Delete iPhone & iPad Backups Easily Within iTunes
May 4, 2012 - 6 Comments
Without using iCloud, the iPhone, iPad, and iPod backups can take up a lot of local disk space on a computer. If you’ve moved the iPhone/iPad to sync with a new computer, sold an iOS device, or just want to potentially free up some disk space, you can easily delete these backups directly from iTunes.
- Launch iTunes and open iTunes Preferences
- Click the “Devices” tab to find the backup list
- Select the backup(s) you wish to delete and click “Delete Backup”
This only removes the backups that are stored locally on the computer and it will not impact iCloud backups, which won’t even show up in the list. It’s generally a good idea to leave the most recent backup intact, in the event you need to restore and don’t have fast internet access.
Only do this if you have a recent backup available somewhere. You can make a quick manual iCloud backup directly on the iOS device itself or sync it with iTunes.
Thank you! Just yesterday I was searching without result on how to do this.
Delete iCloud backups in settings
I just tried this and found that it deleted the entries from the Devices Preferences in iTunes as explained but when I went and checked:
“/Users/(my name)/Library/Application\ Support/MobileSync/”
they are all still there taking up space.
“/Users/(my name)/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/”
double oops
Awesome tip! always wanted to do this! Jus got rid over over 6GB of old backups!
[...] time and date. Down the road if you reconnect to iCloud and backup there again you can always delete these local backups directly from iTunes and reclaim the disk [...]