How to Turn Off iCloud Photos (Without Losing Your Photos)

To turn off iCloud Photos on your iPhone, open Settings, tap your name, tap iCloud, then Photos, and turn off Sync this iPhone. Your iPhone will ask whether to download your photos and videos or remove them from the phone. To keep everything, download first. This only stops syncing on that one iPhone; your photos stay in iCloud and on your other devices.

Below: how to keep full-quality copies, how to stop syncing on just one device, and how to turn iCloud Photos off for your whole account.

Before you start: get your full-size photos

Many iPhones use Optimize iPhone Storage, which keeps small versions on the phone and the full-size originals in iCloud. If you turn off iCloud Photos without downloading the originals, you can end up with the small versions only.

1. Open Settings, tap your name, then iCloud, then Photos.
2. Tap Download and Keep Originals.
3. Keep your iPhone plugged in and on Wi-Fi while the originals download. A big library can take hours.

Check you have enough free space first: Settings, then General, then iPhone Storage. If your library is bigger than your free space, copy it to a computer instead, or download it from iCloud.com.

Turn off iCloud Photos on one iPhone

1. Open Settings and tap your name at the top.
2. Tap iCloud, then Photos.
3. Turn off Sync this iPhone.
4. Choose what happens to the photos on this phone:
   • Download Photos & Videos keeps a copy on your iPhone.
   • Remove from iPhone removes them from this phone without saving a copy. They stay in iCloud and on your other devices.

From now on, new photos, edits and deletions on this iPhone stay on this iPhone. Deleting a photo here no longer deletes it everywhere else, and new photos from your other devices no longer show up here.

Stop photos syncing to your other devices

Often the real goal isn’t to leave iCloud, but to keep photos off one device: a family iPad, a shared Mac, or a tablet a child uses. Turn off iCloud Photos on that device only, and everything else keeps working.

• iPad: Settings, your name, iCloud, Photos, then turn off Sync this iPad.
• Mac: System Settings, your name, iCloud, Photos, then turn off Sync this Mac.
• Windows PC: open iCloud for Windows, click Options next to Photos, deselect iCloud Photos, then click Done and Apply.
• Apple TV: Settings, Users and Accounts, choose your account, then turn off iCloud Photos under iCloud.

When the device asks, choose to remove the photos rather than download them, so the library actually leaves that device.

This matters for private photos too. With iCloud Photos on, your Hidden album syncs to every device signed in to your Apple Account, so anyone who can open your iPad or Mac may be able to open it there.

Turn off iCloud Photos for your whole account

This stops iCloud Photos on all your devices and deletes your library from iCloud. Only do it once you have full copies of everything somewhere else.

1. Download your originals (see above) or copy your library to a computer.
2. If you own a Shared Photo Library, delete it first.
3. Open Settings, tap your name, then iCloud, then Storage.
4. Tap iCloud Photos, then Turn Off and Delete Photos.

On iOS 17 or earlier, the path is Manage Account Storage, then Turn Off & Delete from iCloud.

Apple keeps your photos in iCloud for 30 days after this, and you can tap Undo Delete if you change your mind. After that, they’re gone from iCloud for good.

What changes once iCloud Photos is off

• Your photos live only on that iPhone. If the phone is lost or broken, so are any photos that aren’t backed up elsewhere.
• iCloud Backup picks them up. When iCloud Photos is off, an iCloud Backup of your iPhone includes the photos and videos on it, if iCloud Backup is on and you have the space.
• Each device has its own library. Edits and deletions on one no longer reach the others.
• iCloud storage frees up only if you turn it off for your whole account and the 30 days pass.

Keeping some photos out of iCloud Photos

Some people turn off iCloud Photos because a handful of photos shouldn’t sync anywhere: intimate pictures, a passport scan, a screenshot of a recovery phrase. You don’t have to give up iCloud Photos for the rest of your library to do that. Move those few out of your photo library instead.

Easy Vault keeps photos in an encrypted vault on your iPhone with its own pattern or password, then offers to delete the originals from Photos, so they stop syncing with everything else. Its optional backup goes to your own iCloud already encrypted, with a recovery key only you hold. For the built-in options, see how to hide photos on iPhone.