How to stop Reminders syncing between iPhone, Mac and iPadHow to stop Reminders syncing between iPhone, Mac and iPad

Reminders syncs between an iPhone, iPad and Mac through iCloud, and it stops syncing on any device where Reminders is switched off in that device's iCloud settings.

There is no single switch that keeps one device's reminders private while the others carry on. Sync is decided per device: each iPhone, iPad or Mac signed in to the same Apple Account shows your iCloud reminders only while Reminders is turned on for iCloud there. Apple's iCloud guide states that a device with the feature turned off cannot access your iCloud reminders. The steps below are for iOS 27, iPadOS 27 and macOS 27, with the older Mac paths noted.

How do I stop Reminders syncing on iPhone or iPad?

Apple gives two routes. The first is the iCloud switch, which is what most people want:

• Open Settings and tap your name at the top.
• Tap iCloud, then tap See All next to Saved to iCloud.
• Tap Reminders and turn it off for this iPhone or iPad.

The second route, in Apple's iPhone User Guide, goes through the Reminders settings instead: Settings, then Apps, then Reminders, then Reminders Accounts. Tap the account and turn off Reminders. This is the one to use for an account other than iCloud, such as Microsoft Exchange, and it leaves that account's mail and calendars alone.

How do I stop Reminders syncing on a Mac?

• Choose Apple menu, then System Settings, then click your name at the top of the sidebar.
• Click iCloud, click See All next to Saved to iCloud, and turn Reminders off. On macOS 13.3 to 14 the list is under Apps Using iCloud, behind Show All or Show More Apps.
• Alternatively, click Internet Accounts in the sidebar, choose iCloud, and turn off Reminders.

Apple's Mac guide says the account's lists and reminders then stop appearing in Reminders on that Mac, and come back when the switch is turned on again. The same switch exists for other providers that offer reminders, such as Yahoo; if a provider has no Reminders switch, it does not support them.

What happens to the reminders already on the device?

This is where Apple's pages differ. Its general article on iCloud sync says that with an app turned off, the data only exists on your device. Its Reminders guides are more specific: the iCloud reminders leave that device, and stay in iCloud and on every other device still syncing. A thread on Apple's community forum, running back several iOS versions, reports that the iPhone prompt reads Delete from My iPhone, with no option to keep a copy. The Reminders guides match what people see, so expect the lists to disappear from the device you switch off. Nothing is deleted from iCloud.

If something goes wrong, iCloud.com keeps archived versions. Under Data Recovery, Restore Calendars and Reminders rolls both back to an earlier date; Apple warns that sharing settings are lost and shared lists have to be shared again. It does not say how long the archives are kept.

Our take

Most people asking this question want one of two things, and the right setting differs. If the problem is a shared family iPad or a work Mac showing your personal lists, turn Reminders off in iCloud on that device only, and your iPhone carries on as before. If the problem is that you want reminders kept off Apple's servers altogether, turning sync off on one device does not do it: the lists are still in iCloud, and removing them means deleting the lists while sync is still on, which removes them from iCloud and every device, after moving anything worth keeping to another account.

From a design point of view, that second case is where Apple's interface lets people down. The iPhone prompt names deletion from the phone, which sounds alarming and is technically about the local copy. A clearer prompt would say where the reminders still live. Until it does, the advice APPDOOK gives anyone nervous about the switch is to open icloud.com/reminders first and check the lists are there, so the warning is about a copy rather than the only one.

Two trade-offs are worth knowing before leaving iCloud. Apple's guides say some Reminders features do not work with other providers' accounts, without listing which, and require updated iCloud reminders; anyone relying on the typed descriptions and grocery sorting Reminders gained in iOS 27 should test them on the new account before moving everything. And in our judgement switching off Reminders frees next to no storage, since reminders are mostly text; anyone doing it to stay under a plan limit will get further with the ways round iCloud's jump from 200GB to 2TB.