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How to Turn off iCloud on iPhone

Don't sync until you want to

By Sam Costello Sam Costello Writer Ithaca College Sam Costello has been writing about tech since 2000. His writing has appeared in publications such as CNN.com, PC World, InfoWord, and many others. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on October 10, 2022 Tweet Share Email Tweet Share Email

In This Article

Expand Jump to a Section How to Turn off iCloud on iPhone How to Turn off iCloud on iPhone on iOS 10 2 or Earlier What iCloud Does When Turned On Why You Might Want to Turn off iCloud How to Turn off Individual iCloud Features on iPhone Frequently Asked Questions

What to Know

Go to Settings > your name > Sign Out > enter your Apple ID and tap Turn Off to turn off Find My iPhone.Then, choose which data you want to keep a copy of, then tap Sign Out twice.On older iPhones, go to Settings > iCloud > Sign Out > Delete from My iPhone, choose which data you want to keep, then tap Turn Off. This article explains how to turn off iCloud on your iPhone. The instructions apply to all iOS devices.

How to Turn off iCloud on iPhone

These instructions apply to devices with iOS 10.3 or higher: Tap the Settings app to open it. Tap your name at the top of the Settings screen. Scroll to the bottom of the screen. Tap Sign Out. Enter your Apple ID when prompted and then tap Turn Off. This turns off Find My iPhone, which you have to do before you turn off iCloud. Next, choose what data you want to keep a copy of on this iPhone. Move the slider to on/green for Calendars, Contacts, Keychain, Safari, and/or Stocks. After this, tap Sign Out in the top right corner. Tap Sign Out one more time and you'll finally be signed out of iCloud. Remember, signing out of iCloud also signs you out of Find My iPhone, FaceTime, and iMessage. You can turn on FaceTime and iMessage individually, in those apps, and use a phone number with them instead of your iCloud account. Find My iPhone requires iCloud be turned on.

How to Turn off iCloud on iPhone on iOS 10 2 or Earlier

The steps for turning off iCloud in iOS 10.2 or earlier are a bit different: Tap Settings. Tap iCloud. Tap Sign Out. In the pop-up, tap Delete from My iPhone. Choose the data you want to keep a copy of on your iPhone. Enter your Apple ID when prompted. Tap Turn Off to disable iCloud.

What iCloud Does When Turned On

The basic functions of the iCloud are pretty well known to most people: it's used to keep data in sync across all devices that are signed in to the same iCloud account. That means that if you add a contact, update your calendar, or do any number of other things on your iPhone, that change will be automatically applied to your other iPhones, iPads, Macs, and other Apple devices. But iCloud does a lot more than that, too. You can also use it to back up data from your devices to the cloud, to use Find My iPhone to track lost or stolen devices, to upload photos to your public Photo Stream, and to share your Safari usernames and passwords across devices, among other things. Signing into iCloud also signs you into other Apple services and feature, like FaceTime, iMessage, Game Center, and Siri Shortcuts, too.

Why You Might Want to Turn off iCloud

Those all sound like pretty important features to use with your iPhone, right? They are, but you still might want to turn them off. For instance, you might not want to back up your iPhone data to iCloud or share your photos with the world. You might also want to prevent data from syncing from your iPhone to other devices. We don't recommend turning off iCloud — it has too many useful features, most importantly Find My iPhone — but there are good reasons to do it in some cases.

How to Turn off Individual iCloud Features on iPhone

What if you don't want to turn off all of iCloud, but just a few features? You can do that, too, by following these steps: Tap Settings. On iOS 10.3 or higher, tap your name. On iOS 10.2 or lower, skip this step. Tap iCloud. On the screen that lists all of the iCloud features, disable the ones you don't want to use by moving their sliders to off/white. For some features, such as Photos, you'll need to tap the menus to reveal another screen's worth of options. Move sliders there to off/white to disable them as well. FAQ How do I find deleted messages on iPhone without iCloud? If you have iOS 16 or later, to find and recover your deleted messages on your iPhone launch Messages > tap Edit > Show Recently Deleted. Select the conversation holding the messages you want to recover, tap Recover, and then tap Recover Message or Recover Messages. How do I access iCloud on an iPhone? To enable and use iCloud on your iPhone, open Settings and tap your name > iCloud, and then tap the switch to turn on iCloud Drive. On your iPhone, tap the Files app to access any data you've synced to iCloud. How do I access iCloud photos on an iPhone? Before you can use iCloud Photos on your iPhone, you must go to Settings > your name > iCloud > Photos and tap the switch to turn on iCloud photos. To access iCloud photos from your iPhone, open the Photos app and tap Library. In the options bar, tap Years, Months, or Days to view images by that period, or select All Photos. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit More from Lifewire How to Factory Reset an iPhone (All Models) How to Set up and Use iCloud on the iPad How to Unlock iCloud-Locked iPhones How to Reset iPhone 12 (Restart & Hard Reset) How to Transfer Messages from iPhone to iPhone How to Turn Off Family Sharing for iTunes How to Turn off or Disable Find My iPhone How to Restore Your iPhone From a Backup How to Delete Photos From iPhone but Not iCloud How to Access iCloud Photos From Any Apple, Windows, or Android Device How to Find a Wi-Fi Password on an iPhone How to Set up a New iPhone How to Delete an iCloud Email Account Permanently 4 Ways to Find Lost AirPods in Any Situation How to Delete Photos From iCloud (While Keeping Them on Your iPhone) How to Sync Contacts from iPhone to Mac Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. Cookies Settings Accept All Cookies