How to delete iCloud account

How to delete an iCloud account without losing data

Published on August 5, 2024
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You may want to delete your iCloud account if the email address associated with your iCloud is no longer valid, or if you want to change your Apple ID. This article will show you how to delete an iCloud account and how to back up your iCloud data. It also explains how to delete iCloud from your iPhone.

Notes on deleting an iCloud account

❗ Note: Please be aware that you cannot undo the complete iCloud deletion.

There are many reasons to delete an iCloud account:

  1. Suspected abuse of iCloud account

    2. When criminals gain access to an Apple ID, they gain access to personal data, location, credit card details associated with the Apple ID and other information. You can protect your personal information by deleting iCloud and then creating a new Apple ID.

  2. Your iCloud email address is no longer valid

    3. If the email address associated with iCloud is no longer available or has been deleted, use another email address for your iCloud account.

  3. Worries about personal data being leaked

    4. Most people do not want their photos, contacts, messages, and other data leaked to the outside world. iPhone owners who have concerns about their personal data being leaked can stop using iCloud and manage their data offline.

What happens if my iCloud account is deleted?

  • You will no longer be able to access Apple Services or purchased items in the App Store and Media Services.
  • You will no longer be able to sign in to or use Apple services.
  • Photos, files, and documents stored in iCloud will be deleted.
  • You will no longer receive messages sent to your account in iMessage, FaceTime, or iCloud Mail.
  • Deletion will not cancel a repair or Apple Store order. However, Apple Store scheduled appointments will be canceled.
  • Any services you have under Apple Care will be completely closed and unavailable.

Back up iCloud data before deleting your iCloud account

As mentioned above, deleting your iCloud account will also delete the data stored in iCloud. Therefore, you should back up your data to avoid losing iCloud photos, contacts, etc.

Download photos and videos from iCloud

Disabling iCloud Photos will erase all photos from your iPhone. Therefore, before deleting your iCloud account, you will need to download your photos, which is inconvenient since you can only download 1000 photos at a time from iCloud.com. To download photos in bulk, you can use a tool called CopyTrans Cloudly.

CopyTrans Cloudly is a program to manage your iCloud photos. You can download, upload and delete iCloud photos with it.

  1. Download and install CopyTrans Cloudly:

    2. Download CopyTrans Cloudly

  2. Log in with your Apple ID. After pressing the “Download” button, select the destination folder.

    3. Download all photos and videos

  3. After downloading your photos, you can completely delete them from iCloud. To do so, click on “Empty iCloud Photo Library” at the bottom of the app window.

    4. Empty iCloud Photo Library

If you want to transfer deleted photos from iCloud to your iPhone, please check out the following instructions.

Transfer iCloud contacts and calendars to iPhone

If your contacts and calendars are synced with iCloud, CopyTrans Contacts can move them from iCloud to your iPhone storage.

  1. First download and install CopyTrans Contacts

    2. Download CopyTrans Contacts

  2. Launch the program and connect your iPhone to your PC. Sign in to your iCloud account. Click on “More” in the upper right corner and select “Cloud Setup”.

    3. iCloud set up for contacts

  3. Click on “New Connection” and enter your Apple ID and password.

    4. New connection in iCloud setup

  4. Add descriptions to avoid confusing accounts. You can also add your Gmail, Yahoo or other accounts.
  6. Now, you can move iCloud contacts to your PC via drag-and-drop or by clicking on the “Export” button.

    7. Export contacts in CopyTrans Contacts

  7. Here’s a more detailed guide on how to export contacts from iPhone to PC.

Transfer iCloud contacts and calendars to another Apple ID

Check the contacts of the old iCloud account and make a right-click on one of them. Select “Move” or “Copy” and click on the new iCloud account. If you select “Move”, the contacts will be deleted from the old account after the transfer. If you choose “Copy”, the contacts will be added to the new iCloud account without being deleted from the old one. You can also move or copy contacts from the old iCloud to your iPhone.

Select contacts in CopyTrans Contacts

The procedure for transferring calendars is exactly the same as for the contacts. You can copy or move all your calendars and add events to the new iCloud account or to the iPhone storage.

How to delete iCloud email account from iPhone

There is a method to delete only iCloud email accounts. With this method, iCloud accounts and data synced with iCloud will not be deleted.

  • Open the Settings app on your iPhone, tap on Apple ID, then on iCloud.
  • Toggle iCloud Mail off.

Turn off iCloud Email

How to delete iCloud account from iPhone

You can delete your iCloud account from your device only, without completely erasing your iCloud account. To do so, you will need to sign out of your iCloud account in your iPhone settings.

  1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone, tap on “Apple ID,” scroll to the bottom, and tap on “Sign Out”.

    2. Delete iCloud account

  2. Then enter your Apple ID password to turn off your iCloud account.
  3. Tap on “Leave a Copy” to toggle it on. Then tap on “Sign Out”
  4. Tap “Sign Out” to confirm your choice. You deleted the iCloud account from your iPhone!

Summary

You can completely delete iCloud and its data if you no longer wish to use it. Alternatively, you can delete iCloud from the iPhone only by simply signing out of the account. That way, iCloud and all its data will be deleted from the iPhone but will remain on the iCloud servers.

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By Mary

Marketing expert who loves books and chocolate!