Can I delete iPhone backups on my Mac?
Check first. Each backup is a full copy of an iPhone or iPad, often tens of gigabytes. Delete backups of devices you no longer have, and keep the latest one for each device you still use. Do it in Finder, which shows the device name and date.
At a glance
| Owner app | Finder |
|---|---|
| Typical size | Several GB to over 100 GB per device |
| Safe to delete? | Check first |
| Comes back? | Only when you back up a device to this Mac again |
| What you lose | The ability to restore that device from this backup. A deleted backup can’t be recovered. |
| Where it is | ~/ |
What it is
When you connect an iPhone or iPad to your Mac and choose to back it up to this Mac, Finder saves a full copy of the device in the MobileSync folder: settings, messages, app data, and photos that aren’t stored in iCloud. That copy is what you restore from after replacing or resetting a device.
Backups pile up because each device gets its own, and Finder keeps it after the device is gone. A phone you sold three years ago can still take tens of gigabytes. Backing up the same device again replaces its old backup, so a device you still use usually has one.
Deleting the backup of a device you still use leaves it without a copy on this Mac. That’s why Gigabroom marks backups as Check first and leaves the deleting to Finder, where you see each device’s name and the date of its last backup.
Delete it by hand
- Connect the iPhone or iPad to your Mac with a cable and select it in the Finder sidebar.
- Click the General tab, then click Manage Backups…
- Select a backup you no longer need, click Delete Backup, then confirm. Repeat for others and click OK.
- A backup of a device you no longer own can also be removed in System Settings › General › Storage, under iOS Files.
With Gigabroom
- Open Gigabroom and wait for the scan.
- In Clean Up, open Backups. Each device’s backup is listed separately as Check first, with its size.
- Select a row to see what it holds, then click Show in Finder to find it. Gigabroom does not delete backups itself; remove them in Finder under Manage Backups.
Before you delete
Make sure the device you still use has a newer backup, on this Mac or in iCloud. Don’t delete or rename folders inside the Backup folder by hand: Finder can’t tell which device they belong to, and a partly removed backup can’t be restored.
Related folders
| Folder | Safe to delete? | Typical size |
|---|---|---|
~/ | Check first | — |
~/ | Rebuilds itself | Several GB per file |
~/ | Rebuilds itself | — |
~/ | Keep | 1–50 GB |
~/ | Rebuilds itself | — |
Questions
Where are iPhone backups stored on a Mac?
In ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup. Each backup is a folder with a long code for a name, one per device. Finder’s Manage Backups shows the same backups with the device name and date.
If I delete the backup, does anything change on my iPhone?
No. The backup is a copy. Deleting it frees space on the Mac and leaves the phone as it is.
I back up to iCloud. Do I need the backup on my Mac?
Not if the iCloud backup is recent. On the iPhone, open Settings, tap your name, then iCloud and iCloud Backup to see when it last ran.
Can I move backups to an external drive instead?
Finder offers no setting for that. Archive in Manage Backups keeps a backup from being replaced by the next one, but it stays on the same disk.
Why is the backup so large?
It holds everything on the device that isn’t already in iCloud: photos and videos kept only on the phone, message attachments and app data. A phone with a full camera roll makes a large backup.
Last checked on macOS 27.0.1 · 2026-11-10