I never asked for icloud and I want to be rid of it

Magsolo wrote:

My photos are still on my Macs are still there so I see no change after the claimed backup.

Backing up something doesn't mean that it then gets removed from your Mac.

Also, iCloud doesn't back up your photos; it syncs them. This is useful if you have multiple devices (e.g. a Mac and an iPhone) sharing the same Apple ID. You'll be able to see all of your photos on both devices. Unlike a true backup, if you delete a photo on your Mac, it will also be deleted on iCloud.

If you don't want to use iCloud, don't. Go to System Settings and tap on your account at the top. Tap on iCloud. To the right of "Save to iCloud" you'll see an option to "See all." Tap that. Turn everything off. Or, just ignore it. It's existence should change much.

So, while you can turn it off, you can't get rid of it entirely. It's a part of your Apple Account.

You might also want to review this:

iCloud User Guide - Apple Support

If you don't make much use of iCloud then the email is likely to be a scam. I get about a dozen a day. Go into your Mac's system settings and click on your name at the top. Then click on iCloud and it will show you how much space is used.

You don't have to use iCloud. In the same settings screen click on the See All button and you can disable everything that you don't want to synch with iCloud.

Note that if you have an iPhone or iPad then you calendar, notes, passwords, reminders, contacts all synchronize with iCloud. If you disable it then you won't have these things automatically on all your devices. This is mine.

See this for more details

Introduction to iCloud – Apple Support (UK)

You need to set up iCloud as you want it on all your Apple devices. The Photo and Message usage on iCloud is from them your phones and possibly your iPad. Ditto your other Mac. If you don't want to use iCloud then you need to turn it off on all your devices for all the apps you don't want to use it with. When you turn off iCloud for an app on a device make sure that you select the option to keep the images, messages, files or whatever on the device or you could lose them for ever.

iCloud is tightly integrated into the Apple system (as Google Drive is with Android) so you should read up on exactly how it works before you start disabling and deleting things because you run the risk of losing things permanently Photos especially. Backups don't alway do what you might assume they do. Your iPhone and iPad backups to iCloud don't backup Photos if you are storing them in the cloud. Please get informed or wait for someone more experienced with Photos to come along - I don't use it.

"I never asked for this thing and I don't understand it"

OK - then you shouldn't have bought any Apple products. iCloud is fundamental to how they work as an ecosystem. You have a choice now, either get rid of all your Apple devices and find something that doesn't have a cloud system embedded (so not Android, not Microsoft) or do your homework and learn how to use what you've bought.

On all your devices go into Settings, click on your name, click on iCloud and turn it off for everything. If you are given an option to keep things on your device then select it.

"Currently, photos is not selected in the settings in the icloud settings, so why do I still have my photos on both computers and my iphone?" Which iCloud settings? You have icloud settings on ALL YOUR APPLE DEVICES AND THEY ARE ALL SPECIFIC TO THE DEVICE. One of your phones has photos on it and it has iCloud enabled in its settings so it is uploading the photos to iCloud. You need to go into settings and turn it off ON THAT PHONE. Ditto Messages.

Every device - turn icloud off service by service. If you can't be bothered to understand how it works before you do that then be prepared to lose stuff for ever that might be important that you.

Magsolo wrote:

Yes, but when I go to delete the Photos or Messages from icloud, it says "If you want to stop using icloud Photos and recover your icloud storage, you can disable it on all your devices" You then have 30 days to download your photos and videos in the Photos app".

It doesn't say how to download the photos (or on which devices individually) and also, the photos are already on my Macs & iphones, so why do I need to download them???

If you have already downloaded the photos, there should be no need to download them again. However, as I can't see exactly how your system is set up and what you've done, I cannot know with 100% certainty that you have, in fact, done this.

What I would do is get an external drive (they're fairly cheap) and back up all your photos to it. Turn off iCloud Photo syncing. Confirm that the photos are all available on the external drive. If they are, you're done. And, you've got a way to back up your photos with no cloud service involved.

How to turn off iCloud Photos - Apple Support

Magsolo wrote:

If you don't want to use iCloud, don't. Go to System Settings and tap on your account at the top. Tap on iCloud. To the right of "Save to iCloud" you'll see an option to "See all." Tap that. Turn everything off. Or, just ignore it. It's existence should change much.

Those were the instructions for your Mac. You'll find the instructions for how to access the same information in the user guide I linked to.

I use my desktop Mac mostly, so were is the settings for tthe icloud on my desktop? I've looked in system settings but can't see where to turn it off.

I gave you those directions, step by step. If you need additional help, read the user guide.

Also, how do I download photos from icloud? It says I have 30 days to do that but it doesn't say how to download.

Why do you need to download them? You said they're already on your devices?

OK - last try, but I'm done here after this.

iCloud synchronizes data between  devices. Let's say you've got a Mac and the Mac has all your contacts on it in the Contacts App - names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, and so on.  You can choose whether or not Contacts on your Mac puts its data into iCloud.  Let's assume you choose to use iCloud with Contacts on your Mac  

Now, you buy an iPhone.  If you turn on iCloud for Contacts ON YOUR PHONE then all your Mac contacts will be copied to your iphone and kept in synch with your Mac.  If you add or change or delete a contact on your Mac then the addition, change or deletion will also occur on your phone.  If you add or change or delete a contact on your phone then the addition, change or deletion will also occur on your Mac.   iCloud just keeps them in synch.

You could choose not to have Contacts in iCloud on your Mac. Then, when you buy a phone, you'll have to manually add every contact to the phone.  I've got about 1000 contacts.  That would be a lot of pointless typing.

iCloud does the same for Notes, Calendar, Passwords, Reminders, Photos, Messages, and any other apps that use iCloud to synchronize data between Apple devices.

By all means turn iCloud off everywhere - no one is forcing you to use it, but it's hard to understand why you wouldn't use it for at least some of your apps. I just added something to my shopping list on my Mac cos I'm at my Mac and my phone is somewhere else. When I'm in town tomorrow the shopping list, and the item I just added, will be on my phone. 

Magsolo wrote:

I am still totally confused. I don't understand the language/terminology you use.

I don't want to set up icloud when I don't want it. Why should I have to do that? It makes no sense.

iCloud is part of your Apple Account. Certain things are turned on by default. If you don't like those settings, you will need to change them.

I never asked for this thing and I don't understand it. I didn't set it up, so why must I jump through hoops to turn it off?

Because you seem to be asking the same question, I'll give the same answer. iCloud is part of your Apple Account. Certain things are turned on by default. If you don't like those settings, you will need to change them.

I don't care if I don't have all my data on all my devices. I don't care about that, at all. I don't live on my computer or phones, etc., like so many people do.

Fine. And not especially relevant.

Currently, photos is not selected in the settings in the icloud settings, so why do I still have my photos on both computers and my iphone?

I'm assuming the photos are on both devices because, at some point, you had Photos turned on. If it's turned off, no more photos will be synced .

I am not going to spend time "reading up" for something I don't want. Who would do such a thing?

People would do such a thing so that they could learn how to resolve their issues. However, if you're unwilling to help yourself, there's probably not much anyone here can do for you.

Magsolo wrote:

If you are not going to help, then you should stay away from help forums.

Berating people who don't understand won't help them understand. Not everyone understands like you do.

I am not posting for help, just for fun.

Have you ever heard the old expression, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink?" I think it applies here. People have been trying to help you, but you don't seem to want to do the work you need to do. You complain that you don't understand iCloud. However, when I provided you with resources to understand it, you were dismissive and refused to look at them.

If you want someone to take your system and set everything up so that you don't use iCloud, you'll need to find someone who can physically do that, and you'll probably have to pay them. What we can do here is answer questions and provide resources. You need to be an active partner in the process, though.