How to turn iMessage off on any Mac

Sometimes, it’s time to say goodbye. It’s true that iMessage is one of the most popular messaging services out there. However, it also only works on Apple devices. Folks switching away from iMessage inevitably have to turn it off on their Mac. It’s not a difficult process. Here’s how to turn iMessage off on any Mac. Once you’ve turned it off, we also have a guide on how to delete iMessage messages on a Mac. 

How to turn off iMessage on Mac

Turning off iMessage is just as simple as turning it on. This should take you about 30 seconds.

• Open the Messages app on your Mac.
• In the top left corner, click Messages, and then Preferences.
• In the next window, click iMessage at the top.
• Untick the Enable Messages in iCloud box.
• A warning pop-up comes up letting you know that you’ll no longer be synced to iCloud. Tap Disable This Device to continue.
• iMessage is now disconnected from your Mac.

This won’t delete any messages currently in your Messages app. However, you will not receive any more messages from the service. Simply perform the tasks above again, except tick the box in the fourth step to revert these changes.

How to turn off iMessage notification sounds on Mac

Some of you may have stumbled upon this article because you want to turn off notification sounds from iMessage on your Mac. That’s also pretty easy to do.

• Open Messages.
• Click Messages in the top left corner and click Preferences.
• Click General in the next window if you’re not already there.
• Toward the bottom, there is a drop-down labeled Message received sound.
• Click that drop-down and scroll all the way to the bottom. Select None.
• Exit the Preferences window.
• You should no longer get notification sounds when using iMessage.

To revert, simply repeat the steps above and select any other sound aside from None.

Up next: How to set up and connect iMessage to any Mac

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