Where are iPhone backups stored in Sonoma ?

[RetiredInFl]

I tried this: ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/ and it doesn't (seem to) exist.

Disclaimer: After 25+ years on a PC I have recently switched to MAC so I am still learning!

 

[phillytim]

With your iPhone connected, look for it & click on it in your FINDER sidebar.

Choose "Manage Backups" in the General tab.

Choose the backup that you want to locate, and right-click on it - Show In Finder.

Can you locate it that way?

 

[Mike Boreham]

I tried this: ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/ and it doesn't (seem to) exist.

Disclaimer: After 25+ years on a PC I have recently switched to MAC so I am still learning!

Are you sure you are looking in the (hidden by default) user library?

 

[RetiredInFl]

Thanks for the replies. I eventually found it. I had to click control something first. 😀. Created a shortcut to it and I’m good. Out of town now so I can’t really find the instruction I wrote down or what the path was. Obviously it was hidden so that was the issue. Just don’t remember how I got it which is not unusual for me. Need to start taking Prevagin. 😀😀

 

[Tribeca]

2024-03-10: Running Sonoma v14.3.1 on a Mac Studio M2 my iPhone v17.3.1 backup file path is as follows and it was not hidden in my case. I did notice that if you go back a few macOSs that there have been radical changes over the years as to the way Music handles it's backups. Are all of the Music files included in this general full iPhone backup to begin with? Music used to have it's own parent folder in the Library but I don't see it.

Here's the iPhone full backup path on my setup:
/Users/johnh/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/00008110-000835623613401E

It can be a fairly large file depending on your iPhone capacity and usage so you don't necessarily want be archiving old versions too often or too much. There's a way to create (and name) existing backups if you want them not to be overwritten, I think by holding down the option key in the "Manage Backups" window.

I believe older backups are getting picked up by Time Machine so that should suffice if you have to restore a prior backup. That means your may be increasing your TM usage quite a bit if you make frequent changes to your Music app.

For example, I deleted a playlist in Music by mistake and there is now way (that I know to undo that) and I probably could have just opened TM and gone back a day or so in time and restored that prior backup. I didn't want to take the chance of upsetting the apple cart in some unanticipated way so I never even tried this, but I'm assuming it would work. Instead I just recreated the playlist in Music in a few minutes.

But this begs the question, had I restored from a prior iPhone backup, other than any other changes, would this have worked to restore that missing playlist without creating any unanticipated issues?All the best,

All the best,
John

 

[Tribeca]

2024-03-10: Running Sonoma v14.3.1 on a Mac Studio M2 my iPhone v17.3.1 backup file path is as follows and it was not hidden in my case. I did notice that if you go back a few macOSs that there have been radical changes over the years as to the way Music handles it's backups. Are all of the Music files included in this general full iPhone backup to begin with? Music used to have it's own parent folder in the Library but I don't see it.

Here's the iPhone full backup path on my setup:
/Users/johnh/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/00008110-000835623613401E

It can be a fairly large file depending on your iPhone capacity and usage so you don't necessarily want be archiving old versions too often or too much. There's a way to create (and name) existing backups if you want them not to be overwritten, I think by holding down the option key in the "Manage Backups" window.

I believe older backups are getting picked up by Time Machine so that should suffice if you have to restore a prior backup. That means your may be increasing your TM usage quite a bit if you make frequent changes to your Music app.

For example, I deleted a playlist in Music by mistake and there is now way (that I know to undo that) and I probably could have just opened TM and gone back a day or so in time and restored that prior backup. I didn't want to take the chance of upsetting the apple cart in some unanticipated way so I never even tried this, but I'm assuming it would work. Instead I just recreated the playlist in Music in a few minutes.

But this begs the question, had I restored from a prior iPhone backup, other than any other changes, would this have worked to restore that missing playlist without creating any unanticipated issues?All the best,

All the best,
John

UPDATE: 2024-03-10: Sorry, I was wrong about where my _Music_ files are stored. They are right out in the open in my home directory here:

/Users/johnh/Music

So, in the case of wanting to restore an accidentally deleted playlist from Music, I'd first make a copy of the parent "Music" folder just in case things go off the rails, then, open Time Machine and go back an hour, or a day, etc., and restore the "Music" folder. I have not tried this but it should work, and if it didn't I can just manually delete the Music folder and restore it from my manual backup I'd just made. Here's a screenshot of the Music folder . . . .