If you wake up one morning and decide you no longer need your iCloud account, it is entirely possible to get rid of it. It’s a bit of a radical option as you will lose everything associated with the account, such as your photos and paid apps. But if account deactivation is not an option, permanent deletion is the next step. Here is how to delete your iCloud account.
Read more: How to create or log in to an iCloud account
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To delete your iCloud account, sign in to the Data & Privacy section of your iCloud account. On the Manage your data page, scroll down and select Delete your account. Alternatively, you can also choose the less permanent Temporarily deactivate your account option if you think there’s a chance you’ll return to the account later.
How to delete your iCloud account
Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
Permanently deleting an iCloud account should definitely be the last option. Doing so means you will permanently lose access to the following:
- App Store purchases, including Apple Books and any paid active subscriptions.
- Your photos, videos, and documents stored in iCloud.
- Messages sent to your account via iMessage, FaceTime, or iCloud Mail.
- Your iCloud email address username.
Losing all of these things mean that before shutting down your account, you should back up all of the things you want to keep. However, apps and books are non-transferable, so you will lose those. It may be better to deactivate the account instead, which merely puts everything on hold. We’ll cover deactivation later in the article.
Backing up other forms of data
You can back up your photos, videos, and documents by backing them up to another cloud storage solution, such as Dropbox or Google Drive. Another option is to email them to yourself, but that would be impractical for hundreds or thousands of images or videos.
Emails from iCloud Mail can be forwarded to another email address or downloaded to a desktop email client.
The final deletion steps
Once you have extracted everything you can from the account, and you’re ready to shut the account down, go to the Data & Privacy section of your iCloud account and log in.
On the next screen, scroll down. Here, you can temporarily deactivate your account if permanent deletion unnerves you. Or, if you are really determined to go all the way, select Delete your account.
You will be warned of the consequences of deletion, and asked to give a reason. But you don’t have to give a reason if you don’t want to. Follow the rest of the on-screen instructions to finish the deletion process.
Read more: How to access your iCloud photos on any device
FAQs
Yes, you will lose your Apple ID as it identifies your iCloud account.
No, deleting your iCloud account does not release you from any financial commitments to Apple. Those will still have to be made.
Cancelling your iCloud account will immediately close all open AppleCare maintenance requests. So you should wait till you have your repaired phone back before closing your iCloud account.
No, Apple says the email address will be blocked forever to stop anyone else from taking it, including you if you re-register for iCloud.
If you delete your iCloud account, you will lose everything connected to that account. This includes photos, iCloud email, subscriptions, paid App Store apps, and more.
