Chuck Gray

Q: How do I stop my iPhone from activating unwanted iCloud services I don't use?

I have an iPhone 5, iOS 9.3.1

 

I recently noticed a problem where it wouldn't receive all the iMessages that my Mac and other iDevices receive. Following instructions here I signed out of iCloud and then back in. When I did, a bunch of things that I don't use were activated. It turned on all the iCloud components for Notes, Wallet, Reminders, and it turned on every single Photo service (iCloud Photo Library, My Photo Stream, iCloud Photo Sharing) and started transferring photos. Worst of all, it turned on Find My iPhone. I don't want any of these services.

 

I was able to quickly disable everything with the exception of Find My iPhone. I can't disable it from the phone because its greyed out. I can't disable it from the browser because the option to disable isn't there. My only choices are to lock the phone, play a sound, or erase it.

 

So my questions are actually two:

 

first - how do I turn off Find My iCloud

 

Second - how do I prevent all these services from turning on when I just want to turn off iCloud and turn it back on to reset some errant phone behavior?

iPhone 5, iOS 9.2.1

Posted on Jun 9, 2016 5:10 PM

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Q: How do I stop my iPhone from activating unwanted iCloud services I don't use?

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  • by rwang5,

    rwang5 rwang5 Jun 9, 2016 5:30 PM in response to Chuck Gray
    Level 1 (22 points)
    Jun 9, 2016 5:30 PM in response to Chuck Gray

    Answer to your first question: To turn off Find my iPhone, you need to

    1. Open Settings on your phone
    2. Click Find My iPhone (near the bottom of the list)
    3. It opens up a new screen, tap the switch beside Find my iPhone and wait for it to not show any green at all
    4. Ta~da!
    5. If this somehow does not work on iOS 9.3.1, upgrade to the latest 9.3.2 where it is working for me.


    Answer to your second question:

         It appears that once you log-in to your device while using iCloud, all of the services will automatically turn themselves on. I believe that there is no way to turn this off, having tried it myself on my iPhone 5C. I recommend that you just turn all of the services off the second you log-in to iCloud.

     

    Good luck ,

    Raymond

  • by Chuck Gray,

    Chuck Gray Chuck Gray Jun 9, 2016 5:33 PM in response to rwang5
    Level 1 (23 points)
    Apple Watch
    Jun 9, 2016 5:33 PM in response to rwang5

    Raymond,

     

    Find My iPhone isn't under the top Settings menu. Its under iCloud. Thats where I found it when I noticed it was on in the first place. If you reread my post you'll see I said it was greyed out - I can't click on it.

     

    When did it start auto-activating those services? I regularly go through my services and while I've noticed some things turn on after a software update, I've never seen anything turn on as a result of signing out of iCloud.

  • by ctalbot2004,

    ctalbot2004 ctalbot2004 Jun 9, 2016 5:39 PM in response to Chuck Gray
    Level 1 (124 points)
    iPad
    Jun 9, 2016 5:39 PM in response to Chuck Gray

    1. Go to General > Restrictions and make sure Find My iPhone is turned off under Location Services > System Services in the restrictions settings. Make sure you turn off the one under System Services, not the app "Find iPhone".

    2. It just does this, there's not really a way to stop it from doing it.

     

    EDIT: Sorry, make sure it is turned ON in the restriction settings.

  • by Chuck Gray,

    Chuck Gray Chuck Gray Jun 9, 2016 5:38 PM in response to ctalbot2004
    Level 1 (23 points)
    Apple Watch
    Jun 9, 2016 5:38 PM in response to ctalbot2004

    I can't get into that to turn anything off because I have Location Services itself disabled. Should I turn it on just so I can go into that menu to turn off Find My iPhone?

  • by ctalbot2004,

    ctalbot2004 ctalbot2004 Jun 9, 2016 5:42 PM in response to Chuck Gray
    Level 1 (124 points)
    iPad
    Jun 9, 2016 5:42 PM in response to Chuck Gray

    You have Location Services turned off in Restrictions? If so, yes, turn this back on and make sure Find My iPhone is turned on.

  • by elcpu,

    elcpu elcpu Jun 9, 2016 5:44 PM in response to Chuck Gray
    Level 6 (15,946 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Jun 9, 2016 5:44 PM in response to Chuck Gray

    Find my iPhone will not work without location services. Details in the article. I recommend you leave it on. If you lose your phone you will be glad you did.

    About privacy and Location Services - Apple Support

  • by Chuck Gray,

    Chuck Gray Chuck Gray Jun 9, 2016 5:43 PM in response to ctalbot2004
    Level 1 (23 points)
    Apple Watch
    Jun 9, 2016 5:43 PM in response to ctalbot2004

    I did. Then I went into Location Services and saw Find My iPhone was turned OFF already. Then I went out and tried to turn off Location Services. I can't. Its greyed out!! What is going on with this thing?

  • by ctalbot2004,

    ctalbot2004 ctalbot2004 Jun 9, 2016 5:45 PM in response to Chuck Gray
    Level 1 (124 points)
    iPad
    Jun 9, 2016 5:45 PM in response to Chuck Gray

    Are Location Services turned on outside of restrictions?

  • by elcpu,

    elcpu elcpu Jun 9, 2016 5:45 PM in response to Chuck Gray
    Level 6 (15,946 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Jun 9, 2016 5:45 PM in response to Chuck Gray

    Check your restrictions settings.

  • by Chuck Gray,

    Chuck Gray Chuck Gray Jun 9, 2016 5:46 PM in response to elcpu
    Level 1 (23 points)
    Apple Watch
    Jun 9, 2016 5:46 PM in response to elcpu

    I don't want it to work. I want it to stop working. Please read my question at the top again.

  • by Chuck Gray,

    Chuck Gray Chuck Gray Jun 9, 2016 5:50 PM in response to ctalbot2004
    Level 1 (23 points)
    Apple Watch
    Jun 9, 2016 5:50 PM in response to ctalbot2004

    Yes, under Privacy.

  • by elcpu,

    elcpu elcpu Jun 9, 2016 5:51 PM in response to Chuck Gray
    Level 6 (15,946 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Jun 9, 2016 5:51 PM in response to Chuck Gray

    I have. I am just suggesting that you would be better off with Find my iPhone turned on. I reply to hundreds of posts here a day and many are from people that have lost their devices. But it is your phone, so as you please... 

  • by rwang5,

    rwang5 rwang5 Jun 9, 2016 5:54 PM in response to Chuck Gray
    Level 1 (22 points)
    Jun 9, 2016 5:54 PM in response to Chuck Gray

    Oops, forgot to say click iCloud first . For me, when I sign-in, most of the switches turn on by default and I just have to click them to turn them off. I did notice that you indicated that the Find my iPhone bar was greyed out, so I recommended updating. One thing that intrigued me when searching up the topic was this:

     

    "★Helpful

    by sbp_dk Oct 19, 2013 8:06 AM in response to Furiator

     

    Hi,

    Had excactly same problem,

     

    What helped me was to remove the Lock code for the telephone. After the code was removed I was able to set Find my Iphone to off.

     

    Maybe that could help you too, best luck."

    I dunno if this still works, but I would give it a try.

  • by Chuck Gray,

    Chuck Gray Chuck Gray Jun 9, 2016 5:54 PM in response to elcpu
    Level 1 (23 points)
    Apple Watch
    Jun 9, 2016 5:54 PM in response to elcpu

    Please read this:

     

    I do not want Location Services on.

     

    I do not want Find My iPhone on.

     

    Find My iPhone turned itself on and can't be disabled.

     

    Upon someone's recommendation here I turned on Location Services so I could go in and verify that Find My iPhone was blocked. It was. Now I can't get Location Services to turn off.

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