With the help of iCloud Photos, you can keep all your photos and videos in iCloud. These are then synced across all your devices so you have just one library. This is extremely useful, more information about how the iCloud Photo Library works can be found here.
Yet there are a lot of users who no longer want to use the online library. This can be for various reasons, such as privacy or insufficient storage space. Fortunately, you can turn off iCloud Photos quite easily without losing any photos and videos.
Disable iCloud Photos on iPhone or iPad
Before you disable the photo library, it is good to know that when activating the online library you had the choice of downloading all content or optimizing the storage. Before you completely disable iCloud Photos, you must first download all photos and videos. Please note that you must have sufficient storage space available on your iPhone or iPad.
- Open Settings on your iPhone or iPad
- Navigate to ‘Apps’ (from iOS 18 and iPadOS 18)
- Tap ‘Photos’
- Check the ‘Download and save originals’ option
All photos and videos are now saved locally on your iPhone or iPad. Wait for this, this might take overnight. Please note, you do need the storage space for this. If necessary, free up space to store the complete contents. As soon as all media has been downloaded, you can disable iCloud.
Not enough storage space or manual export?
If you don’t have enough storage space, you can only export your photos via iCloud.com. You also have more control and can manually export your photos and videos.
- Log in with your Apple Account on iCloud.com
- Click on ‘Photos’
- Select all photos (command⌘ + A or control^ + A)
- Secondary click (right mouse button) on the selected photos
- Choose ‘Download’ or ‘more download options’
- Make a choice
Delete shared photo library
Do you own a shared photo library? Then you must first delete them before you can disable iCloud Photos. To do this, go to Settings â–¸ your name â–¸ iCloud â–¸ Photos â–¸ Shared Library. Tap Delete Shared Library.
Turn off iCloud Photos
If all the photos were downloaded using the steps above, or you already enabled the option to download the originals, you can safely disable iCloud Photos.
- Open Settings on your iPhone or iPad
- Go to your name
- Choose ‘iCloud’
- Open ‘Photos’
- Tap ‘Manage Storage’
- Scroll down and choose ‘Turn off and delete photos’
Do you have iOS 17, iPadOS 17 or earlier? Then you can do this via Settings â–¸ Your name â–¸ iCloud â–¸ Manage storage â–¸ Photos â–¸ tap ‘Turn off and delete’.
Return to the Photos settings in iCloud and, if necessary, enable the option to ‘Sync these [apparaat]’ out. Once you turn off iCloud Photos, all photos stored online will be deleted within 30 days. From now on you can use the Photos application locally without the photos being uploaded to iCloud.
How to safely deactivate iCloud Photo Library on a Mac
It is also important on the Mac that you download the photos and videos first and do not optimize them. Of course, you can also export the photos first before turning off the online photo library.
- Open the Photos application
- Click on ‘Photos’ in the menu bar
- Navigate to ‘Settings’
- Open the ‘iCloud’ tab
- Check the option ‘Download original to this Mac’
If all photos were downloaded using the steps above, or you already enabled this option, you can safely disable iCloud Photos.
Disable iCloud Photos Mac
To do this, go to  â–¸ System Settings â–¸ your name â–¸ iCloud â–¸ click on ‘Manage’ for your iCloud storage â–¸ choose ‘iCloud Photos’. Confirm the deletion by clicking Turn Off and Remove from iCloud. All photos online will be deleted within 30 days. After disabling, you can use the Photos application locally without the photos being uploaded to iCloud.
Do you use a shared photo library? Then you must first disable it via Photos app â–¸ menu bar â–¸ Photos â–¸ Settings â–¸ Shared photo library â–¸ Delete shared photo library.