How to Sign Out of Apple Messages

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Co-authored by wikiHow Staff

Last Updated: March 10, 2025

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• iPhone or iPad
|
• Mac

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This wikiHow teaches you how to sign out of iMessage so that you will only receive SMS texts through the Messages app.

Steps

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

iPhone or iPad

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1. 
   1
   Open your device's Settings. It is an app with three grey gears located on the home screen.

   • Sometimes, Settings may be located within the Utilities folder on the home screen.
2. 
   2
   Scroll down and tap Messages. It is located in the fifth group of menu options.
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3. 
   3
   Scroll down and tap Send & Receive. It is in the fourth group of menu options.
4. 
   4
   Tap Apple ID (your email).
5. 
   5
   Tap Sign Out. This will disable the app's ability to send and receive messages, while the ability to send and receive SMS messages (on iPhones) will remain.
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Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Mac

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1. 
   1
   Open Messages. It looks like a blue icon with a white ellipses in a thought bubble located on the dock or desktop.
2. 
   2
   Click Messages in the top left corner of the screen.
3. 
   3
   Click Preferences.
4. 
   4
   Click the Accounts tab.
5. 
   5
   Select your iMessages account if it is not highlighted in blue. The iMessages account will be listed with other accounts on the left side of the menu.
6. 
   6
   Click Sign Out. This will disable the app's ability to send and receive messages.

   • You will have to click Sign Out again if prompted to confirm.
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