Instructions: Where can I find my (iCloud) backups on Mac, PC, iPhone and iPad?

You can easily make an iCloud backup of your mobile devices on the Apple Mac as well as on the Windows PC; from iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. Local backups can also be created without the cloud storage. Recently a reader asked me where the backups that were created can be found, because he wanted to see whether the backup he had initiated was also successfully created. In the following, I'll show you the paths to look for in order to check the success of your backup efforts - both on the hard drive and in the iCloud.

General information about backups on Mac and PC

The iTunes app on Windows and up to macOS 10.14 Mojave and the Finder from macOS 10.15 Catalina save the images of your devices in backup folders. The location can vary from system to system. You shouldn't try to standardize the whole thing on different computers. Apple completely advises against moving the backup folders. Their contents should not be moved, renamed, otherwise changed or extracted in any way. Restoring a backup on the source device only works if the created data is unchanged in the original storage location.

Find backup on Mac

If you are looking for a backup of your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch on your Apple Mac, you can do it in a few simple steps:

1. Opens the Spotlight search with cmd + space bar or the magnifying glass symbol in the menu bar
2. Copies the following folder path into the search bar:
   ~ / Library / Application Support / MobileSync / Backup /
3. Press on Enter or open the displayed folder with the mouse

If there are so many backups in the folder that you lose track of things, you can sort them by date of creation or modification to find the most recent. If you need a certain backup, but don't want to search for a long time in the directory, there is this alternative:

1. Plug the corresponding device into the Mac whose backups you are looking for and unlock it so that the Mac has access
2. Opens under Catalina and later Finder or under Mojave and older those iTunes app
3. Now click in a new Finder window on the left under "Places" on the corresponding device (see screenshot below)
4. There is a tab at the top of the window "Generally"that you select (if not yet active)
5. Then click on “manage backups” or
6. under iTunes in the menu bar iTunes -> Settings -> devicesto view backups, open them in the Finder, delete or archive them

Find backup on PC with Windows 7, 8 or 10

On the Windows PC you can easily find the iPhone backups, iPad backups or iPod Touch backups created with iTunes using the Explorer. To do this, enter the following path in the address line (instead of "Username", of course, your account name on this computer):
\ Users \ username \ AppData \ Roaming \ Apple Computer \ MobileSync \ Backup \

If that doesn't work, there is also an alternative that will take you to your destination using the search function of the operating system. The individual steps can again be dealt with very quickly:

1. Calls up the search bar (Windows 7: Under "Start"; Windows 8: Upper right corner; Windows 10: Search bar on the taskbar next to "Start")
2. Then enter either% appdata% or% USERPROFILE% (if iTunes was downloaded from the Microsoft Store) and press Enter
3. Now open this folder structure: Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC), or Apple Computer -> MobileSync -> Backup

iCloud backup can be found on the iOS device

Apple lists different options for viewing iCloud backups for different versions of the iOS mobile operating system. In the following I will show you where the differences lie:

• iOS 10.2 or older: Settings -> iCloud -> Storage -> Manage storage
• iOS 10.3: Settings -> Own name -> iCloud -> tap usage graph -> Manage storage
• iOS 11 or newer: Settings -> Own name -> iCloud -> Manage storage -> backups

iCloud backup can be found on Mac and PC

Of course, you can also view the backups of your devices stored in the iCloud via the computer. There are brief instructions for both the Apple Mac and PCs with Windows that lead to:

Mac

1. Via the  menu the System settings ... öffnen
2. From the overview iCloud choose file
3. Then click on the bottom right Manage… here
4. From the list on the left the point backups click

PC

1. Here just iCloud for Windows öffnen
2. Then the menu item Storage choose
3. The point Backup choose file

For more information and the source for the instructions shown, see the Apple Support document HT204215. Do you have any further questions about your backups or Mac, iPhone and iPad in general? Then please leave a comment and I'll see how I can help you;)

Jen Kleinholz( Founder & Sir Apfelot )

Jens has been running the blog since 2012. He acts as Sir Apfelot for his readers and helps them with technical problems. In his spare time he rides electric unicycles, takes photos (preferably with the iPhone, of course), climbs around in the Hessian mountains or hikes with the family. His articles deal with Apple products, news from the world of drones or solutions to current bugs.