How to Delete iCloud Backups (And What Happens When You Do)

iCloud backups quietly pile up in the background — old iPhones, iPads you no longer own, devices you reset years ago. If your iCloud storage is full or you're paying for more space than you need, deleting outdated backups is one of the fastest ways to reclaim it. Here's exactly how it works, what gets deleted, and what to think about before you tap that button.

What Is an iCloud Backup, Exactly?

An iCloud backup is a snapshot of your device's data stored on Apple's servers. It typically includes app data, device settings, messages, photos (if not already using iCloud Photos), and more. iOS creates these backups automatically when your device is plugged in, locked, and connected to Wi-Fi.

Every device signed into your Apple ID creates its own separate backup. If you've owned multiple iPhones or iPads over the years, there's a good chance you have several backups sitting in iCloud — some from devices you no longer use.

How to Delete iCloud Backups on iPhone or iPad

The most direct route is through your device settings:

1. Open Settings
2. Tap your name at the top (your Apple ID)
3. Tap iCloud
4. Tap Manage Account Storage (or Manage Storage on older iOS versions)
5. Tap Backups
6. Select the backup you want to delete
7. Tap Delete Backup and confirm

You'll see a list of all backups associated with your Apple ID — including backups from devices you no longer own. Each entry shows the device name, the size of the backup, and the last date it was created.

How to Delete iCloud Backups from a Mac

If you prefer managing storage from a computer:

1. Open System Settings (macOS Ventura and later) or System Preferences (earlier versions)
2. Click your Apple ID
3. Select iCloud
4. Click Manage (bottom right)
5. Select Backups from the left sidebar
6. Choose a backup and click Delete

How to Delete iCloud Backups from iCloud.com

You can also do this entirely from a browser:

1. Go to icloud.com and sign in
2. Click your profile icon or go to Account Settings
3. Scroll to the Data & Storage section
4. Select Manage Storage, then Backups
5. Choose the backup and delete it

This method is useful if you no longer have the device in question, or if you're managing backups from a non-Apple computer.

What Gets Deleted — And What Doesn't 🗂️

This is where it's worth slowing down. When you delete an iCloud backup:

• The backup file itself is removed from iCloud servers
• Storage space is freed up in your iCloud account
• The device is not affected — if the device still exists and is in your hands, nothing on it changes
• iCloud synced data (like Contacts, Calendar, iCloud Photos, Notes) is not stored in backups — it lives separately in iCloud sync and is unaffected by deleting a backup

The practical risk only applies if you need to restore a device from that backup. Once deleted, you can't get it back. If you're deleting the backup of a device you still use, your next backup will simply create a new one — but you'll lose the historical snapshot.

Turning Off iCloud Backup for a Device

Deleting a backup and disabling future backups are two separate actions. If you delete a backup but leave iCloud Backup turned on, a new backup will be created the next time the device charges overnight on Wi-Fi.

To stop iCloud from backing up a specific device:

• Go to Settings → [Your Name] → iCloud → iCloud Backup
• Toggle Back Up This iPhone off

Keep in mind: turning this off doesn't delete the existing backup immediately — you'd still need to manually delete it from storage settings.

Factors That Affect How Much Space You'll Recover

Not all backups are the same size, and the space you reclaim depends on several variables:

Old Device Backups Are Common Space Wasters

One underappreciated situation: backups from devices you no longer own. When you trade in or sell an iPhone, its iCloud backup doesn't disappear automatically. It stays in your account indefinitely. These orphaned backups can range from a few hundred megabytes to several gigabytes each, and many users have two, three, or more of them sitting untouched.

If a backup is more than a year old and belongs to a device you no longer have, there's generally little reason to keep it. But if you're uncertain whether you still need a backup — particularly for a device you still own — that depends on how you're using it and what data it contains. 🔍

The line between "safe to delete" and "worth keeping" shifts considerably depending on whether you're running multiple devices, whether your important data lives in iCloud sync versus local backup, and how recently you last restored from a backup. That's a question your own setup answers better than any general guide can.