How to Find and Delete Hidden iOS Device Backups on Your Mac to Free Up Space

If you regularly plug your iPhone or iPad into your Mac to sync music or transfer photos, there is a very high probability that macOS is silently creating a complete, encrypted backup of your entire mobile device on your local hard drive.

Because modern iPhones frequently have 256GB, 512GB, or even 1TB of storage, these local backups are absolutely massive. It is incredibly common for Mac users to suddenly receive a “Your disk is almost full” warning, only to discover that 150GB of their Mac’s hard drive is being hoarded by three different hidden backups of an old iPhone they don’t even own anymore.

Apple intentionally hides these backup files deep within a hidden system library folder, preventing you from simply dragging them to the Trash. To reclaim your storage space, you must use a specific built-in utility to safely manage and delete these monolithic files.

Step 1: Open the Storage Management Tool

In older versions of macOS, you managed backups directly inside iTunes. Since iTunes was killed off, Apple moved this functionality to the Finder, but the actual deletion process is best handled through System Settings.

1. Click the Apple logo in the top left corner of your screen.
2. Select System Settings (or “About This Mac” > “Storage” on older OS versions).
3. In the left-hand sidebar, click on General, then click Storage in the right-hand pane.

Your Mac will spend a few seconds calculating exactly what types of files are consuming your hard drive.

Step 2: Locate the iOS Files Section

1. Scroll down the list of categories (Applications, Documents, Trash, etc.) until you find the category named iOS Files.
2. Look at the number next to it. If it says something small like “100 MB,” this is just cached update data. If it says something like “85 GB,” you have massive device backups hoarding your space.
3. Click the small “i” (Info) button next to “iOS Files”.

Step 3: Safely Delete the Backups

A new window will slide open displaying a list of every single iPhone, iPad, and iPod backup stored on your machine.

Crucially, macOS displays the exact date the backup was created. If you see a backup from an “iPhone 11 Pro” from three years ago, and you currently own an iPhone 15, that file is completely useless and actively harming your Mac’s performance.

1. Click on the obsolete backup to highlight it.
2. Click the Delete button in the bottom left corner of the window.
3. Confirm the deletion.

Unlike normal files, which go to the Trash bin and wait 30 days, deleting an iOS backup through this menu permanently and instantly incinerates the file, immediately returning the free gigabytes to your primary hard drive.

Alternative: Using Finder (macOS Catalina and newer)

If you prefer to manage backups through the modern Finder interface, you can also achieve this by physically connecting your device.

1. Plug your current iPhone into your Mac using a USB/USB-C cable.
2. Open a new Finder window.
3. Look in the left sidebar under “Locations” and click on your iPhone.
4. In the main window, click on the Manage Backups… button.
5. A similar list will appear, allowing you to highlight old backups and delete them instantly.