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📍 The “Find My” is a very useful feature designed to help you locate your Apple devices. Previously known as “Find my iPhone”, it was renamed with the release of iOS 13, since it now works with your iPad, AirPod, Apple Watch, and MacBook.

You can use “Find My iPhone” from computer or any other Apple device, simply log in with your Apple ID to iCloud and you will be able to find all of your Apple products on a map. Devices that have their “Find My iPhone” turned ON and are linked to your Apple ID will show up as a green dot, and devices that are currently offline will show a grey dot for the last known location. Tap on the name of each device to play a sound, put your device into lost mode, or erase your device.
Pretty neat, isn’t it? So how does this work?

How to use find my iPhone?

If your device got misplaced, forgotten, or, god forbid, stolen, log in to your iCloud account and click the “Find My” tab. You will see a screen that looks like this:

find my iphone last location icloud lost mode

To see your device on the map, click “Lost mode”. If you do not have a passcode set up, you will be asked to come up with one.

DO NOT LOSE this passcode, you will need it to turn off the “Lost mode” on the device. You will also be prompted to include your contact phone number and a message that would appear on the lost phone:

find my iphone last location lost number setup

This is how your device will look like on the map:

Find my iphone last location on map

Here is a very useful User guide by Apple that would guide you through the whole process.

Note that Apple offers one more useful service. With iCloud Keychain you can manage passwords across multiple iOS devices. Please find more information on How to set up and use iCloud Keychain on iPhone or other iOS device?


As useful as it sounds, there are times when you need to have “Find My iPhone” disabled:

🔹 To reset or restore your device, to bring it to out-of-the-box condition.

🔹 When bringing it for service to Apple store technicians.

🔹 Before you sell it or give it away.

The reason behind turning off the “Find My iPhone” tool is a feature called Activation Lock. Its purpose is to prevent a potential thief from resetting the stolen device to factory settings and being able to use it. The phone will not accept another Apple ID, except for the old one. Activation Lock is enabled automatically when you turn on “Find My iPhone”.

Before restoring a backup or selling your device to someone, you’ll need to disable Activation Lock by turning off Find My iPhone.

There are two ways to turn off Find My iPhone:

📱 From your device:

💻 From your computer


How to Turn OFF Find My iPhone

📎 iOS 13, 14 and 15

So, where is find my iPhone in settings? Just follow the steps below:

  1. On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, go to Settings > tap on Your Name.

  2. Turn off Find My iPhone

  3. Click on “Find My”, then click on “Find my iPhone”.

  4. Navigate to Find My iPhone menu

  5. Disable “Find My” by sliding the switch to the left.

  6. Disable Find My iPhone

  7. Once prompted, enter your iCloud password and tap “Turn Off”.

  8. Enter your Apple ID to disable find my iphone


Disable Find My iPhone

📎 iOS 12 and earlier versions

  1. On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, navigate to Settings > tap on Your Name > iCloud and look for “Find My iPhone” at the bottom.

  2. Disable find my iphone open iCloud settings

  3. Disable “Find My iPhone” by sliding the switch to the left.

  4. Turn off Find My iPhone iOS 12

  5. Once prompted, enter your iCloud password and tap “Turn Off”.

  6. Disable find my iphone Enter your Apple ID

That is how to pause Find My iPhone in a few clicks on your phone.


Turn off find my iPhone remotely

There is a possibility to turn off “Find my iPhone” function using your PC. Here is how to do it:

  1. Log in to your iCloud account.
  2. Go to Account Settings.
  3. Go to My Devices and remove the device from the list by clicking a blue cross icon, like so:

Turn off find my iphone delete device with computer

Now this device is no longer associated with your Apple ID and can be used by someone else. It is also ready to be restored. Check out the best Backup and Restore options below. 👇



Best Backup and Restore Options
💾 CopyTrans Shelbee

So, if you are still wondering why should you turn off “Find My iPhone” function, then we are here to give you more details. Let’s imagine a situation where you lost some of the important data on your iPhone (who knows, you accidentally deleted contacts or some photos). Now what? The easiest solution is to restore this lost data from a backup. With a few clicks and with the help of CopyTrans Shelbee you will be able to recover what you need.

To restore your device from a backup you have to disable “Find My”. Choose one of the options above!

how to transfer apps to new iphone
Unlike iTunes, CopyTrans Shelbee will:

✔️ make a full restore, even of an iTunes backup;

✔️ restore only selected data, including Apps, Contacts, SMS Messages, Calendars, Settings, Passwords and much more;

✔️ do full or incremental backup;

✔️ allow to choose the folder to save backup;

✔️ validate backup made;

✔️ compatible with iTunes backup;

✔️ support encrypted iPhone backup;

✔️ restore data from a corrupted iTunes backup;

As you already understood, with CopyTrans Shelbee you can:


 

💾 CopyTrans Backup Extractor

Backups are always saved as a bunch of code, they only start making sense when restored back to the device. Ever wondered if it is possible to export your selected data from an old backup directly to your PC? Yes, it’s possible!

With CopyTrans Backup Extractor you can save all the backup data or only some of the files. The program can extract Photos, Messages, Contacts, Calendars, and Notes.

iPhone backup location on PC

✔️ find all the backups automatically;

✔️ save all the backup data on your PC

✔️ compatible with different backups: iCloud, iTunes, CopyTrans Shelbee, or other programs;

Download CopyTrans Backup Extractor

More incredible things that CopyTrans Backup Extractor can do for you:


How do I use find my iPhone?

In conclusion, turning off Find My iPhone is an important step to protect your privacy and ensure the security of your personal information. This powerful tracking feature can help locate your device in case it gets lost or stolen, but there are instances when you might want to disable it temporarily or permanently.

By properly managing the Find My iPhone feature, you can strike a balance between convenience and security. Remember to stay updated with the latest iOS updates and security best practices to keep your iPhone and personal information safe. We hope this guide has been helpful in assisting you with turning off Find My iPhone.

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By krasimir

Krasimir is an avid marketing aficionado and a tech-support specialist in charge of the English-speaking market. He grew up in Bulgaria and on the island of Mauritius where he became passionate about windsurfing and photography.