Where iPhone backups hide on a Mac

20 September 2026

The short answer

On a Mac that has ever been plugged into an iPhone, the single biggest folder is often one nobody has opened. Local device backups routinely run to 40 GB and more, and nothing in the interface points at them.

The exact path

~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup

To see the size without opening anything:

du -sh ~/Library/Application\ Support/MobileSync/Backup

Each subfolder is one backup of one device, named by a long identifier rather than anything readable. Several folders usually means several devices, or several years.

Before you delete anything. If a device is not also backed up to iCloud, this folder is the only copy of its photos, messages and settings. Check on the device — Settings → your name → iCloud → iCloud Backup — before removing anything here.

Why they accumulate

macOS keeps old backups when you back up a replaced device, and when a device is restored. Nothing prunes them automatically. A Mac that has seen three iPhones over six years can hold all of them.

The safe way to remove one

Use Finder's own device screen rather than deleting the folder by hand: connect the device, select it in the sidebar, then Manage Backups. Deleting the folder directly can leave the backup database referring to a backup that is no longer there.