Everything You Need To Know About Turning Off iCloud
With the advances of technological, we have found a way to store media, information, and other content “up in the cloud”. Some of these storage devices are Dropbox, Google Drive, and iCloud.
The latter being one of the most popular Apple online storage services. If you own an iPhone, iPad, and a Mac, you probably know how convenient it is to have an iCloud storage. iCloud lets you keep data online and sync all data among multiple Apple products.
When you set up your iCloud account, you can access all files that are uploaded, and synced data, anytime anywhere with your Apple devices.
iCloud has different aspects such as iCloud Drive where you can store information and other media such as iCloud Photo Library where, as its name suggests, it stores your photos online. Photo Stream also works the same way as the Photo Library.
Despite the convenience offered by the iCloud storage devices, there is also a danger with keeping all your media and other information stored online. For instance, when someone gets hold of any of your Apple devices, which has iCloud on, then they can easily access and download your data. Security of your files is the biggest problem of people using an iCloud.
ICloud is protected by something called the iCloud lock, which is a security feature found on all Apple devices. In the words of Eurodownload.com, "It locks the device as a defence mechanism against people who gain unauthorized access to your device. Whilst this feature is extremely useful for data protection and security, it can be extremely annoying for people who get locked out of their devices inadvertently". This is why so many people look for apps such as the iCloud Remover (which can be downloaded at Euro Download website) to bypass these security measures.
Even when these security measures are left in tact, there has been glitches, as hackers have found ways to access people’s most private files. Therefore, if you are planning on turning iCloud off on your Apple devices, then do not fret, we are here to help. In this article, we will discuss different topics related to iCloud and how to turn it off.
Note: iOS 11 revamped the Settings app and the iCloud settings can be found in your Apple ID and its own preferences and settings. The iCloud tab, which was present in older version of iOS, is inexistent now in the iOS 11.
How To Turn Off The iCloud?
First and foremost, here are the steps which will enable you to turn off the iCloud on your devices.
- 1Go to the Settings app and look for your profile, which is found at the top of the screen.
- 2Once you get to your Apple ID, tap iCloud.
- 3Find the switch for the iCloud Drive at the bottom and click it to turn off.
Note: The steps above outline how to turn off the iCloud Drive for your Apple ID. There is a different switch for the iCloud backups of the different applications running on your phone. To switch the latter, here is what you should do:
- 1Go to the iCloud tab as instructed by the steps above.
- 2When you get to the iCloud screen, you will find just above the switch of the iCloud Drive the list of all apps using iCloud. Turn off the iCloud access by ticking the switch next to the app’s name. You can individually choose which applications will use iCloud.
Revoking App Access to iCloud
Despite individually turning off iCloud access of apps installed on your devices, there are still applications which can still have access even with the iCloud Drive turned off.
These applications are the iMovie and Pages which saves files to iCloud. Unlike other applications, iMovie and Pages are not ones that appear on the Apple ID screen.
As a rule of thumb, applications that create new files on your devices and those with games that use iCloud. If you want to deny access to these applications, on the iCloud, you need to turn them off, you have to revoke the access to all. This is also very important when you sell your iPhone to a friend, family or complete stranger. You can also do this wen your sell your iPad.
Just go to the Settings app, then to the tab of the specific application, and revoke the access of the app.
Moving Files Away From iCloud
If you finally decide to do away with iCloud, after some time of using it, you may want to transfer your uploaded data to a computer as backup. To do this, you can use an iOS data transfer program of your choice.
Programs like this can transfer your data from any Apple device to a Mac or even windows PC, some can even do vice versa.
Read different articles or go to forums which talk about transfer programs. Choose the one which you think is most useful and applicable for your needs. Download it, follow the instructions, and transfer away.
Should You Turn Off Your iCloud?
Now that you know how to turn off and revoke iCloud access, and how to transfer files from your iCloud, you may be wondering if it is really worth it to turn off iCloud as it involves tinkering with some of the security settings of your iPhone.
To help you decide, aside from the features already talked about at the first part of this article, the written features listed below are the pros and cons of using iCloud.
Pros:
- 1Backing up your data to the iCloud is very easy to do. With a simple click of a button, the devices automatically back itself up. You also can turn WiFi on and backup to store data online as soon as the device is connected to the internet.
- 2All your devices are synced. A good feature of the iCloud is that it is available to all your devices, whether big or small.
- 3iCloud is free until you reach a certain size of memory. If more memory is needed there is an extra charge. However, the free memory per Apple ID is already substantial.
Cons:
- 1The fear of hackers is not uncommon in online storage. Apple is definitely a prime target with hackers as it is one of the biggest tech companies worldwide. With a clientele, consisting of some of the most important people in the world, Apple needs to reassure its users that it is doing its best to safeguard their media and information that is uploaded in the Cloud.
- 2Some users are paranoid that Apple employees are able to look into their files. This hasn't been proven and no incident has been reported yet, but there are still doubts with regard to confidentiality.
