How To Open Iphone Backup Files On Windows 8

4 Easy Ways to View iPhone Backup Files on Computer

View iPhone Backup Files on Computer

Regularly backing up your iPhone to iTunes or iCloud is essential to avoid data loss. iTunes is a powerful app developed by Apple Inc. playing multiple roles: media player, media library, Internet radio broadcast as well as mobile device management utility with which you can create an iPhone backup on the computer. However, even though iTunes is an awesome product, which you have to admit, it has its defects. One of the most obvious is that users are not allowed to view iTunes backup contents unless they restore the whole backup to iPhone or other iOS devices on account of security and privacy. But what if you want to view the iPhone backup files and access the data inside without restoring your device? Read on and find your way out.

Part 1. Why Do You View iTunes Backup?
Part 2. How to Find iPhone Backup Location on Mac and PC
Part 3. How to View iPhone Backup files on PC or Mac
Extra Tip: How to Backup iPhone to the Computer without iTunes

Part 1. Why Do You View iTunes Backup?

You may have multiple backups of different devices on the computer. When you choose a backup for restoring your iPhone or iPad, you should verify whether it contains the data you want or not previously. If you're going to clean up the disk on the computer, you need to make sure the old backups include no files you want in case of data loss. And it is better for you to extract the data you want from the old backup so that you can delete more outdated backup files and free up more storage space on the computer.

However, the backup you've made with either iTunes or Finder in macOS 10.15 is a pile of unreadable codes and cannot be opened with any existing app on the computer. If you want to view the iPhone backup files on your computer, you have to utilize some third-party software to decipher the iTunes backup and extract data inside it. But if you simply want to know where iPhone backups are stored on PC or Mac, you don't have to install any third-party backup viewer tool. Read the next part in this text and learn you can learn how to find iPhone backup location on Mac and PC for free.

Part 2. How to Find iPhone Backup Location on Mac and PC

It is handy to view the iPhone backup location on Mac and PC as the backup files are stored locally in disk drive on your computer, and all you need is to reach the relevant folder. But in this process, never edit, relocate, or rename any iTunes backup file; otherwise, your backup will be corrupted. The detailed steps are as below.

Find iPhone backup location on a Mac

Click the magnifying glass icon in the menu bar.
Type or copy and paste "~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/".
Then press the Return key on the keyboard.

Find iPhone backup location on Windows PC

Step 1: Head over to the Search bar. On Windows 7, click Start. On Windows 8, click the magnifying lens icon in the top right corner. On Windows 10, click the Search bar near the Start button.
Step 2: Type in %appdata% and press the enter key on your keyboard.
Step 3: Click on the folders in turns: Roaming > Apple Computer > MobileSync > Backup.

Once you locate the iPhone backup, you can copy or delete iTunes backup on your Windows 10, 8, 7 PC, or Mac, but you are not allowed to access its content.

Part 3. How to View iPhone Backup files on PC or Mac

You can view an iTunes backup itself through the way in Part 2. But if you want to view and access the specific data inside the backup, well, as we mentioned before, you need to employ a creditable third-party iPhone backup extractor for assistance. Gihosoft iPhone Manager is typically recommended to you.

It is a professional iPhone file manager that helps you easily view old iTunes backups on the computer and export the data you want to readable formats like PDF, CVS, TXT, vCard, etc. If necessary, you can freely change the location of your iTunes backup and encrypt your data for safety. This tool also helps archive old iTunes backups regularly to free up storage space on your computer. And even more wonderful, Gihosoft iManager is an alternative to iTunes and enables you to back up your iPhone to an external drive or any place you like.

Now, let's look at how to view and access iTunes backup first.

Extra Tip: How to Backup iPhone to the Computer without iTunes

Rather than iCloud, many iPhone users prefer to back up their devices to the computer as iCloud offers limited free storage and requires users to pay for more space. But what if you bump into some errors when backing up the iPhone to iTunes, for example, iTunes could not recognize the iPhone, or iPhone backup is corrupt or not compatible in iTunes? In this case, Gihosoft iManager can create a backup of the iPhone for you. Here's how it works.

Step 1: Launch Gihosoft iManager on your computer and connect your iPhone to the computer via a Lighting cable.
Step 2: When the program detects your iPhone, click the "Backup Now" button to start the backup process.
Step 3: After the backup, you can click on the file type icon to view and export specific data to readable formats.

Final Words

In this article, you've read not only how to view iPhone backup files on the computer but also how to find the iPhone backup location on PC or Mac for free. Due to the features of the iPhone backup, we have no direct access to the detailed data in the backup. But we can make use of some third-party tools like Gihosoft iManager to view iTunes backup and access the backup data without restoring the device. It all depends on your preferences and needs. If you have any queries or suggestions, please leave in the comment section.