How to stop "iCloud full" prompts when not using iCloud?
Obnoxious prompt. “iCloud full, buy storage.” How do I stop this? I do NOT use iCloud at all, and have not for 5+ years!
iPhone 14 Pro Max, iOS 26
Question marked as
susanfromtexoma wrote:
Obnoxious prompt. “iCloud full, buy storage.” How do I stop this? I do NOT use iCloud at all, and have not for 5+ years!
The “iCloud full” prompt appears even when you believe you are not using iCloud because Apple continues to display these alerts as long as any iCloud service remains enabled in the background. Even a single active toggle—such as iCloud Backup, Photos, or Contacts—counts as iCloud usage and triggers the notification. This behavior is intentional and not a software bug.
To permanently stop the alerts, you must confirm what is still using iCloud. On your iPhone, go to Settings, tap your Apple ID at the top, select iCloud, then choose Manage Storage. In most cases, you will find that at least one service is still active, often iCloud Backup, iCloud Photos, Messages in iCloud, iCloud Drive, or background app data such as Notes, Health, Safari, or Contacts. Any enabled service will cause the warning to continue.
Next, turn off every iCloud service. Navigate to Settings → Apple ID → iCloud and disable all listed options, including iCloud Backup, Photos, Drive, Messages, Contacts, Notes, Safari, Health, Mail, Keychain, and optionally Find My. When prompted, always choose “Keep on iPhone” rather than deleting data. This ensures nothing is removed from your device while severing the iCloud connection.
Disabling iCloud Backup is especially important, as it is one of the most common causes of persistent alerts. Go to Settings → Apple ID → iCloud → iCloud Backup and switch it off completely. For many users, this step alone stops the notification from reappearing.
If you want to ensure that iCloud is no longer involved at all, you can sign out of iCloud entirely. From Settings, tap your Apple ID and select Sign Out. You may still sign back into the App Store only, if desired, while keeping iCloud services disabled. This option completely eliminates all iCloud storage prompts.
In rare cases, the notification may persist briefly even after disabling everything. Restarting the iPhone usually clears it. If needed, you can also go to Settings → Notifications → System Services and turn off iCloud-related notifications.
Ultimately, this issue occurs because Apple enables iCloud services by default and aggressively promotes storage upgrades whenever enabled services exceed the free tier—even if the usage is accidental or legacy. The most reliable way to avoid these prompts is to disable all iCloud features or sign out entirely and rely on local backups through Finder or iTunes instead.
