Part of: Mac storage full? Find what is using it and free up space safely (Storage full)
An iPhone or iPad backup on your Mac can use many gigabytes. Old ones are easy to forget, especially for phones you no longer own. You can check whether you have any, decide which to keep, and remove the rest through Finder.
Check whether you have local backups
Backups made by plugging a device into your Mac are stored in your Library. In Terminal, this command only reads:
ls ~/Library/Application\ Support/MobileSync/BackupIf it says “No such file or directory”, you have no local backups. That is the case on many Macs, particularly if your phone backs up to iCloud instead. If it lists folders, each one is a backup, named by a long code that does not tell you which device it is.
To see the total size, run du -sh ~/Library/Application\ Support/MobileSync/Backup. Terminal may need Full Disk Access to read this folder.
Decide what to keep
Ask these questions:
- Do I still own that device? If it is sold or broken, its backup is only useful if you might restore its data onto a new phone.
- Is there a newer backup of the same device? Then the older one is usually safe to remove.
- Is the data stored somewhere else? Photos, messages and contacts can be in iCloud, but check before you rely on that. The same goes for a Mac that is full for other reasons: what is taking up space on my Mac shows the next layer down.
Safe, Risky, Never
- Safe: an older backup of a device when a newer backup exists and works.
- Risky: the only backup of a device, or a backup of a phone you no longer have. It may hold the only copy of messages, app data and settings.
- Never: deleting backup folders by hand in the Library without knowing which device they belong to, or deleting the whole MobileSync folder to save time.
What breaks if you get it wrong: you cannot restore from that backup, and deletion cannot be undone. A backup that is removed this way does not come back from the Trash after you empty it.
Remove through Finder, not by dragging folders
Finder shows a device’s backups when the device is connected, with a Manage Backups option on the device’s page. It lists backups by device name and date, which the folder codes do not. Use that list to choose, rather than guessing from folder names. The exact steps differ between macOS versions, so this guide does not give a click path.
Removing the folder by hand works, but you lose the labels and may delete the wrong one.
Downloaded iOS update files
Update files that your Mac downloaded for a device are separate from backups. They are replaced when you update again. Check what is on your Mac before you remove anything, and note that anything you remove can be downloaded again.
Why backups matter
Backups are insurance. Before you remove one, be sure you have another way to recover. Space on your Mac matters, but not as much as your data. If the phone backs up to iCloud and you also keep a current local backup, removing old local ones is low risk.
Backups in iCloud versus on your Mac
Your iPhone can back up to iCloud, to your Mac, or both. A backup in iCloud does not use space on your Mac, so it is not the cause of a full disk. A backup you made on your Mac does. If you changed the way you back up, you may have an old local backup that nothing reads any more.
Before you decide, check how your devices back up now, in their own settings. If a current iCloud backup exists and works, an old local backup is often just leftover weight. If you are unsure, keep the newest local backup of each device you still use and remove only the older ones. That keeps a safety net in place while still freeing most of the space.
See what is large
DiskJoy is our product. It scans the folders you allow and shows large items by category with their sizes. A scan only reads file sizes and dates and changes nothing. DiskJoy is pre-alpha and cleanup is not available yet, so you remove things yourself, and it does not decide for you which backup you need. Download DiskJoy for Mac to see how much your folders hold.
After you remove one
Empty the Trash to get the space back. See why moving files to the Trash does not free up space. Then check df -h /System/Volumes/Data to see the change. If the disk keeps filling up, why your Mac keeps running out of space and how to find large files are good next reads. For the full order of steps, read the complete guide to freeing up space on a Mac.
Frequently asked questions
Where are iPhone backups stored on a Mac?
Local backups are kept in a folder called MobileSync, inside Application Support in your Library folder. If that folder does not exist, you have no local backups.
Is it safe to delete old iPhone backups?
It is safe if you no longer need to restore from them. A deleted backup cannot be recovered, so keep the most recent one for any device you still use.
How do I delete old iOS updates on a Mac?
Downloaded iPhone update files are separate from backups. Check what is on your Mac before you remove anything, and remove through Finder where it offers the option.