video help me a lot, too find my iPhone after switching to Monterey!

[@OnlyiPhones]

You’re very welcome Jose!

[@AlexGarcia-wo6ve]

Great video my man. Thank you for being straight to the point and very articulate. Very helpful and will be referring this video to many of my friends that have the same issue. Definitely liked and subscribed🤘🏼

[@OnlyiPhones]

Thank you very much Alex 😀

[@GTONEMESIS800]

Very helpful video! I just freed up 2.1TB of space from my iMac!

[@eltruheyo]

I have 4 previous iPhones backed up on my iMac that occupy about 300 GBs, besides my current one. If I delete those old ones, will I lose any data anywhere? Thanks

[@dellam000]

Thank you.

[@AEONFLUXx7]

Thank you ! BUT…. Could you PLEASE make a video of HOW TO ACCESS and OPEN the backed up files…. Contacts, texts, photos, music… without syncing

[@RageClash]

very useful video

[@OnlyiPhones]

Thank you! Glad it helped you!

[@samuraikun1324]

thank you

[@fadz5210]

Thanks for the video. I backed up my iPhone on macbook computer using Finder. Is there a way to see the list of the name of my iPhone contacts on macbook computer? I did not backup to iCloud.

[@dchungmanson]

To The Point , Clear Precise with the right tempo . Admire your patience and replies to all viewers ' queries . Good Man Thanks a lot

[@OnlyiPhones]

I appreciate that kind comment!

[@101Falak]

thank you! Also are a real estate agent from Florida? I swear I used to watch where to move to in Florida and saw your videos long time ago lol!

[@markpashkevich8486]

Will I be able to access the actual music & photo files after backup ? To move them and archive them ?

[@twizzy7626]

hi can i transfer that backup to a new iphone??

[@BlackSands64]

Thanks a million! Apple support did not help me when when backup were corrupted.

[@sumedhauppal5465]

Hi, I backed up my iPhone 12 on my Macbook - a 128GB phone backup shows as 132GB on my Macbook. Now that my replacement phone has come back it refuses to restore it because of space constraints. Can you help?

[@luiszamora260]

Great video and straight forward! That being said, where does the actual file folder reside on my macbook pro and how do I find it? Thank you!

[@andyfeldman2590]

Exactly. Did the initial question get answered? WHERE IS THE BACKUP STORED?

[@rajaratnamsuppiah6409]

Thank you.Very detailed. Can I read the backed up iPhone files and photos in the mac . How to open them to read?

[@OnlyiPhones]

You're welcome! Unfortunately no, you cannot open the file it only exists for restoration purposes

[@sieggry1963]

Finally someone who explained how to do something with out trying to sell me something to fix it.

[@SumitDIY]

Hi Buddy , Thanks for this info I was wondering whole night after taking backup ..How we can take that backup to SSD any idea ?

[@OnlyiPhones]

Not possible unfortunately, has to stay on the mac

[@sofiacantuu]

I want to see if u can help me... I tried transfering one iphone to the other one but... i didnt even get to it.. whatever (i mean the way u do it scanning the thing and everything transfers to the new iphone) but now i'm doing it via Mac so i'm doing a back up to my mac and my memory is 256gb.... how long do u think it will take... it's been going for like 2 hrs almost and it seems like its working but idk it doesnt say anything. (it is an iphone 8 plus... i'm going to transfer it to a 14 with 512gb)

[@wescam1216]

Great video. But what if your next phone does not have enough space to carry the old backup? can you get inside the backup and delete parts of it?

[@OnlyiPhones]

Thank you! That is a good question. First off, I would say its probably not a good idea to buy a phone that does not have enough space to restore an old backup. That means you typically like keeping a lot of info on your phone and chances are your new phone will run out of space fast, even if you did delete parts of the backup. If you want to delete parts of the backup, you'll need to do that BEFORE making one on the computer, directly on your iPhone. Choosing the items you want in the backup and what you don't

[@mayascarborough4078]

Does the backup include things like iMessage conversations and files like that?

[@user-yq2gr7sw2o]

Hi i hv a new iphone rn and i backed my old iphone on my computer. How do i transfer the data from my computer to my new iPhone? Do i just connect it and click restore backup?

[@user-yl2ts2tr7f]

I took some videos wiht my iPhone, and using this video's instructions, I went to Storage>IOS Files from my iPhone, like you showed us. However, when I went to click on IOS files, nothing happened. Not sure what's going on. I was expecting to open up the files or folder there would be my videos I took.

[@mdjahiruddin4205]

Can i backup my all data from iPhone to MacBook in a specific folder or drive? Please give me this answer

[@srgoli07]

My iphonew is being backed up only ~8 gb out of ~60 gb onto the Mac wit hsame steps. I did not select any particualr media type but chose full backup. How can I fix it ?

[@GabrielaGarcia-bp6yq]

how do i restore from a previous backup when it doesnt appear anywhere? I just backed it up but i wanted to restore to the previous backup to import photos i deleted since then because i forgot to import them to photos app before i deleted them. Now i can't find that previous backup...

[@davidalford7165]

Great video but im a little confused on the one click backup to computer. Does this backup everything like photos and music or do you need to go to each section like photos and sync and same for music. I want everything backed up from phone to Mac. Thanks David

[@OnlyiPhones]

It will just back everything up. You don't get to choose like in iCloud so it will make a perfect copy of your phone.

[@davidalford7165]

@@OnlyiPhones Thanks i will try it !

[@vinith1988]

Does the back up save eSim as well?

[@Lasthair]

Might be a dumb question, but you can use this backup once u buy a new iphone correct?

[@stavandaftary9873]

Hey Great video. I had a question. I have a 256 GB phone that I want to back up on my 256 GB MacBook Pro but it has already utilised some space hence it doesn’t let me do the back up. Any work around for this ?

[@OnlyiPhones]

Unfortunately no, you will need the appropriate amount of space. Although if you have have say 60 GB on your phone and 120 free on your mac, you should be fine.

[@Muhfa]

Hi , how to back up 2 iphones in same macbook ? possible ?

[@kathyuribe8592]

Hi, I need help When I select finder my iPhone doesn’t show. I don’t know what to do to back up my iPhone. I had my Mac Pro worked on everything was gone it was like a new computer that was ok. But now I can’t back up my iPhone. Any help would be great….

[@MH-rx5yj]

After i click TRUST at the mac it doesn't show the the backup now, it shows me to restore back up or set it as a new phone!! and its the first time i plug the iPhone to the mac so whats the problem and how to backup??

[@UmerBashir]

Thanks for this amazing video I have been looking for this - I have another concern , How do I move this Backup that resides in iOS Files to an External HDD ? I sold my iPhone and now waiting for iPhone 14 to launch and once launched I will move my data to that new phone so until now I have taken a backup via my Computer coz I am using Android phone interim - can you show 1 - How do we access those back up files and move them to External HDD and 2 - How do we move that backup from HDD to New iPhone ?

[@OnlyiPhones]

Unfortunately you can't move the backup to an external HDD. I have had other people ask me this and I tried for myself and it must live on your mac. Once you get the new phone, just plug it into your mac and then use the same finder window to restore your previous backup👌

[@shineychhibber78]

Thanks for info .It seems to be a issue with the Mac OS if we cant move IOS Files to external harddisk from MAC laptop and in my case i am selling my laptop as well:( so going to loose the data@@OnlyiPhones

[@sidzhottake]

Thanks bud! I’m doing a backup same as you but I have 130GB backup and still not done after going for awhile. Any input?

[@OnlyiPhones]

I have had that issue too, only thing you can do is try again.

[@Marissa15367]

hi, i have two back-ups on my computer but, lost space so i started using icloud for storage on my phone. my phone backs-up every night however, if i want to see what is on my compter backup, would it mess up my phonw if i tried to add the compter backup to it?

[@OnlyiPhones]

If you restore the backup from the computer, your phones contents will revert to however it looked at the time of that back, which I'm assuming is older than your iCloud backups.

[@wafi3187]

So I had 13 pro that I gave it away to my brother in law but I backed up in my MacBook so my pictures can be saved, now I wanna see the pictures but I can’t see it? Where can I see the pictures?

[@celya8483]

And how do you view the backup? Can you transfer that file onto a new iPhone?

[@themoreyouknow6663]

can you transfer the data of this back up on a USB?

[@laluna5192]

Dude........Great info, I like the instructions, but most of all the GUITAR. and MIC!!! I have a bunch of Rock songs to record!!!! do you record/engineer?

[@youssefzoz3004]

Hello I can’t find my phone in the location . Do you have any idea?

[@SaieshZarekar-gu4xc]

can you transfer this backup to a windows device?

[@sarakhalid-px3sz]

what if i have a new iphone and i need this backup to be upolded into it

[@lllee3476]

Is that the same process to save onto an external hard drive? Will Mac have an option to save onto an external hard drive?

[@OnlyiPhones]

I don’t believe there’s a way to save the back up to an external drive at this time

[@llajeunesse4668]

Can you move the phone backup out of your Mac to an external HDD and delete it on your Mac to make-up space? …and then reinstall it on your Mac for a phone restauration if need so?

[@OnlyiPhones]

I haven't tried that yet, so I'm not sure

[@empowervideoproductions]

Yeah was wondering the same. Did you ever figure it out?

[@llajeunesse4668]

Ok well I found the solution. There is a way to trick the Mac and make it think you save on the Mac but actually you save on an external HDD and so you can restaure your phone the same way. But I wonder how come Apple did not made this already easyly available.

[@charlesstevenjoseph]

@@llajeunesse4668how

[@human777]

@@llajeunesse4668 - what was the solution?

[@vibes718]

how do i delete sum files that are backed up on my Mac because its not recovering back up due to no space on iphone ???? when i just restored 128 gig , i updated OS and itunes is up to date this is frustrating ...

[@kjetilhansenmelvr8118]

Is it possible to access my backup (stored in iCloud) without buying a third party software? I want to download it to my computer and delete it in iCloud since it occupies a lot of my storage space

[@OnlyiPhones]

As far as I can tell the answer is no. You would need to first make a back up to your computer and then delete the iCloud back up to free up the space

[@llajeunesse4668]

Let say I want to keep the photos from my phone, but I need to clean delete them from my phone to make space. How can I move them on my Mac anf then be totally free to view / use them on my Mac ONLY ( Stored on the Mac -or- on an external HDD) ?

[@OnlyiPhones]

I just explained how to do this in a previous comment for you👍

[@MuhammadAttia]

how can i restore the backup on older iphone

[@MajdQutto]

I have previously made an iPhone backup to mac and I can see the backup file on iOS Files.... however when I plug my phone and go to Finder to restore my backup, it says no backup found. If the backup files are on the computer, why isnt it showing on Finder and how can I restore back my backup?

[@OnlyiPhones]

Haven't heard of that one before. I would get with Apple support on that.

[@nawaf5988]

Same problem for me , did you find a solution?

[@akwrdalfredosauce2028]

What if we are backing up the data to transfer to a new phone? Would it still work?

[@OnlyiPhones]

Yes it would definitely work for that. Just make a backup of the old iPhone first and then once you have the new one you go into your computer the same way I show in this video and simply restore the new phone from your old backup

[@MohitSharma-pv4hb]

What about the earlier backups? This is only showing the latest one. How to access older ones?

[@OnlyiPhones]

When you go to iOS files on your mac, you should be able to see earlier backups

[@clee8707]

how can i move ios files that is already saved in MAC to SSD?

[@shelleysacks914]

very useful! clear. However, need to move all the iphone backup to external HD. But not allowing this. Why?

[@OnlyiPhones]

I don't know why, but Apple doesn't allow you to move it to an external drive. I tried and could not do it.

[@madhanmani1839]

How to move that data to external ssd

[@UgendherReddy]

How. can we restore the backup in new mobile?

[@syeddasthagirrafi9084]

How to bring back this data from Mac to new iPhone 15 pro ?

[@rishi.999]

I want to open backup files in Mac how to do it???

[@sloanszn25]

Does this backup help when downloading windows on iMac

[@OnlyiPhones]

No this is only for your iPhone.

[@user-tc9tu5op7x]

Hello brother, I want to backup the iPhone, but it tells me that it was not possible to perform the backup for this iPhone, what should I do?

[@OnlyiPhones]

Thats all it says? I haven't seen that problem before

[@tabi850]

how to back up 2 different iPhone data on same MacBook ?

[@assasainscreed786]

Do you know how I can put all my WhatsApp data on the mac? Because my phone is taking up too much space for WhatsApp.

[@abdulwasay9247]

How to restore that ios file from mac to android because I switched from ios to android?

[@OnlyiPhones]

You can’t. The backup only work with iOS

[@llajeunesse4668]

Good job, thank you! But here is the question; With my phone crying for space, can I delete the photos on my phone after a backup and access the pictures from my computer?

[@OnlyiPhones]

Thanks! Unfortunatey no, you cannot access individual files within the backup file. But what you can do is, unload the pictures to either the photos app on your computer or just dump them in a folder and then you can access them as much as you want and still have your backup too.

[@nidraque]

@@OnlyiPhones What’s the process of dumping the pictures on a folder. For example I want to move them to my external SSD and view the files from there to other places. So can I do that? If yes then how ?

[@OnlyiPhones]

@@nidraque Use the image capture app on your mac to transfer the photos from your phone to your mac. Then transfer that folder to your external SSD

[@gerliegica5367]

Got it. Thank you. How about if I want to transfer my backed up files (from mac) to my new phone. Is it possible? Thank you.

[@OnlyiPhones]

Yes it is possible! Just plug in the new phone and using that same finder window, you can restore the backup on a new iPhone.

[@jimmywilliams525]

Any idea how to put this backup onto my phone? It shows up in the ios files but then won't let me use it in itunes to reapply onto an iphone? please help!

[@OnlyiPhones]

Yes you will use the same finder window when your phone is plugged in. Then there will be a button that says restore backup.

[@jimmywilliams525]

@@OnlyiPhones the files comes up with a folder icon and not a phone one? Any idea how to fix this?

[@krimpolicija3756]

Can i back up 2 iPhones ( mine and from my wife) on the same MacBook?

[@OnlyiPhones]

Yes absolutely, just follow the same steps in this video with both phones 👍

[@nolanivane4477]

Hello. I accidentally overwritten a backup. How do I recover that file? I tried using Disk Drill but I still can’t find it.

[@OnlyiPhones]

I don't think you can unfortunately

[@Travelbuddy4589]

How to transfer backup data to new iphone

[@MartinePhotography]

How do you upload the back- up to your new iPhone?

[@andyramos1920]

Ikr

[@OnlyiPhones]

Go to the Finder window with your iPhone plugged in and you’ll see the option to restore from a backup

[@parveenchandila9549]

How to open back up files in IOS Files OR transfer it in external hard drives

[@OnlyiPhones]

You can't open it only use it to restore a backup to your iPhone

[@hasnainijaz4397]

Hi there, could you plz tell me how to restore the the encrypted backup? Actually its asking me for password, which i don't know :(

[@OnlyiPhones]

The password is either your apple ID password or the password for your phone or laptop.

[@hasnainijaz4397]

@@OnlyiPhones I've tried everything... but still is not working :(

[@OnlyiPhones]

@@hasnainijaz4397 If you don't know your password, your not going to be able to restore the backup unfortunately

[@dankweeb7643]

Can i view my phones photos from my mac without plugging my phone in?

[@OnlyiPhones]

Yes you can. But first you need to have photo stream turned on on both your iPhone and your Mac and then the photos will start populating automatically. Might be good for me to make a whole video about this

[@lizzymayores9752]

how can I see the photos in Mac after the back up is done. And what about the deleted folder or the hidden photos folder haha

[@OnlyiPhones]

Good question on accessing those hidden photos ha ha 😄 there’s no way to access them directly from the backup on your Mac. You can only access them from the iPhone directly. So you’ll need to restore the phone from that back up to see any of those deleted or hidden photos.

[@lizzymayores9752]

@@OnlyiPhones Haha thank you!

[@KIsaac-wp5dq]

How to access iPhone backup data in MacBook

[@akkshaybhakta346]

Hi, I am not getting the backup option. The only message I am getting when connected to my MAC is “If you are experiencing problems with this iPhone, you can restore its original settings by clicking Restore iPhone.” & Restore iPhone is the only button enabled

[@OnlyiPhones]

Make sure the box that says " back up all of the data on your iPhone to this Mac" is checked and try again.

[@FrodDoctor]

needed to know how to put it on a new phone idk why i would want to put a old back up on the same phone. . .

[@OnlyiPhones]

It all works the same. You can put the old back up on your new phone.

[@rahulrajput6169]

Hi Sir, I am from India I did a back up in my MacBook M1 Pro and I did a phone format but back up is not coming Sir I want to talk with you I I want to share one pic I looking me pc I did same word your Did … ?

[@OnlyiPhones]

Your best bet is to get in touch with apple customer support and address it from there.

[@timothybradek3560]

Hey, I messed up, I hit sinc instead of backup

[@OnlyiPhones]

No big deal you can still do the back up after

[@AR-gq6rq]

Whats the different between hard backup and iCloud backup?!

[@OnlyiPhones]

One is stored on your computer and one is stored on iCloud

[@AR-gq6rq]

@@OnlyiPhones I know that my question is what’s the different

[@OnlyiPhones]

@@AR-gq6rq there is no difference, just the storage location

[@raquelmoran5217]

Help it doesn’t say my name in the finder app

[@OnlyiPhones]

Your phone could be named something else. It should say whatever the name of your iPhone is. If you still don’t see it try restarting your computer and your phone and try again

[@unluckymirror1214]

This doesn't help me actually find there photos in the backup, I need to get the photos not on an iPhone. I want to see the photos

[@ikeoxcore12]

Is your backup files just a bunch of numbers too

[@chanthruviswa9064]

How to see all photos of my backup in my mac..?

[@OnlyiPhones]

You can’t. The back up is only used to restore your iPhone. If you want to see your photos on your Mac you will need to transfer them to your Mac using the Photos app or image capture app

[@TextingStory4L]

I don’t see on my finder app where it looks like yours

[@OnlyiPhones]

Finder is the blue and white icon usually lower left of your mac dashboard that looks like a face

[@jeanpalacio3468]

I plug in my phone to my Mac and I click trust but it still doesn’t show up on my computer :/

[@OnlyiPhones]

Thanks for posting this here!

[@Ajith984]

can't we see the photos and videos from the backup made?

[@OnlyiPhones]

Only if you restore the backup to your iPhone. Can't see them on the computer.

[@Ajith984]

@@OnlyiPhones thanks!

[@Louizmorales]

And how can I send all those iOS files in my MacBook to my iPhone? Well... I bought a new one and I want those files in my iPhone again

[@OnlyiPhones]

Not sure if you are saying you have a new macbook or new iPhone, but if its a new MacBook, then transfer the back up files to your new mac via air drop or usb drive. If its iPhone, simply restore the backup to your new iPhone.