Q: How do I disable iCloud keychain?
Every time that I uncheck the checkbox in System Preferences > iCloud > Keychain, it automatically reverts to a checked checkbox after a second.
The only other Apple device I have is an iPhone 6, and there are no messages on my iPhone waiting for an approval!
On my iPhone, I encounter a similar issue: whenever I tap to de-activate iCloud Keychain,
Nothing happens and the Keychain status remains "On":
I've tried signing out of iCloud on my iPhone, but that has served no purpose!
Finally, for some unknown reason, Apple have removed "iCloud Keychain" from the categories available in the "OS X Yosemite" community! Apple are really starting to annoy me!
Posted on Sep 18, 2015 11:09 AM
The following steps (which I found on this page: I can't turn off iCloud keychain) eventually allowed me to uncheck the iCloud Keychain on my iMac:
- Move contents in ~/Library/Keychains/ to some backup location (WARNING: this will remove your passwords from the Keychain, hence the backup)
- Remove contents of ~/Library/Caches; reboot; empty trash again (since some items can't be deleted before a reboot)
- Uncheck the Keychain item in the iCloud system preferences.
This solution was provided by Apple Support so it bares the least risk.
I did notice however that many of my Safari extensions disappeared, so I'd recommend making a list of them prior to proceeding with the above steps.
Posted on Sep 21, 2015 2:53 PM


