Whether you have left your iPhone at a restaurant, it’s been stolen or you have merely misplaced it in your home, the Find My iPhone feature is a great way to locate your device, remote erase it or simply make it play a sound so you can locate it. When you activate Find My iPhone on a device with iOS 7 or later it includes a feature called Activation Lock. This feature prevents anyone from using or erasing your device without your Apple ID and password. It also prevents other users from turning off Find My iPhone or signing out of iCloud on your device.  

While Find My iPhone is a great feature for finding your lost or stolen iPhone, iPad or iPod touch there will be times when you will need to turn the feature off.

We look at the steps you need to follow to turn off Find My iPhone whether the device is still in your possession or not.

Erase your device before selling it

If you have decided to sell your old iPhone, iPad or iPod touch or give it away it is important that you ensure you erase your content and settings. This will also ensure that Find My iPhone and Activation lock is disabled. By following these steps before the sale, you can avoid doing a remote erase and removing your device from Find My iPhone after it is out of your possession.

To erase your iOS device, open the Settings app > General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings.

How to disable Find My iPhone on your iOS device

On condition that you still have your iOS device, the easiest way to disable Find My iPhone is on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.

Launch the Settings app on your iOS device > iCloud > Find My iPhone > toggle Find My iPhone to Off > to confirm the action you will need to enter your Apple ID password > tap Turn Off.

How to disable Find My iPhone on iCloud

It is still possible to disable Find My iPhone even if you no longer have the iOS device by removing it on iCloud. However, the iOS device will need to be offline or you won’t be able to remove it.

Open iCloud on your Mac or Windows PC and sign in with your Apple ID username and password. Click on Find My iPhone > enter your Apple ID password > All Devices > click on the device you want to remove > Remove from account.

How to disable Find My iPhone using the app

Alternatively, you can also use the Find My iPhone app to turn off the functionality on one of your other iOS devices. For example, you can use the app on your iPad to turn off Find My iPhone on the iPhone or iPod touch that you have sold or given away. You will first need to erase the iOS device before you can remove it from Find My iPhone by following these steps.

Open the Find My iPhone app and sign in with your Apple ID password > tap on the device you want to erase and remove > tap Actions > Erase [device] > enter your Apple ID password. If the device is offline it will be erased the next time it is online and you will receive an email once the device has been erased. Once the device has been erased, tap Remove from Account.

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