How to disable Google Drive on Android, iOS, and Windows

Google Drive is really a big part of the Android experience but it’s also widely used on iOS and Windows/macOS. Some users find it valuable and rely on it on daily basis and some dislike it and opt for different cloud services. If you’re in the second group and want to know how to disable Google Drive, keep reading.

Table of contents:

1. Disable auto-backups
2. Uninstall Google Drive or disable it on Android
3. Remove Google Drive on your iPhone
4. Uninstall Google Drive on your PC

How do I turn Google Drive off?

If we exclude backups, Google Drive doesn’t do much in the background. You can always disable auto-backups or uninstall/disable the app. Both on your Android and iPhone.

On your PC, you can prevent Drive from starting, pause syncing, or you can simply uninstall the app.

1. Disable auto-backups

Google Drive won’t sync anything from your device automatically but will back up system settings in the background. If you don’t want it to do that on your Android, you can safely disable auto-backups and back up your device manually. Or use whatever cloud service the OEM offers, like Samsung Cloud or Mi Cloud, to back up your device.

Here’s how to disable automatic Google Drive backups on your Android:

1. Open Settings.
2. Select Accounts.
3. Choose Back up data in the Google Drive section.
4. Toggle off the Backup by Google One option.

2. Uninstall Google Drive or disable it on Android

If you don’t want Google Drive on your Android, you can uninstall it or at least disable it. Disabled apps will take the minimum of storage and won’t be available for use. Unless you enable them first. You can disable Google Drive even on Pixel devices with Android built closely around Google’s services.

Here’s how to uninstall Google Drive or disable it on Android:

1. Open Settings.
2. Select Apps. Expand all apps.
3. Choose Drive from the list of available apps.
4. Tap Uninstall or Disable at the bottom.

3. Remove Google Drive on your iPhone

The procedure is almost the same on iPhone. Just, this time, you can uninstall Google Drive without anything holding you back. Google Drive on iOS is strictly optional and you can remove it whenever you please to do so.

Here’s how to remove Google Drive on your iPhone:

1. On your iPhone or iPad, open Settings.
2. Select General.
3. Choose iPhone Storage.
4. Tap Google Drive.
5. Tap Delete App.

4. Uninstall Google Drive on your PC

Google replaced the Backup & Sync tool with Google Drive for Desktop last year (2021) and, objectively speaking, the new desktop client is much better. However, some users don’t like that it works in the background, backing up files automatically.

The first thing you can do is just prevent Google Drive for desktop from automatically starting with the system. After that, you can Pause syncing and, finally, you can just uninstall Google Drive from your PC.

Here’s how to prevent Google Drive for Desktop from starting on Windows 10/11:

1. Open Google Drive settings from the notification area.
2. Click on Settings (cog icon) and open Preferences.
3. Once more, click on the Settings (cog icon).
4. Uncheck the “Launch Google Drive on system startup” box. On the next system boot-up, Google Drive won’t start with the system.

To pause syncing, right-click on the Drive icon in the notification area, click on the cog icon, and select Pause syncing from the contextual menu.

And this is how to uninstall Google Drive for Desktop on your Windows 10/11 PC:

1. Press the Windows key + I to open Settings.
2. Select Apps.
3. Open Apps & features.
4. In the App list, locate Google Drive.
5. Click on the 3-dots menu next to it and click Uninstall.

With that said, we can conclude this article. Thank you for reading and we hope we provided you with the insight you were looking for. What cloud service do you prefer over Google Drive? Tell us in the comments section below.