How to disable iCloud Photos on a Mac

This is a great and handy backup solution, but at the same time it can also consume quite a bit of limited storage space on your Mac. Here's how to disable iCloud Photos on a Mac.

Disable iCloud Photos on macOS

On a Mac, iCloud Photos works using the Photos app. If you turned on the iCloud Photos option the first time you set up your Mac, it means the Photos app stores low-resolution versions of all photos in your iCloud account. New photos and videos are automatically downloaded in the background, even if you aren't using the Photos app.

With how it works, it's no wonder that your Mac's photo library can be up to 20GB or more. And that's just space occupied by pictures that you don't even use. Turning off the iCloud Photos feature will be an effective way to get back the necessary storage space.

To do this, first open the Photos app on your Mac (from the Dock bar or using Spotlight Search).

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Next, click on the 'Photos' button from the top menu bar and choose the 'Preferences' option.

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Navigate to the 'iCloud' tab and uncheck the option of 'iCloud Photos'.

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Now your Mac will stop uploading and downloading new photos from the iCloud service. However, this will continue to work on your other Apple devices like iPhones and iPads.

(Also, after you turn off iCloud Photos service, the downloaded photos on your Mac will still be there.)

In the Photos app, go to the 'Library' tab and choose the photos you want to delete. Then right-click and click on the 'Delete Photos' button. Alternatively, you can also use the Delete key on your keyboard.

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Next, go to the 'Recently Deleted' section from the sidebar menu and click the 'Delete All' button.

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From the pop-up window, click the 'Delete' button to confirm.

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Now all media files will be deleted from the local storage on your Mac.

Micah Soto

Update 10 May 2021