iPhone backup corrupted - what you can do

The backup feature of Apple is incredibly useful. But what can you do if you are shown that the backup file is corrupted or incompatible? Usually, this error occurs when the backup is from a different iOS version.

Solutions for corrupted iPhone backup

When loading a backup via iTunes, it may happen that the backup is corrupted. In this case, follow these steps to load the backup anyway.

1. First, restart both your iPhone and your PC or Mac.
2. Make sure you are using the latest iOS version and also have the latest iTunes version installed.
3. In addition, your PC or Mac should also be up to date.
4. If the backup is too old, it may not be usable. You can read below how to delete irreparable or too old backups.

Manual procedure for corrupted backup

If you can no longer use your backup, you can also delete the file manually.

1. To do this on Windows, access the following path: "C:\User\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup"
2. On macOS, you can find the backups under this path: "~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup"
3. Then delete the desired folders via the menu. Achten Sie dabei auf das richtige Datum, damit Sie nicht den falschen Ordner löschen.
4. Falls das beschädigte Backup wichtige Dateien enthält, können Sie auch versuchen, die Daten aus dem Backup auszulesen. Das funktioniert beispielsweise mit Programmen wie „iPhone Backup Extractor“.