How to Turn off Private Relay on iPhone 18 Pro

Although Private Relay offers significant privacy and security benefits, it may sometimes cause issues. A common issue for me is that Private Relay causes some websites not to work properly. For example, some websites are location-sensitive and need your location data, or else you won’t be able to use the website (or at least not be able to use all of the website’s features). This had become an issue for me for some sites, but I did not want to turn off Private Relay for good. Thus, I started turning it off temporarily and then turning it back on again. In this article, I will explain how to turn off Private Relay on iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max and Mac.

You may worry about turning off Private Relay and then forgetting to turn it on again. A nice feature that Apple has implemented is the ability to set it to turn on again automatically.

Private Relay is a feature of iCloud. It works by routing your Safari internet traffic through two separate relays, hiding your IP address and encrypting your browsing activity.

Before you turn it off: let just one website see your IP address

If the problem is a single website that won’t work with Private Relay, you may not need to turn Private Relay off at all. Apple documents a way to turn it off temporarily for that one website only — it is meant for sites that rely on IP filtering, monitoring or rate-limiting.

• On iPhone 18 Pro: in Safari, on the website, tap the button on the left side of the search field, tap Privacy & Security, then tap Show IP Address.
• On Mac: in Safari, choose View > Reload and Show IP Address.

Your IP address stays visible to that website until you leave it or close its Safari tab, and Private Relay remains on for every other website.

Turn off Private Relay on iPhone 18 Pro

1. Tap Settings.
2. Tap your name.
3. Tap iCloud.
4. Find the iCloud+ section and tap Private Relay.
5. Turn off the Private Relay switch. You will be asked to choose one of these options:
   • Turn Off Until Tomorrow – Choose this if your plan is to turn it on again.
   • Turn Off Private Relay

Turn off Private Relay on Mac

1. Go to the System Settings app on your Mac.
2. Click your name at the top of the sidebar.
3. Click iCloud, click Private Relay, then turn off Private Relay.
4. Do one of the following:
   • Turn off iCloud Private Relay temporarily: Click Turn Off Until Tomorrow.
     Within 24 hours, iCloud Private Relay will turn back on automatically.
   • Turn off iCloud Private Relay completely: Click Turn Off Private Relay.
5. Click Done.

Other notes about Private Relay

• You can easily turn Private Relay off or on as many times as you would like.
• Since this is an iCloud feature, you may wonder if turning off Private Relay on one device will turn it off on your other devices using the same Apple Account. The answer is no. For example, if you turn off Private Relay on your Mac, this won’t affect your Private Relay setting on your iPhone 18 Pro. Apple notes that if you turn off Limit IP Address Tracking for a Wi-Fi network on your iPhone, Private Relay is turned off for that network across all your devices signed in to the same Apple Account.