How to Turn Off Find My Before Selling or Trading In Your iPhone

Leaving Find My switched on is the number-one reason second-hand iPhones get returned, rejected by trade-in programs or stuck in a drawer. With Find My on, the phone keeps Activation Lock: the new owner can’t set it up without your Apple Account password, even after a full erase.

Turning it off properly takes about five minutes. Follow the steps below in order and your buyer — or the trade-in company — gets a phone that’s ready to use, while your data stays yours.

Before you start: back up and unpair

• Back up in Settings › [your name] › iCloud › iCloud Backup › Back Up Now, or to a computer with Finder (Mac) or the Apple Devices app / iTunes (Windows). If you’re moving to a new iPhone, Quick Start can transfer everything directly.
• Unpair your Apple Watch in the Watch app on the iPhone: All Watches › tap the info icon › Unpair Apple Watch. Unpairing backs up the watch and removes its Activation Lock too.
• Know your Apple Account password. You’ll need it to turn off Find My. If you’ve forgotten it, reset it at iforgot.apple.com first.
• Check your eSIM. If you’re keeping your number, plan to transfer the eSIM to your new phone or ask your carrier how to move it.

Step 1: Turn off Find My iPhone

1. Open Settings and tap your name at the top.
2. Tap Find My › Find My iPhone.
3. Turn Find My iPhone off and enter your Apple Account password.

If Stolen Device Protection asks you to wait

With Stolen Device Protection on, turning off Find My away from a familiar location (like home or work) needs Face ID or Touch ID, and some changes trigger a one-hour security delay followed by a second Face ID scan. That’s by design. Either do this at home, or start the delay and come back after the hour. You can switch Stolen Device Protection off in Settings › Face ID & Passcode — which is subject to the same rules.

Step 2: Sign out of your Apple Account

1. Go to Settings › [your name].
2. Scroll to the bottom and tap Sign Out.
3. Enter your password and tap Turn Off.
4. Choose whether to keep a copy of data like Contacts on the phone (it’ll be erased in the next step anyway), then confirm.

Signing out also turns off Find My if you skipped step 1, and stops iMessage and FaceTime on the device. If you’re switching to Android, also deregister your number from iMessage on Apple’s website so texts reach you.

Step 3: Erase the iPhone

1. Go to Settings › General › Transfer or Reset iPhone.
2. Tap Erase All Content and Settings.
3. Enter your passcode. If you use an eSIM, choose whether to keep or remove it — for a sale, remove it unless your carrier says otherwise.
4. Wait until the phone restarts to the Hello screen. Don’t set it up again.

Step 4: Remove the iPhone from your Apple Account

This catches anything that didn’t sync and removes old devices from your trusted list:

1. Sign in at icloud.com/find, open All Devices and select the iPhone. If it’s still listed, choose Remove This Device.
2. Then go to account.apple.com › Devices, select the iPhone and choose Remove from account.
3. Remove any cards for that device in Wallet on your other devices if they still appear.

Already shipped the phone or handed it over? You can still do all of this remotely — no need to get it back.

Step 5: Verify Find My is OFF before you hand it over

Trade-in companies check Find My status when the phone arrives, and a careful buyer will check it before paying. Do it yourself first so there are no surprises:

• Turn the phone on. If the setup screens reach language and region without asking for an Apple Account, Activation Lock is gone.
• Or check the IMEI or serial number remotely with a Model + Find My status check, or the Model + Color + Storage + FMI report to share with your buyer.

Your first All-in-one check is free — enter the IMEI or serial:

Trading in with Apple or a carrier

Apple Trade In and carrier trade-in programs inspect the device when it arrives. If Find My is still on, the trade-in is usually rejected or the credit you were promised is reduced, and the phone may be sent back. If you trade in at an Apple Store, staff will normally ask you to turn off Find My and erase the phone at the counter, so bring your Apple Account password. For mail-in trade-ins, finish all five steps before you seal the box.

For the full list of what a buyer will look at, see our iCloud status check page.

Selling a Mac, iPad or AirPods? Same idea

• Mac: System Settings › [your name] › iCloud, turn off Find My Mac (or simply sign out from System Settings › [your name] › Sign Out), then erase via System Settings › General › Transfer or Reset › Erase All Content and Settings. Confirm with a MacBook FMI check.
• iPad: exactly the same steps as iPhone.
• AirPods: in the Find My app, select them under Devices and choose Remove This Device so the new owner can pair them.

Common mistakes

• Erasing through recovery mode or a computer restore without turning off Find My first — the phone stays locked to you.
• Removing the SIM and thinking that’s enough. Activation Lock has nothing to do with the SIM.
• Giving the buyer your Apple Account password “so they can sign out later”. Never share it — sign out yourself.
• Forgetting to unpair the Apple Watch, which keeps its own Activation Lock.

For the complete selling routine, see how to sell a phone safely and how to factory reset a phone properly. Curious what the buyer experiences if you skip these steps? Read Activation Lock explained.