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Where are iPhone backups stored? Find your iTunes / Finder Backup Location...

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Locate iPhone backup on PC or Mac

If you back up your iPhone using iTunes (or Finder on macOS Catalina or higher), the backup file is stored on your PC or Mac... but where?

Want to find your backup location, extract data from a backup, or restore your iPhone from a backup? You're in the right place.

iPhone backup location Windows PC:

Where are iPhone backups stored? On Windows systems, your iPhone backups are usually located here: \Users\(username)\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\ . However, this can vary from system to system.

You can access your backup location manually through File Explorer, or automatically using iBackup Extractor. Here's how to find where your backups are stored on your PC...

To locate a list of your backups manually, follow these steps:

  1. Open your search box.
    • Windows 7: click Start
    • Windows 8: click the magnifying glass in the top right corner
    • Windows 10/11: click the Search box next to the Start button
  2. Your backups will be stored in any of 3 locations on your computer, depending on your system:
    • In the search box, type %appdata% then hit Enter/Return. Then navigate through the folders 'Apple' or 'Apple Computer' > MobileSync > Backup.
    • In the search box, type %USERPROFILE% then hit Enter/Return. Then navigate through the folders 'Apple' or 'Apple Computer' > MobileSync > Backup.
    • (For backups created in TouchCopy on a PC without iTunes installed)
      In the search box, type %localappdata%\Packages then hit Enter/Return. Then find the folder at this location with a name starting with 'WideAngleSoftware'. Open this folder and navigate through LocalCache > Roaming > Apple Computer > MobileSync > Backup.

Your backups will now be listed for you as seen in the image below. Note that these files are not human-readable. If you need to view and access this data, skip to step 3.


iPhone backup location Windows PC

iPhone backup location on Windows PC


To locate your device backups automatically, follow these steps:

  1. Download and install iBackup Extractor on your PC.
  2. Launch iBackup Extractor by searching for it in the Windows search box.
  3. From the list of backups shown, right-click the backup you want to access and choose "Show in File Explorer".
Easily finding backups on Windows PC using iBackup Extractor
Easily finding backups on Windows PC using iBackup Extractor

You can also browse through your backup content using iBackup Extractor in a readable way, which you can't do otherwise!

For information about how to browse and even extract content from your backups, skip ahead to extracting data from an iPhone backup.

You may also like: How to back up your iPhone >

iPhone backup location Mac:

Where are iPhone backups stored? On Mac systems, your iPhone backups are located here: ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/

To access this location, click in the menu bar, then type the address above.

-Or-

To find a specific backup:

  1. Open iTunes if you are using macOS 10.14 or earlier, or open Finder if your Mac is running macOS 10.15 or later.
  2. In iTunes, go to Preferences, then click the Devices tab. Control-click the backup that you want from the list. Then click "Show in Finder".
    In Finder, connect your device and select it from the list of Locations. In the General section, click Manage Backups. Right-click a backup and select "Show in Finder".

Note that these files are not human-readable. If you need to view and access this data, skip to step 3.


iPhone backup location Mac computer or MacBook
iPhone backup location on Mac computer or MacBook

Recover data from your iPhone backup

As these backups are designed to keep your data safe, until needed for an iPhone restore, you cannot view and access individual items within the backup - e.g. if you want to copy out a particular photo album to your computer.

If you'd like to browse your backups, and extract data from them to your PC or Mac, you'll need a third-party software like iBackup Extractor.

View and recover data from iPhone backup on computer
View and recover data from iPhone backup on computer - iBackup Extractor

If you should need to retrieve data from your iOS device backups, such as contacts, messages, photos and more, iBackup Extractor can do just that!

With iBackup Extractor you can even access and view the contents of iPhone backups on your computer FREE.

Download the free trial version of iBackup Extractor today, to see what you can extract from your backups to your computer.

Free iBackup Extractor Download

Restore iPhone from backup

There are many reasons that you'd need to restore an iPhone from a backup: Troubleshooting problems on your iPhone, data loss, and a broken/damaged device to name a few.

Here's how to restore an iPhone backup from your computer...

  • Open iTunes (or Finder on macOS Catalina or higher) on the PC or Mac that you backed up your iPhone to.
  • Connect your iPhone with your USB cable.
  • Select your device.
  • Click 'Restore Backup...'
  • Pick the backup you'd like to restore, and click 'Restore'.
Restore iPhone from backup
Restore iPhone from a backup

If you run into any issues when attempting to restore a backup to your iPhone, Apple's iTunes guides are great!

You may also like: How to delete backups from your computer >

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Publisher: Wide Angle Software