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

I want to be rid of icloud

I have no idea, at all, about this thing called icloud and I don't want it either.

I have tried to understand it but I am still so utterly confused about it all.

I have not consciously signed up or requested icloud, so how it has been activated and doing stuff behind the scenes is beyond me.

I just got an email that my icloud storage is almost full and I have no idea about what to do.

Photos and all other content

I keep my photos on two Macs hard drives that I have (different photos on each) and I have a few photos on my ipad and 2 iphones. I don't want my photos to exist anywhere else, so why has apple decided to chuck them into icloud?

I only want to keep stuff on my Macs and other devices, not anywhere else.

Why can't Apple let me do that?

I followed the instructions in the email to backup the icloud stuff and it said that it would be saved to my home folder (I have no idea where that is). This was 3 days ago. But the storage amount used in icloud hasn't changed so far and I don't know where the back up is, so has it done the back up or not?

If not, how can I turn off icloud without icloud deciding that it will delete all my data, which it said it would.

I really really can't stand this situation, that Apple decides how I am going to keep my data.

So, can someone please give me step by step guide on how I can get rid of icloud and keep my data how I want it.

iMac 27″

Posted on Apr 1, 2026 9:25 AM

20 replies

Magsolo Author

Level 1

20 points

Apr 4, 2026 5:54 AM in response to IdrisSeabright

Perhaps there is confusion/misunderstanding about the term "download".

The photos I have on my Macs and iphones were put onto those devices directly when I took the photos. I have never downloaded any photos like from some site or company, not have I asked Apple to store my photos in their cloud service.

The photos on my Macs got there through my iphone, via a usb cable, straight after taking the each photo. I have no need for my photos to exist anywhere else.

So the message I get after I click on "manage" from the multicolored icloud storage display (2nd screen shot) tells me if I stop using icloud photos, I have 30 days to download my photos. But...

Download from where and how?
Turn Off and Delete button - what does this mean/do?

So this is why I am confused as to what will happen to my photos if I disable icloud.

I have plenty of storage space on my internal hard drive and extra space on 2 external drives. But why do I need to do anything at all if my photos are already on my internal drive?

I don't know what to do about Messages. I'd like to keep the history if Apple is going to delete them if I was to click on Turn Off and Delete. But I would not lose much sleep if I lost my messages, although I don't know upto what point/date would be deleted?