Where Are iPhone Backups Stored on Windows? Exact Folder Paths

The Short Answer

If you backed up with the Apple Devices app or iTunes from the Microsoft Store, your backup is at %userprofile%\Apple\MobileSync\Backup. If you used iTunes downloaded from apple.com, it's at %appdata%\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup. Paste the one that matches your program into File Explorer's address bar, or press Windows key + R, type it into the Run box, and hit Enter — either way works whether or not that folder is hidden.

Inside is a folder for each device you've ever backed up on that PC, named with a long string rather than "iPhone" or a date. That's normal, and the rest of this guide covers how to tell them apart, why Chrome refuses to open one of the two folders if you're trying to use it with a web app, and how to move the whole thing to another drive without breaking your next backup.

One thing worth knowing before you go looking: the backup itself only contains your call history if it was made with "Encrypt local backup" ticked — that's Apple's rule, not a setting anyone else controls. If you plan to read the backup with the browser version of Exhibit A at getexhibita.com/app, it works fine on Windows in Chrome or Edge, and for an encrypted backup it will ask for the backup password and decrypt everything on your own PC before showing you anything.

Two Programs, Two Different Folders

The reason there isn't one single answer is that Apple currently ships two separate Windows programs that both make backups, and Microsoft's packaging rules put them in different places:

• Apple Devices — Apple's current app, free from the Microsoft Store. It requires Windows 11, version 22H2 or later, and won't install on Windows 10. Backups go to %userprofile%\Apple\MobileSync\Backup.
• iTunes from the Microsoft Store — same Store packaging rules as Apple Devices, so it uses the same path: %userprofile%\Apple\MobileSync\Backup.
• iTunes downloaded directly from apple.com — the older-style installer, still maintained and still common on Windows 10. It uses %appdata%\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup instead.

If you're not sure which one you have, it's faster to just check both paths than to hunt for a version number. It only takes a few seconds, and one of them will have a Backup folder with something recently modified inside it. If neither does, you haven't actually made a local backup yet — our guide to backing up an iPhone on Windows walks through that first step.

How to Open %AppData% (and the Hidden Folder Problem)

One of the two paths lives inside AppData, a folder Windows hides by default, which is the actual reason so many people go looking and come up empty. (The %userprofile%\Apple path isn't hidden — it's just buried several folders deep.) You do not need to change any settings to reach either one. Press Windows key + R to open the Run dialog, type %userprofile% or %appdata%exactly as written, and press Enter. Windows expands that into the real folder path and opens it directly in File Explorer, hidden attribute or not — the same trick works if you paste it into the address bar of an already-open File Explorer window instead of the Run dialog.

From there, navigate down manually: Apple\MobileSync\Backup for the %userprofile% path, or Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup for the %appdata% path. If you'd rather see AppData appear in File Explorer permanently instead of typing the shortcut each time, open the View menu, then Show, and tick Hidden items(on Windows 10, it's a checkbox directly on the View ribbon tab).

There's also a shortcut that skips the typing entirely: open the Apple Devices app or iTunes, click your iPhone, and look for Manage Backups. Right-click a backup in that list and choose Show in Explorer— it jumps straight to the folder without you needing to know the path at all.

When Chrome Won't Let You Open the Backup Folder

If you're trying to point a browser-based tool at your backup — including getexhibita.com/app — one of the two paths can hit a wall Chrome and Edge put there on purpose. Their folder picker refuses to open AppData and a handful of other sensitive Windows locations, so the iTunes-from-apple.com path, %appdata%\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup, can't be selected no matter which site is asking — the browser blocks the whole category as a security measure, showing only a short message about the folder containing system files, which doesn't tell you what to do instead. The Apple Devices and Store iTunes path, %userprofile%\Apple\MobileSync\Backup, is not inside AppData and normally opens in the picker with no workaround at all — try selecting it directly first.

If the picker does block your folder, the fix takes under a minute: copy the Backup folder (or just the one dated subfolder you need) somewhere Chrome will open — a new folder such as C:\iPhone Backupis the safest choice — then select that copy. One caution before you use your Desktop or Documents instead: on many Windows 11 PCs those folders sync to OneDrive, so dropping a backup there uploads your messages and call history to Microsoft's cloud. If the folder shows a OneDrive cloud icon, copy to a folder outside OneDrive instead. Either way the browser app uploads nothing itself — it reads the files on your own PC. A large backup can take a couple of minutes to copy, and you can delete the copy afterward if you want the space back.

How Backup Folders Are Named

Open the Backup folder and you won't see anything that says "iPhone" or a date — you'll see one folder per device, each named with a long device identifier instead. Older devices (iPhone X and earlier) use a 40-character hexadecimal string; newer iPhones use a shorter identifier of about 25 characters. Either way, it's not meant to be read, only matched by the software that made it.

Two things make it easier to tell which folder is which when there's more than one:

• Sort by "Date modified." Click that column header in File Explorer and the most recently touched folder — almost always your newest backup — rises to the top or bottom depending on sort direction.
• Open Info.plist. Every complete backup folder contains a small file named Info.plist, which is often plain text and readable in Notepad. It includes a Display Name field with the actual device name ("Mustapha's iPhone," for instance) and a Last Backup Date, so you can confirm you've got the right phone and the right day before you use it for anything.

If a folder is missing Info.plist or Manifest.plist, or it's only a few kilobytes when the rest are gigabytes, that backup almost certainly stopped early — usually from unplugging the phone too soon. Redo it rather than trying to use a partial one. And whatever you do inside these folders, don't rename or edit individual files: the backup software matches everything by exact filename, and a renamed file just makes the whole backup unreadable to it.

Moving Backups to Another Drive Without Breaking Them

iPhone backups get large fast — tens of gigabytes is normal — and neither iTunes nor the Apple Devices app has a setting on Windows to change where new backups land. They always write to the same fixed path. If your main drive is running out of room, the safe way to move backups to a bigger drive is a directory junction, which makes Windows quietly redirect the old path to the new one without either program noticing anything changed:

1. Close iTunes or Apple Devices completely, and make sure no backup is in progress.
2. Create a new folder on your other drive, for example D:\iPhone Backups.
3. Copy everything from inside your existing Backup folder into that new folder, confirm the copy finished and the two folder sizes match, and only then delete the contents of the original Backup folder and the empty folder itself. A move across drives is a copy-and-delete anyway; doing it in two steps means an interruption can't leave you with a half-moved backup and no original.
4. Open Command Prompt (an ordinary window is fine — a junction doesn't need Administrator rights) and run the command matching your program:

For iTunes from apple.com: mklink /J "%appdata%\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup" "D:\iPhone Backups"

For the Apple Devices app or Store iTunes: mklink /J "%userprofile%\Apple\MobileSync\Backup" "D:\iPhone Backups"

Run a fresh backup afterward and check the new drive's free space to confirm it landed there instead of your main drive. If you ever want to undo it, remove the junction from Command Prompt with rmdir, pointing at whichever path you ran mklink /J against above — plain rmdir, never rmdir /s — then copy the files back. Plain rmdir removes only the link and leaves the real files on the other drive untouched.

Turning a Backup Into Something You Can Actually Read

Finding the folder is only step one — on its own, a backup is just a collection of hashed database files with no extensions, unreadable in File Explorer no matter how long you stare at it. If what you actually need is the message thread or call log formatted as a document, the browser version of Exhibit A at getexhibita.com/appruns on Windows in Chrome or Edge: point it at the Backup folder (or the copy you made, if Chrome blocked the original), and it decodes the databases and builds a timestamped PDF entirely on your own PC. Nothing is uploaded and no account is required. The free tier exports the complete exhibit with a watermark, so you can confirm everything you need is actually in it before paying anything. A $39 Case Pass clears the watermark for 90 days; there's also $14/month and $149 lifetime, all with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

The one thing to plan for ahead of time is call history: Apple documents it as data that only an encrypted local backup includes, so an ordinary backup will export your messages fine but show no calls at all. If you need the call log, make sure "Encrypt local backup" was ticked when you made it — our guide to whether an iPhone backup includes call history covers that rule in full. When you open an encrypted backup in the browser app, it asks for the backup password you set at the time and decrypts everything inside your own browser tab; the password is used on your computer, never sent anywhere, and never stored. If you only need the messages, our guide to exporting iPhone text messages to PDF on Windows covers that path start to finish, encrypted or not.

FAQ

Where exactly are iPhone backups stored on Windows?

It depends on which program made the backup. The Apple Devices app and iTunes from the Microsoft Store both save to %userprofile%\Apple\MobileSync\Backup. iTunes downloaded directly from apple.com saves to %appdata%\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup. Paste the matching path into File Explorer's address bar or the Run dialog (Windows key + R) and press Enter — it works whether or not that folder is hidden.

Why can't I find the AppData folder in File Explorer?

Windows hides AppData by default, so it won't appear if you're clicking through folders normally. You don't need to unhide anything — type %appdata% (or %userprofile%) directly into the Run dialog or File Explorer's address bar and press Enter, and Windows expands it to the real path and opens it, hidden or not. To make AppData visible permanently instead, turn on "Hidden items" in File Explorer's View menu (or View > Show > Hidden items on Windows 11).

Why won't Chrome let me select the %appdata% backup folder?

Chrome and Edge's folder picker deliberately blocks AppData and a handful of other sensitive Windows locations, regardless of which site or app is asking — it's not specific to any one tool and not a sign anything is broken. This only affects the %appdata% path used by iTunes from apple.com; the %userprofile%\Apple\MobileSync\Backup path used by the Apple Devices app and Store iTunes is not inside AppData and normally opens with no workaround needed, so try selecting it directly first. If your backup is the %appdata% one and the picker blocks it, copy the Backup folder (or just the dated subfolder you need) to a plain folder such as C:\iPhone Backupand choose that copy. Avoid the Desktop or Documents if they sync to OneDrive — that would upload the backup to Microsoft's cloud. Nothing is uploaded by the app itself either way.

How do I know which backup folder is the newest, or which device it's for?

Inside the Backup folder, sort the view by the "Date modified" column — the newest backup is whichever folder was touched most recently. To confirm which device a folder belongs to, open the Info.plist file inside it with Notepad; it's often plain text and includes a Display Name field with the device's name, alongside the Last Backup Date. A folder that's missing Info.plist or Manifest.plist, or that's only a few kilobytes, usually means that backup never finished.

Can I move my iPhone backups to another drive?

Yes, but cutting and pasting the folder alone will break future backups, because iTunes and the Apple Devices app have no setting for a custom backup location on Windows — they always write to the same fixed path. The safe method is a directory junction: copy the existing Backup folder's contents to the new drive, confirm the copy finished completely, then delete the original and run mklink /J from Command Prompt to make the original path point at the new location. Every future backup lands on the new drive automatically, and neither program can tell the difference.

As always: this is a technical how-to, not legal advice. What your court expects a phone-based exhibit to look like, and whether a printed backup needs anything more, varies by state and by judge — ask your attorney.