How to sign out my icloud account from all devices

There are many occasions on which you need to sign out of iCloud on a device. Maybe you’re returning it to an employer, sending it to Apple or another company for trade-in credit, handing it down to a family member, selling it, or consigning a failing unit to the fires of…recycling.

If you used iCloud on that device, Apple has tied a lot of your identity to the device, including synced data and making services available on your hardware. iPhones, iPads, Macs, and Watches with a Secure Enclave may also have Activation Lock enabled if you have Find My turned on. (Apple builds Secure Enclave into a large range of its hardware. This includes all iPhones starting with the iPhone 5s, all Intel Macs with a T1 or T2 Security Chip, and all M1 Apple silicon Macs. You can see a more comprehensive list here.)

You can easily sign out from any device, but take care with the next step:

• In iOS and iPadOS, go to Settings > account name and tap Sign Out. This signs out any Watch associated with an iPhone, too.
• In macOS 10.14 Mojave and earlier, open the iCloud preference pane and click Sign Out.
• In macOS 10.15 Big Sur and later, open the Apple ID preference pane, click Overview, and click Sign Out.
• On an Apple TV, go to Settings > Accounts > iCloud and select Sign Out.

After selecting Sign Out on all devices except an Apple TV, you’ll be prompted about whether you want to save local copies of synced data. Apple provides a full list of potentially downloaded data types, like photos and notes. You can choose for each whether to save or delete.

If you opt to not save the information on the device, your data remains on iCloud.com as well as on any other Apple hardware you own logged into the same iCloud account, although each device can be set to sync a different set of iCloud services.

There’s one exception to that rule. iCloud Keychain employs device-based end-to-end encryption across any iPhone, iPad, or Mac for which you’ve enabled iCloud Keychain. If you sign out of iCloud on a device, it can retain a local copy of the last synced version. However, if you sign out from all your devices or all but one, there’s no copy retained on iCloud.com: when there aren’t two or more devices using iCloud Keychain, this secure data isn’t synced across iCloud.

Apple has tied so many services that you may rely on to iCloud, it’s worthwhile reviewing its list of what you can’t access on a phone, tablet, or computer after signing out, too. That includes Apple Pay, Continuity, and Voice Memos.

If you later sign back into iCloud from the same device, your operating system will offer to merge data or replace it. Once again, choose wisely: iCloud tracks data fairly carefully, so your newest versions of each contact, calendar entry, photo, and other data should be retained in a merge. But if you’ve made extensive changes on a logged-out device to items that could be synced, there’s a potential some might be overwritten.

This Mac 911 article is in response to a question submitted by Macworld reader Chiara.

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Author: Glenn Fleishman, Senior Contributor

Glenn Fleishman’s most recent books include Take Control of iOS and iPadOS Privacy and Security, Take Control of Calendar and Reminders, and Take Control of Securing Your Mac. In his spare time, he writes about printing and type history. He’s a senior contributor to Macworld, where he writes Mac 911.

iCloud is the service that seamlessly ties all your Apple devices together. Additionally, many services like Find My device, Keychain, Apple Pay work only when you are signed in to an iCloud account. Still, there may be reasons to sign out from iCloud on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac. So let us learn more and see how to that.

• Why You May Want to Sign Out of Your iCloud Account?
• What Happens When You Sign Out of Your iCloud Account?
• How to Sign Out of iCloud Account From iPhone and iPad
• How to Sign Out of iCloud Account From Mac

Why You May Want to Sign Out of Your iCloud Account?

You may remove the iCloud account from one or all your Apple devices because you want to switch to a different iCloud account or create a new account to start again. For example, use a personal account instead of the office iCloud account.

What Happens When You Sign Out of Your iCloud Account?

When you sign out of iCloud, that device stops to work in harmony with your other Apple devices having the same iCloud account. You will also be logged out of FaceTime, iMessage, and App Store on that device. Additionally, you will not be able to access or use many services like:

• Apple Pay, Apple Cash, and Apple Card
• Find My
• Game Center
• Home app to control your HomeKit devices
• iCloud Backup
• iCloud Drive
• iCloud Keychain
• iCloud Mail
• iCloud Photos
• Siri Shortcuts
• iCloud Voice Memos
• Shared Albums
• Messages in iCloud
• Shared Notes
• Shared Pages, Numbers, and Keynote documents
• Updates to your contacts, calendars, reminders, bookmarks, and Safari tabs
• Continuity features like Handoff, Universal Clipboard, and Auto Unlock with your Apple Watch
• App data for any third-party apps that you’ve installed that use iCloud

Note: You can not transfer your Apple Case and Apple Card account to a different Apple ID. They can not even be accessed using a different Apple ID.

Now that you know the consequences here is how to sign out of the iCloud account on iOS and macOS. However, before that, you may like to take a look at how to archive or make copies of the information stored in iCloud.

How to Sign Out of iCloud Account From iPhone and iPad

1. Open the Settings app on your iOS or iPadOS device
2. Tap on your Apple ID banner from the top
3. Scroll down and tap on Sign Out.
   
4. When asked, fill in your Apple ID password. Next, tap on Turn Off.
   
5. Choose the data that you want to keep on your device, even after signing out of iCloud
6. Tap on Sign Out.
7. Finally, confirm your action by tapping Sign Out again.
   

Note for Apple Watch users: Once you sign out of iCloud on the paired iPhone, it is automatically signed out on your Apple Watch too.

How to Sign Out of iCloud Account From Mac

1. Click on the Apple logo from the top left and select System Preferences.
   
2. Click on Apple ID.
   
3. Click on Overview from left.
   
4. Click on Sign Out.
   
5. Next, use the checkboxes to select (or unselect) which data you wish to keep on your Mac. Click on Keep a Copy.
   
6. Finally, choose if you would want to keep a copy of your Safari passwords (stored in iCloud Keychain) on this Mac. You can click on Keep on This Mac or Delete from Mac as desired.
   

Signing off…

This is how you can sign out of iCloud from iPhone, iPad, and Mac. If you change your mind, you may follow the same steps and sign back in with your Apple ID and password.

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