How to Remove a Device from Find My iPhone

If you’re no longer using an iOS or OS X device, here’s how you can remove it from Find My iPhone so that it can be deactivated and sold or given to someone else.

Find My iPhone is a service that comes free with every iOS device and Mac computer, and it allows you to track your device, whether it was lost or stolen. Of course, it only works when the device is on and has a signal, so if your phone gets stolen and the thief was smart enough to turn off the phone or put it in Airplane Mode, Find My iPhone won’t work, but it’ll at least give you a fighting chance, which is why it’s worth enabling on all of your Apple devices.

However, when it comes time to sell your iPhone or Mac, you’ll need to deactivate the device and remove it from Find My iPhone so that someone else can use it.

The process is fairly easy and straightforward, but here’s a guide that will take you through the process of removing your iPhone, iPad or Mac from Find My iPhone.

Removing a Device from Find My iPhone

Perhaps the easiest way to remove a device from Find My iPhone is to turn off the service in Settings right on the device itself.

To do this, follow these simple steps:

• On an iPhone or iPad, open up the Settings app.
• Scroll down and tap on iCloud, then tap on Find My iPhone.
• From there, simply tap on the toggle switch to turn off Find My iPhone. You may have to enter in your Apple ID password to make the change.

• To remove your Mac from Find My iPhone, open up System Preferences and click on iCloud.
• Scroll down and uncheck Find My Mac. You’ll need to enter in your Mac’s admin password to make the change.

Now, if you can’t physically turn off Find My iPhone directly on the device, there’s still a way to remove it from the service by using iCloud.com, but you’ll first need to turn the device off so that it goes offline. Then, follow these steps:

• Navigate your web browser to iCloud.com/find and login using your Apple ID credentials.
• You should then be automatically taken to the web interface of Find My iPhone, from where you can view all of your Apple devices.
• At the top, click on All Devices and a drop-down list of your Apple devices will appear.
• Click on the device that you want to remove and then click Remove from Account. If you don’t see Remove from Account, click All Devices again, and then click the Delete button next to the device.

If you don’t have your device in hand to turn off Find My iPhone (like if it was lost or stolen), then you want to erase the device using iCloud.com.

• Navigate your web browser to iCloud.com/find and login using your Apple ID credentials.
• You should then be automatically taken to the web interface of Find My iPhone, from where you can view all of your Apple devices.
• At the top, click on All Devices and a drop-down list of your Apple devices will appear.
• Click on the device that you want to erase and then click Erase. You’ll need to enter in your Apple ID password to confirm the action.