Learning how to turn off Find My iPhone is useful whether you’re stepping away from location sharing, getting ready to sell or give away your device, or just want more control over which Apple features are active.
Apple gives you a few different ways to do this depending on how much you want to turn off, and how permanent you want the change to be.
How to Turn Off Find My iPhone: The Basics
The most direct route disables Find My iPhone specifically, without touching any other iCloud features. Open Settings, tap your name at the top of the screen, and select “Find My.” From there, tap “Find My iPhone,” where you’ll see a toggle that’s green when the feature is active.
Switching that toggle off will prompt you to enter your Apple ID password before the change takes effect, since Apple treats this as a security-sensitive action. Once confirmed, the toggle turns gray, and Find My iPhone is disabled for that device.
If your device is running iOS 12 or earlier, the path is slightly different: go to Settings, tap your name, then select iCloud, where you’ll find the same toggle under a different menu.
This method only affects Find My iPhone itself, leaving other iCloud services like backups, photos, and contacts syncing exactly as they were before.
Turning Off Find My by Disabling iCloud Entirely
If you’d rather switch off every iCloud-connected feature at once rather than isolating just Find My, there’s a broader option available. Go to Settings, tap your name, and select iCloud, where you’ll find individual toggles for each iCloud feature currently turned on.
Switching all of these from green to gray turns off Find My along with everything else tied to iCloud, including backups and syncing across your other Apple devices. This is a heavier-handed approach than the direct method, so it’s worth using only if you genuinely want to step away from iCloud altogether rather than just Find My specifically.
Because this method affects so much more than location tracking, it’s usually not the right choice if Find My is the only feature you’re trying to disable.
Removing Find My Permanently Before Selling or Giving Away Your Phone
If you’re passing your iPhone along to someone else, whether through a trade-in, a sale, or just handing it to a friend, turning off Find My the normal way isn’t quite enough. You’ll also want to remove the device from your account entirely so the next owner isn’t stuck with your Apple ID still attached to it.
Search for “Find My” using your phone’s search bar, open the app, and tap “Devices” to see everything currently linked to your account. Select the device you’re getting rid of and tap “Erase This Device,” or alternatively head to iCloud.com, sign in, and remove the device from your account there.
This step also disables Activation Lock, which is what would otherwise prevent a new owner from being able to reset and set up the phone under their own Apple ID.
Skipping this step is one of the most common reasons secondhand iPhone buyers end up stuck on an activation screen asking for a stranger’s Apple ID password.
What Find My Network and Send Last Location Actually Do
Inside the Find My iPhone settings screen, you’ll notice two additional toggles beyond the main one: “Find My Network” and “Send Last Location.” These control more specific behaviors and can be turned off independently of the main Find My iPhone toggle if you want a middle ground rather than disabling everything.
Find My Network lets other nearby Apple devices help locate your iPhone even when it has no WiFi or cellular connection, using low-power Bluetooth signals. Turning this off means you’ll lose the ability to locate your phone once it’s offline, which is worth considering carefully if losing a device is a real concern for you.
Send Last Location automatically shares your phone’s location with Apple right as the battery is about to die, giving you one final data point before it goes dark.
Both of these can stay on even if you’re not actively using Find My iPhone’s main tracking feature day to day, so it’s worth deciding on each one individually rather than assuming they’re bundled together.
Turning Off Find My on Your Other Apple Devices
If you use Find My across an iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, or AirPods, each device needs to be handled on its own rather than through a single universal switch. On an iPad or iPod Touch, the steps are identical to an iPhone, so if you’ve already done it once, you already know the process.
On a Mac, the path runs through the Apple menu in the top-left corner of the screen. On macOS 10.15 or later, choose System Settings, click your Apple ID, select iCloud, and deselect Find My Mac; on macOS 10.14 or earlier, you’ll find the same Find My Mac toggle directly under iCloud settings.
Apple Watch, AirPods, and Beats products each have their own specific steps as well, generally accessible through the Find My app or their respective pairing settings.
Things Worth Knowing Before You Turn It Off
Once Find My iPhone is disabled, you lose the ability to locate, lock, or remotely erase that device if it’s ever lost or stolen.
That tradeoff is worth weighing seriously if your main reason for turning it off is a privacy concern rather than something like selling the device, since there may be a middle-ground setting, like disabling only Find My Network, that addresses your concern without giving up the entire feature.
If you do turn it off and later change your mind, the process reverses just as easily: head back to the same toggle and switch it on again, entering your Apple ID to confirm.
FAQs
Does turning off Find My iPhone delete anything from my device?
No, disabling Find My iPhone doesn’t erase any data; it simply stops the location tracking and remote lock/erase features from working.
Can I turn off Find My iPhone without knowing the Apple ID password?
No, Apple requires the Apple ID password to confirm the change, since disabling Find My removes a key anti-theft protection.
What’s the difference between turning off Find My and removing a device from Find My?
Turning off the toggle disables tracking on that device, while removing it from your account entirely also disables Activation Lock.
Will disabling Find My also turn off iCloud backups?
No, using the direct toggle only affects Find My iPhone; other iCloud features like backups continue working unless you disable iCloud entirely.
Do I need to turn off Find My separately on my iPad and Mac?
Yes, each Apple device needs to be handled individually, since there’s no single switch that disables Find My across every device at once.
Can I turn Find My iPhone back on after disabling it?
Yes, simply return to the same setting and switch the toggle back on, confirming with your Apple ID password.
