How to turn off Find My iPhone (on the phone or online)

Find My is what lets you locate a lost iPhone on a map, and it also turns on Activation Lock, which ties the phone to your Apple Account so nobody else can erase and reuse it. That is great protection while you own the phone, but it has to come off before anyone else can use it. You need to turn it off before selling, giving away or trading in an iPhone. Keep it on at all other times.

When should you turn off Find My?

• Selling or giving the iPhone away: yes, always. The next owner cannot set it up otherwise.
• Trading in with Apple or a carrier: yes. Trade-in programs reject phones that are still locked.
• Sending it for repair: follow what Apple or the repair shop tells you; some repairs need it off, others do not.
• Because you do not want to be tracked: usually not needed. Find My does not share your location with anyone unless you choose to share it.

How to turn off Find My iPhone

What changes when Find My is off

• You can no longer see the iPhone on a map, play a sound on it, or mark it as lost.
• Activation Lock turns off, so anyone who erases the phone can set it up as their own.
• The iPhone stops appearing in Find My on your other devices and at icloud.com/find.
• Your photos, messages and apps are not affected. Nothing is deleted.

To turn it back on, return to Settings › your name › Find My › Find My iPhone and switch it on. Also turn on Find My network, so the phone can be found when it is offline, and Send Last Location, so it reports where it was before the battery died.

Worried Find My is tracking you?

Find My on its own does not share your location with anyone. Only you can see where your devices are, after signing in. Location sharing with friends and family is a separate setting under Find My › Share My Location, and the People tab in the Find My app shows exactly who can see you. If you are worried someone else has access, use Safety Check in Settings › Privacy & Security instead of turning off Find My, since Find My is what protects your phone if it is stolen.

A child’s or family member’s iPhone

Find My is tied to the Apple Account signed in on that iPhone, so it needs that account’s password, not the family organizer’s. For a child, the parent usually knows the password and can turn it off on the child’s iPhone. If a family member has died, Apple has a separate process for access to a deceased person’s account and devices, which needs documents such as a death certificate.

Screen broken or iPhone will not turn on?

You do not need a working iPhone to turn off Find My. Sign in at icloud.com/find on any computer, select the broken iPhone and choose Remove This Device. If it is offline, it is removed from your account and Activation Lock is lifted, so a repair shop or trade-in buyer can use it. If you are sending it to Apple for repair or trade-in, Apple’s instructions for that service tell you whether to do this.

Forgot your Apple Account password?

You cannot turn off Find My without it, but you can reset it. On the iPhone, the password prompt usually offers Forgot password, which lets you reset it with the iPhone’s passcode. Otherwise go to iforgot.apple.com, or use the Apple Support app on another device. If you cannot reset it, Apple can start account recovery, which can take several days for security reasons.

What is Activation Lock?

When Find My is on, Activation Lock is on too. After the iPhone is erased, it asks for the owner’s Apple Account and password before anyone can set it up again, and shows iPhone Locked to Owner. That is what makes a stolen iPhone nearly useless to a thief. It also means an iPhone that was not properly removed from the old owner’s account cannot be used by the next one.

Bought a used iPhone that is still locked?

Turn off Find My on other Apple devices

• iPad: the same steps as iPhone, in Settings › your name › Find My.
• Mac: System Settings › your name › iCloud › Find My Mac, then Turn Off.
• Apple Watch: unpair it in the Watch app on your iPhone; that turns off Activation Lock for the watch.
• AirPods: remove them from Find My in the Find My app, or tap Forget This Device in Bluetooth settings, before selling them.

Before you hand the iPhone over

• Back up the iPhone, then erase it with your password so Find My and Activation Lock are off.
• Check icloud.com/find no longer lists the phone, or remove it there. Buyers on sites like Swappa and eBay often ask for proof that the phone is unlocked from your account.
• Remove the iPhone from Apple Pay and from your trusted devices list under Settings › your name on your new phone.
• Take out the physical SIM card if it has one, and transfer your eSIM to your new phone first, so you do not lose your number.
• Unpair your Apple Watch and sign out of iMessage and FaceTime if you are moving to an Android phone.