How to Unsync iPhone and iPad: Best Useful Guide

Apple provides some tools like iCloud, Family Sharing, iTunes to automatically sync content between iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and MacBook. So, you can enjoy your music, movies, TVs on different devices, and share data with your family and friends.

Typically, all Apple devices sync with each other under certain circumstances, such as enabling iCloud Library, signing in with the same Apple ID, subscribing to iTunes Match, turning on Family Sharing or Automatic Downloads, and more.

Why unsync your Apple devices?

Although it is convenient to sync data between iPhone and iPad, many times this may bring some unwanted data to your iPhone or iPad. For example, if you turn on sync, photos taken by you or your family will be synced on your iPhone or iPad device, which can take up a lot of storage space. On the other hand, this will leave you or your family without any privacy. 

After data synchronization, the previous data may be overwritten. As more and more data syncs, your iPhone will also run out of space. So, you want to save data separately on your device.

Sometimes, you also want to unsync your devices because you have reached the limit on the number of connected devices and want to add a new one, or you want to sell your old device to stop sharing data to protect your privacy too.

How to unsync iPhone and iPad easily

There are some helpful tips to unlink iPad and iPhone or Mac. Usually, you can unsync your Apple devices by removing all linked devices, disabling iCloud sync, or turning off the Handoff feature.

Tips:
● When you delete an associated device from iPhone, it will prevent the device from accessing any of your data stored on iPhone.
● Once iCloud sync is disabled, your information on iCloud will never sync to all other devices.
● Handoff can be very handy if you want to continue your activities from iPhone to iPad, iPod, or mac and vice versa.

Now, let’s see how to easily disconnect iPad from iPhone by following few simple steps.

Method 1. View and remove all associated devices

There are several ways to view and remove associated devices with the same ID. You can follow the steps listed below to perform.

1. How to unsync iPad from iPhone from the device itself

Steps: Go to Settings on your iPad > tap your Apple ID user name > scroll down and click Sign out.

2. How to unsync Apple devices on your iPhone

Steps: Go to Settings on your iPhone > tap [your name] > scroll down and you will see your list of Apple ID devices > tap the device name that you want to remove> click Remove from Account > tap Remove.

3. Remove devices from iTunes & App Store

Steps: Go to Settings on your device > tap iTunes & App Store > View Apple ID > enter your password > scroll down to click Remove This Device.

Note: If you want to unsync iPhone and iPad apps, you can toggle off Apps in the Automatic Downloads section under iTunes & App Store.

4. How to stop iPad and iPhone syncing with iTunes

Steps: Start the latest iTunes on your computer > Account > View My Account > Enter your password if necessary > In the iTunes in the Cloud section, click Manage Devices> you'll see a list of all the devices associated with your Apple ID, click Remove for any devices you want to disconnect.

Tip: If you want to know how to unsync iPhone from Mac, you can launch the latest iTunes on your Mac> tap Preferences/Edit > select the given Devices tab from the drop-down menu> check the option next to Disable automatic synchronization for iPod, iPhone, and iPad.

Method 2. Separate iPad from iPhone by turning off Handoff

The second method to separate iPhone and iPad is to turn off Handoff. With Handoff, you can start an action on one device (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, or Apple Watch) and pick up where you left off on another device. For example, you can copy content from your iPhone and paste them on your iPad.

Follow the steps below to turn it off:

Steps: Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad> tap General > click Handoff > Turn off Handoff by swiping the button to the left.

✍Note: If your iPhone and iPad continue to sync data with each other after removing all associated devices or turning off Handoff, you can try creating a completely new Apple ID, canceling all related Subscription, Family Sharing mode and logging into a new account on your iPhone or iPad so they don't sync with each other.

How to stop syncing photos/mail/messages/safari from iPhone to iPad with iCloud

When iCloud sync is enabled, data on your device (including Photos, Messages, Safari, Phone Calls, Email, Calendar) will automatically sync to associated devices signed in with the same Apple ID.

Therefore, if you want to stop syncing photos, mail, messages, safari, etc., between iPhone and iPad. You can disable them on iCloud, and new data will no longer be saved to iCloud.

Steps: Go to the Settings app on your iPad/iPhone > Tap [your name] > click iCloud > toggle off the icon of Photos, Mail, Messages, Safari, etc. that you want to unsync.

Bonus: How to share data between iPhone and iPad in a proper way 

Syncing data between iOS devices is convenient, but can also lead to a lack of phone storage or privacy, etc. In fact, you can selectively transfer the data you want to sync to your computer for backup and management without losing important data or greatly increasing the space on your iPhone or iPad, while also protecting your privacy.

Here, I recommend you a powerful transfer tool-AOMEI FoneBackup. It is one of the best iOS data transfer and backup utility, syncing photos between iPhone and iPad is much more convenient than iCloud or iTunes. It's also a perfect alternative when you're having trouble syncing data between iOS devices. 

Why choose AOMEI FoneBackup?

✿ Preview and select the data you want to keep, support transfer data from one Apple ID to another.
✿ Support incremental backup to save new data.
✿ Supports transfer and backup all kinds of files, including photos, videos, contacts, messages, music, etc., in a very fast speed.
✿ Allows you to transfer data from iPhone/iPad to external hard drive without data loss.
✿ Supports all iOS models and versions even the latest ones, and perfectly works on Windows 11/10/8/7.

Free download AOMEI FoneBackup to share data between your iOS devices in a few clicks.

Step 1. Run AOMEI FoneBackup on your computer, connect your iPhone, and click Phone Transfer > Locate iPhone to PC and click Get Started.

Step 2. Click the "+" icon, choose the data you want to move, and then tap OK.

Step 3. Choose a storage path from Transfer Settings to save your data, click Start Transfer.

Step 4. Unplug your iPhone and connect your iPad to the computer, click PC to iPhone on the home interface, and choose the data you have saved on your computer, then click Start Transfer to import them to your iPad.

Conclusion

All in all, this post provides some detailed steps on how to unsync iPhone and iPad. You can choose one to separate your iPhone and iPad or mac according to your needs.

If you want to share some files between your iOS devices but don't want them to be in sync with each other all the time, you can let AOMEI FoneBackup help you selectively transfer the data you want. In addition, its powerful backup feature also protects your data from loss.