How can I locate my iPhone backup on my MacBook Air?

Marerobread wrote:

My son connected a cord from my iPhone 12 Pro to my MacBook Air laptop and then uploaded/downloaded (not sure what you call it) my information from my phone to my computer. We know it had loaded because my gb went from 68 to 124 but we don't know how or where to get to it on my computer. Thank you again for helping me

Your son backed up your iPhone12 to your Macbook Air. A backup copy now exists on your Mac. It is good practice to back up your iPhone from time to time. Each time you back up, the backup is a fresh copy of your iPhone that replaces the previous backup. If you ever need to restore you iPhone12 (unlikely), you or your son could restore it from the backup.

I suspect what you meant by "my gb went from 68 to 124" is that your Mac had 68 GB used before the backup and now has 124 GB used after the backup. That would be about right for a typical iPhone backup.

The backup is located in a hidden part of your Mac. It's hidden for a reason - it is not useful for any purpose other than backup & restore. One does not not normally ever copy the backup to "put it on a stick."

What is the reason you want to copy the backup "on a stick?"

I'm not certain I understand what you are seeking.

Sync content between your Mac and iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support describes the various content that gets synchronized and where to find it.

Perhaps you backed up the iPhone to your Mac: Back up iPhone - Apple Support

There is nothing wrong with that; in fact you want to back up an iPhone every once in a while so that its contents can be restored if you lose the iPhone, or it breaks, or you want to buy another one etc. However, the contents of a backup are not intended to be accessed or read separately.

Other than that, you can sync (synchronize) the content of an iPhone like your Photos or Music or purchased content such as movies or books. Those items can be found in the corresponding locations on a Mac, which are all explained in Sync content between your Mac and iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support.

Many such questions can be resolved by understanding the terminology Apple uses like "sync" and "backup". "Upload" is perfectly ok too but it's very broad.

Does that help?

Marerobread wrote:

Thank I so much Great reply. My phone has to many photos on it and my son said we can transfer them to my computer and then transfer them to a stick to keep and then we can delete them off my phone

Yes, you can do that. But understand, you don't use backup for that purpose and you cannot extract photos from an iPhone backup.

You need to use either Image Capture or Photos to transfer photos from your iPhone to your Mac. Both apps come with every Mac. I suggest that for your stated purpose Image Capture is the better choice.

Image Capture transfers photos from your iPhone to your Mac. When you do that, you either choose an existing folder or create a new folder on your Mac to receive the photos. The transfer process is quite easy. And the resulting folder on your Mac is not hidden. You can also set Image Capture to remove the photos from your phone.

On the other hand, maybe you would prefer using the Photos app. Photos can also transfer pictures from your iPhone to your Mac but the photos will be contained inside the Photos Library. You would have to export them from the Photos Library in order to copy them to a memory stick.

Marerobread wrote:

My son connected a cord from my iPhone 12 Pro to my MacBook Air laptop and then uploaded/downloaded (not sure what you call it) my information from my phone to my computer. We know it had loaded because my gb went from 68 to 124 but we don't know how or where to get to it on my computer. Thank you again for helping me

Merely backing up your phone to your computer – or importing photos and videos from your phone to your computer - would not have freed up space on the phone.

It sounds like your son did something to delete things that were on the iPhone, e.g., deleting photos/videos (hopefully after saving copies on the Mac), or reducing the amount of purchased music synchronized to the phone. You might want to ask him just what he did.

Note that USB flash drives ("sticks") are not the best place to store data that you want to keep, long-term.

They are small and easily lost. if you leave them unpowered for years, the data can theoretically "evaporate" (as with SSDs left unpowered for years). They have been known to go bad.

You may instead want to store your photos on external hard drives or SSDs. At least two of them, so that if one goes bad, you don't lose all your photos in one fell swoop. Preferably stored in separate places, once again so that if a thief takes your computer and everything near it, or a fire burns down your home, you're not guaranteed to lose everything in one fell swoop.

Marerobread wrote:

I uploaded my iPhone 12 to my MacBook Air - Sonoma 14.3 and I do not know how to find it

That statement doesn’t make any sense.

Marerobread wrote:

I transferred my iPhone 12 contents so I cold put it on a stick

What, EXACTLY, did you do.

This is not clear.

Nevermind. Missed the rest of the conversation.