Open iPhone backup files in your browser
The folder Finder, iTunes and Apple Devices write when they back up an iPhone or iPad. Look through it right here, laid out as the phone keeps it: messages, contacts, photos and every app's files. Nothing leaves your device.
Or drop it anywhere on this page
What you'll see
Your backup opens like a folder laid out as the phone keeps it, with a page beside it on the device and what's on it.
- The device • Its model, iOS and apps
- Camera Roll, Messages, Voice Memos and every app • System files on request
- Contacts, calendar, calls and notes • Each in its own viewer
- Encrypted backups • With their password, which stays on your device
About iPhone backup
Since the first iPhone in 2007, iTunes has backed iPhones up to a computer, and Finder and Apple Devices do it now. Each backup is a folder named for the device: on a Mac in ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup, on Windows in %APPDATA%\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup or, from the Microsoft Store's app, %USERPROFILE%\Apple\MobileSync\Backup.
Inside, Info.plist and Manifest.plist say what the device is, and Manifest.db lists every file by the place it lives on the phone, like HomeDomain and Library/SMS/sms.db. The files themselves lie under hashed names in folders of two letters, so the folder alone tells you nothing. An encrypted backup locks Manifest.db and every file with AES-256 under keys its password opens.
Filepeek reads Manifest.db and lists the backup as the phone keeps it: Camera Roll, Messages with their attachments, Voice Memos, Books and each app by its name, with the system's own files hidden until you ask. Messages and WhatsApp open as chats, contacts as vCards, the calendar as iCalendar, notes as notes and calls, Safari's history and bookmarks as tables. Each file is read only when you pick it, so a backup of any size opens at once.
iPhone and iPad backup
.db • .plist
Format
- MIME type
- inode/directory
- Made by
- Apple's Finder, iTunes and Apple Devices
- Released
- 2007
Inside the file
- Kept as
- A folder named for the device
- Lists
- Every file by its place on the phone
- Files
- Named by their SHA-1 hashes
- Encrypted
- AES-256, with the backup's password
Opens in every browser
Filepeek opens iPhone backups in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari on a computer. Drop the backup's folder on the page, or pick its files. On their own, browsers can't open a folder.
- YouChromeOpens through Filepeek
- YouEdgeOpens through Filepeek
- YouFirefoxOpens through Filepeek
- YouSafariOpens through Filepeek
Apps that open iPhone backup
- WindowsApple Devices or iTunes, only to put it back on an iPhone
- MacFinder, only to put it back on an iPhone
- iPhone and iPadNo app reads it • Restoring puts it back on the phone
- AndroidNo app reads it
Questions
Where are my iPhone backups?
On a Mac in ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup, each in a folder named for the device. On Windows in %APPDATA%\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup, or %USERPROFILE%\Apple\MobileSync\Backup with Apple Devices or iTunes from the Microsoft Store. Drop that folder on this page.
How do I open an encrypted backup?
Drop it like any other and type the password it was backed up with, the one Finder or iTunes asked for when you turned on Encrypt local backup. It's checked and used on your device and never sent anywhere. Without it, only what the device is shows.
Can I read my WhatsApp chats from a backup?
Yes. WhatsApp keeps its chats in ChatStorage.sqlite, which the backup's page opens with its photos and voice notes. Messages, your iMessages and texts, opens the same way.
Does it show the passwords in the backup?
No. An encrypted backup also holds the phone's keychain, its saved passwords, and Filepeek leaves it locked. Only files the phone keeps for its apps open.
Is it safe to open a backup here?
Yes. Filepeek only reads it, nothing in it runs, the backup is never changed and nothing leaves your device.