How to cancel iCloud account

[Bruce Whittington]

It seems I have unintentionally set up an iCloud account when installing an El Capitan upgrade. I do not want an iCloud account. When I realized it was doing this, I tried everything I could think of to interrupt the process, finally - too late - forcing a computer shutdown. It appears that I am stuck with it, cannot delete or cancel it, with my only course being to not use the unwanted account. Does anyone know some way to get rid of this unrequested intrusion in my life? Failing that, is there a best way to express my discontent to Apple?

 

[chas_m]

It seems I have unintentionally set up an iCloud account when installing an El Capitan upgrade. I do not want an iCloud account.

As you yourself point out, you requested one when installing the El Capitan upgrade ... Apple does not require one, and doesn't create one without your indication that you want one. The lesson here is not to speed through the setup screens without reading them!

Here is how to delete an iCloud account, the result of a quick search engine search:

http://9to5mac.com/2014/07/19/how-to-sa ... os-device/

 

[DaveWT]

It seems to me if you go to System Preferences > iCloud on any Mac and sign out,
then go to Settings > iCloud, scroll to the very bottom and sign out on any iOS device, and
then in any Mail application you use just delete any account ending in "@icloud.com

after that there shouldn't be much (or any) intrusion in your life.

 

[Bruce Whittington]

Yes it is true I was too hasty when installing the upgrade. Is it too much to ask that a person be allowed to correct a mistake? Why is there no "go back" option in the process? And yes, I explored many sites that tell you how to unlist, delete, stop using etc. but none can explain how to remove the unwanted account entirely. Many explain that this is not possible, "has not been addressed by Apple" etc. Here is one:

http://www.cancel-help.com/delete-icloud-account/

I hoped VMUG might offer a definitive answer but perhaps there just isn't one. If I am forced to live with it, so be it, but it is a flaw in the system.

 

[chas_m]

Please follow the link in my post.

 

[Bruce Whittington]

I have visited that web site several times, both before and after I started this thread, and you posted the link. Note there is a comment posted more recently that says, "“Delete Account” button doesn’t exist- at least not anymore. It’s now “sign out”, so now we need a new way to DELETE old accounts." This aligns with the many other sources that agree that it appears to be impossible to delete an iCloud account - not delete it *from a device*, but delete it from iCloud entirely.

 

[chas_m]

I can't test this for obvious reasons, but I think you'll find that you can't delete an account until after you have signed out of it on all devices. I expect Apple has changed it to make it more difficult because deleting an account is a very permanent action, and a LOT of people (trust me on this, a SURPRISING number of people) try to delete their accounts without actually intending to actually delete it, or change their mind when it becomes more necessary and are **furious** that they lost their emails/photos in photo stream/etc as a result of their own actions.

It's possible that Apple no longer allows you to permanently delete an iCloud account (you'll have to call Apple and have a chat with them about that), but instead allows you to render it inactive (Facebook handles things in a similar way -- it is near-impossible to actually delete an FB account). You sign out of iCloud on all your devices, and remove the account from Mail. Turn off syncing to devices as well, since that uses iCloud.