How to Turn Off iCloud Photos on iPhone, iPad, and Mac

iCloud Photos is a cloud storage service provided by Apple that allows us to store our favorite photos and videos and then access them from anywhere. When you take photos or videos on your iPhone or iPad, they'll automatically get uploaded to iCloud if it's turned on. This is a good way to back up your files and share them with different people.

However, you may sometimes want to turn off iCloud Photos to avoid sharing your files to the cloud and minimize the usage of your iCloud storage space. Do you want to learn how to turn off iCloud Photos? Well, this article will guide you on how you can achieve that on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. You'll also know what happens when you turn off iCloud Photos.

如果你转Off iCloud Photos

The work of iCloud Photos is to allow you to save your photos and videos to access them from any other device. When you turn off iCloud Photos, your device's photos and videos will no longer upload to the cloud. Therefore, you can't access them from another device apart from that which captured them.

Also, when you turn off iCloud Photos, you won't be able to create a cloud backup for your photos. If your device gets stolen or damaged, you won't access your data from anywhere else. Now, let's look at how to turn off iCloud photos on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac.

How to Turn Off iCloud Photos

You can turn off iCloud Photos anytime you want to stop uploading photos and videos from your device to the cloud. Whether you're an iPhone, iPad, or Mac user, the steps to turn off iCloud Photos are very simple. The steps for iPhones and iPads are the same, while those for Macs are slightly different. We'll discuss them as follows.

How to Turn Off iCloud Photos on iPhone or iPad

If you have an iPhone or iPad, you can turn off iCloud Photos based on the following steps:

Step 1.Go to Settings on your iPhone or iCloud.

Step 2.Tap on your device name.

Step 3.Go to "iCloud" then "Photos."

Step 4.Next, you can toggle off the button for iCloud Photos. This will stop any photos or videos on your device from uploading to iCloud. However, they'll still be available in your storage.

How to Turn Off iCloud Photos on Mac

As a Mac user, you can turn off iCloud Photos through the following steps:

Step 1.Click on the Apple logo at the top of your Home screen and select "System Settings."

Step 2.Click on your device name.

Step 3.Navigate to the right and click on "iCloud."

Step 4.Scroll down to "Photos" and uncheck the button to stop Photos from uploading your photos and videos to iCloud. Continue with the onscreen instructions to complete this process.

How to Turn Off iCloud Photos without Losing Any Photos

When you turn off iCloud Photos, you'll lose access to photos and videos saved to the cloud but unavailable on your device. How do you maintain access to this data even after turning off iCloud? The answer is simple; you'll need to download the files to your local storage. Below are the methods to achieve that.

How to Turn Off iCloud Photos without Losing Any Photos on iPhone or iPad

To avoid losing any data on your iPhone or iPad after turning off iCloud Photos, you can apply the following steps:

Step 1.Go toSettings.

Step 2.Tap on the device name.

Step 3.Tap on "iCloud" then "Photos."

Step 4.Turn off the button for iCloud Photos.

Step 5.Lastly, click on "Download Photos and Videos." This will save your device all the current photos and videos on iCloud.

How to Turn Off iCloud Photos without Losing Any Photos on Mac

If you want to turn off iCloud Photos on your Mac and avoid deleting any data, you can follow the steps below:

Step 1.Go to "System Settings" on your Mac.

Step 2.Click on your device name.

Step 3.Navigate to "iCloud."

Step 4.Scroll down to "Photos" and uncheck the toggle button. This will stop Photos from uploading your photos and videos to iCloud.

Step 5.Once the onscreen message displays, click on "Download." This will download all your images and videos from iCloud Photos and save them to your Mac. Next, iCloud Photos will turn off.

FAQs

Read through the following questions to know more about turning off iCloud Photos.

1. What Should I Do Before I Turn Off iCloud Photos?

Before you turn off iCloud Photos, you need to ask yourself whether you can still access all your photos and videos. If that's not the case, you'll need to download them to your storage and back up them. However, if you had uploaded your photos to iCloud but still have the same copies on your local device, you won't have to worry much since you can still access them after turning off iCloud Photos.

2. What Will I Lose If I Turn Off iCloud Photos?

If you turn off iCloud Photos, you'll no longer be able to access photos and videos shared from other devices. Also, you won't be able to share videos and photos captured on your iPhone/iPad to iCloud. However, when you turn off iCloud Photos, you won't lose any photos and videos in your local storage.

3. Can I Delete Photos from My iPhone but Keep them on iCloud?

Yes, you can delete photos from your iPhone's local storage but still keep them on iCloud. To achieve this, you'll need first to turn off iCloud Photos. Next, proceed to your iPhone gallery and delete all the photos. The photos will no longer be available on your iPhone storage, but you can still access them on iCloud.

4. If I Turn Off iCloud Photos, Will It Delete My Photos?

No, when you turn off iCloud Photos, you'll still have access to photos saved on your device. Your iPhone/iPad will still keep a local copy of all the images captured on your device. However, if the images got captured on a different device, you'll no longer have access to them once you turn off iCloud Photos unless you download them.

The Conclusion

When you turn off iCloud Photos, you won't access photos and videos shared from other devices. However, you'll still have access to those photos and videos captured on your local device unless you manually delete them. To turn off iCloud Photos, you'll need to access device settings on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, then go to iCloud.

If you want to retain the photos captured on other devices, ensure you download them after turning off iCloud Photos. Otherwise, you won't access those photos anymore.