How to delete old iPhone and iPad backups on a Mac
Every local backup of an iPhone or iPad is a full copy of the device's data — often tens of gigabytes. Backups of phones you sold years ago can still be sitting on your Mac.
Delete backups in Finder
- Connect an iPhone or iPad and select it in the Finder sidebar.
- In the General tab, click Manage Backups…. You'll see every device backup on this Mac with its date.
- Select an old backup, click Delete Backup, and confirm.
Backups marked with a lock are encrypted; they include saved passwords and Health data.
Or find them directly
Backups are stored in ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup, one folder per backup with a long identifier as its name. In Finder, choose Go → Go to Folder… and paste that path. macOS protects this folder, so apps (including Terminal and DiskGarden) need Full Disk Access to see inside it.
With Full Disk Access, DiskGarden shows each backup folder with its size, so the big ones stand out.
What to keep
- Keep the most recent backup of each device you still use — or make sure the device backs up to iCloud instead (iCloud backups don't use space on your Mac).
- Before deleting the only backup of an old device, check you don't need anything from it (photos, messages).
See where your space went
DiskGarden is a free disk space analyzer for Mac: it maps every folder by size, so the space hogs stand out. No account, and your files never leave your Mac.