Apple will likely reveal its iPhone 17 in a few weeks at its September event. But before you upgrade to that device, Apple suggests you turn off Find My on your old iPhone.
Apple’s Find My app can help you locate your luggage in a busy airport, find a single missing AirPod, and ensure you know where all your devices are. Disabling Find My on an iPhone before you give it away turns off its Activation Lock feature. This feature could prevent others from using the device, so it is great if your iPhone is stolen or someone else has it. However, if you give your iPhone to a friend, Activation Lock could prevent them from using your former device. Luckily, you can turn Find My off in a few easy steps.
Here’s how to turn off Find My before you get rid of your old iPhone.
How to turn off Find My
1. Tap Settings on your iPhone.
2. Tap your name across the top of the menu.
3. Tap Find My.
4. Tap Find My iPhone.
5. In the new menu, toggle off Find My iPhone.
Now you should be good to give your iPhone away, but if you have Stolen Device Protection turned on, you won’t be able to turn Find My off. If you do have Stolen Device Protection turned on, here’s how to disable it so you can turn Find My off.
1. Tap Settings on your iPhone.
2. Tap Face ID & Passcode. You might have to enter your Passcode here to continue.
3. Tap Stolen Device Protection.
4. In the new menu, toggle on Stolen Device Protection.
Once Stolen Device Protection is disabled, follow the steps above to turn off Find My. But before you give away your iPhone, don’t forget to remove all of your personal information then factory reset your device, just in case. You don’t want any of that information floating around.
For more iOS news, here are my first impressions of the beta version of iOS 26, how to enable call screening in the beta and all the new features Apple said it will bring to your device later this year. You can get an early view of the upcoming iPhone features with our iOS 26 cheat sheet.
