How to Replace Apple in Your Life: Alternatives for Every Service

To replace Apple, first request a copy of your data at privacy.apple.com and copy your photos, passwords and messages off your devices yourself, because the export leaves out anything end to end encrypted. Then move each service to an open standard or open source replacement (IMAP mail, CalDAV and CardDAV, Nextcloud, Immich, Signal, OpenStreetMap maps), switch phones with Android's own iPhone transfer tool, deregister iMessage and remove Activation Lock before you sell any device.

The rest of this guide goes service by service: the Apple export step from Apple's support pages, the destination setup from that project's official docs, and what you lose. Nothing here is a ranking. Alternatives are compared by criteria, and every source is linked at the end.

Key takeaways

• Apple's data copy covers iCloud contacts, calendars, notes, bookmarks, reminders, mail, photos, videos and documents, plus account and purchase records. You get 14 days to download it once it is ready.
• The copy excludes end to end encrypted data, including Messages content and iCloud Keychain passwords. With Advanced Data Protection on, Photos, Notes and iCloud Backup are excluded too.
• Passwords exported from the Passwords app on a Mac land in an unencrypted CSV. Import it straight away, then delete it.
• Migrate in order: export, set up replacements on the iPhone you still have, switch phones, deregister iMessage, sign out and erase. Delete the Apple Account last, if at all.
• Apple says erasing a device turns off Find My and Activation Lock, and that once an account is deleted you can no longer turn off Activation Lock on devices you forgot.
• Leaving one vendor means you now patch a mix of apps, servers and maybe a custom Android build. Plan for that before you start.

What replacing Apple involves

Most of Apple's lock-in lives in services tied to one Apple Account: iCloud storage and sync, messaging, payments, device location and app distribution. Replacing Apple mostly means moving those. You can do it in stages; mail on your own domain, contacts and calendars on open protocols, and a photo library you hold yourself are the easiest high value moves.

There are three kinds of replacement, and you can mix them:

A self-hosted server you forget to patch is a worse home for family photos than a large cloud. If you self-host, treat it as production software.

The order to migrate in

1. Request the data copy at privacy.apple.com. It takes time, so start first.
2. Copy what the export leaves out: photo originals, passwords, Messages you care about, Health data.
3. Set up replacements on the iPhone you still have. Add the new mail, CalDAV and CardDAV accounts and check they sync.
4. Move two-factor authentication. Re-enrol authenticator codes and passkeys stored on the iPhone before it is erased. If your number will change, Apple says to add another trusted phone number to your Apple Account first.
5. Move to the new phone with its maker's transfer tool.
6. Deregister iMessage and FaceTime.
7. Sign out of iCloud, remove Apple Pay cards and erase old devices.
8. Decide on the Apple Account: keep it dormant, deactivate where available, or delete it.

Step 1: get a copy of your data from privacy.apple.com

Apple's article "Get a copy of the data associated with your Apple Account" describes the request. Availability varies by country and region.

1. Sign in to your Apple Account at privacy.apple.com.
2. Select "Request a copy of your data".
3. Select the data you want. If the option is missing, Apple says the feature is not available in your region.
4. Select Continue.

Apple verifies you are the account holder, prepares the files, posts them to your Data and Privacy page and notifies you. You have 14 days to download them. Photos, videos and documents come in original formats; contacts, calendars, bookmarks and mail in formats such as .vcf, .ics, .html and .eml; app usage data as .json, .csv or .pdf. Apple publishes file guides explaining each file.

What is not in it. Apple says data stored "in an end-to-end encrypted format that Apple cannot decrypt" is not provided:

• Messages. Apple says your messages are encrypted on your device and cannot be accessed without your passcode.
• iCloud Keychain passwords. Apple's iCloud data security overview lists them among 15 categories end to end encrypted even under standard data protection.
• More with Advanced Data Protection. Apple says it raises the count to 25 categories, including iCloud Backup, Photos and Notes. Copy those from your devices.
• Purchased content. You get a list of App Store, iTunes Store and Apple Books purchases, not the files. Redownload what you own.
• Masked fields such as card details, device identifiers and email addresses. FaceTime invitation logs and AppleCare case notes need separate requests.

Users in the EU, UK and Japan can schedule recurring downloads of some subsets. Apple also says you can check the status of any transfer of your data to another provider on the Data and Privacy page; the transfer options offered there vary by region, so check what you see.

Store the export on an encrypted disk with one offline copy, and delete stray copies from your Downloads folder once you have moved what you need.

Apple services and their replacements at a glance

iCloud Mail

For a mailbox you can import elsewhere, Apple's Mail app on a Mac exports mbox archives. Select your iCloud inbox in the sidebar, choose Mailbox, then Export Mailbox, and pick a destination folder. Repeat for each folder, not just the inbox. The privacy.apple.com copy also contains mail as .eml or .html.

Choose a provider with standard IMAP that lets you use your own domain. With a custom domain, a future move means changing DNS records, not telling everyone a new address. For a desktop client, Thunderbird is open source; its privacy notice says your name, messages and address book "are stored and processed locally on your device," and that it sends interaction and technical telemetry, which you can review in settings.

Then change the login email on every account that uses your iCloud address, while the old inbox still receives confirmations. Do the same for any iCloud relay addresses you used to sign up for sites. Apple says that when an Apple Account is deleted, all iCloud email is permanently deleted and new mail is not delivered.

iCloud Drive

Apple's article "Archive or make copies of the information you store in iCloud" gives three routes:

• Mac: click iCloud Drive in a Finder sidebar, select files, choose Edit, then Copy, and paste elsewhere.
• iPhone: in Files, open iCloud Drive, tap More, tap Select, choose items, tap More, then Copy Items, and paste into On My iPhone.
• Web: sign in to iCloud.com, open iCloud Drive, select a file and click Download.

Apple notes that optimized files download before copying, so you need free space, and that copying from a shared folder does not copy its sharing access. Third party app data in iCloud may be invisible in Files; Apple says to ask the developer.

Nextcloud is open source software you run yourself or rent from a host. Its manual says to install the Android client from Google Play or F-Droid and sign in with your server URL; desktop clients sync a local folder. Copy your export into that folder. If you self-host, use HTTPS, require two-factor authentication, automate OS updates and keep a backup on another machine.

iCloud Photos

Apple's archive article gives the full resolution route on an iPhone with an external drive attached:

1. Open Settings, tap your name, tap iCloud, then Photos, and choose Download and Keep Originals.
2. In Photos, tap Select, choose items, tap Share, then Export Unmodified Original.
3. Choose the external drive under Locations and tap Save.

On a Mac, select items in Photos and choose File, then Export. iCloud.com also downloads selections, as a .zip on iPhone. Apple warns that photos saved from Shared Albums may not be full resolution and lose comments and likes. With Advanced Data Protection on, copying from a device is the only route.

Immich is an open source photo server you host yourself. Its quick start, run in a new directory:

# From the Immich quick start documentation
wget -O docker-compose.yml https://github.com/immich-app/immich/releases/latest/download/docker-compose.yml
wget -O .env https://github.com/immich-app/immich/releases/latest/download/example.env
# edit .env: set UPLOAD_LOCATION and DB_PASSWORD first
docker compose up -d

The first user to register becomes the admin. The mobile app then backs up the albums you select. Do not make a self-hosted server your only copy: keep the exported originals on a separate drive and test a restore before deleting anything from iCloud. A plain folder of originals backed up in two places is also a perfectly good library.

Contacts, Calendars, Reminders and Notes

From Apple's archive article:

• Contacts (Mac): open Contacts, select All Contacts, choose File, then Export, then Export vCard. If you use lists, also export a Contacts Archive; vCards do not keep lists.
• Calendars (Mac): click the calendar's name, choose File, then Export.
• Calendars (iCloud.com): Apple's method shares the calendar publicly, has you change "webcal" to "http" in the link to download an ICS file, then stop sharing. Until you stop, anyone with the link can read it, so stop immediately.
• Notes (Mac): in macOS Tahoe or later, File, then Export as PDF or Markdown; earlier versions export PDF.
• Reminders: only macOS Mojave or earlier exports to a file, so plan to recreate lists.

Apple adds that iCloud Calendar keeps events from the last six months and up to three years ahead, so export from the Mac if you need older history.

Contacts and calendars are where open standards are strongest. The Nextcloud manual shows how to add your server to the iPhone you still have, so you can test before switching:

1. In Nextcloud, open Settings, then Security, then Devices and sessions, and create an app password.
2. On the iPhone, open Settings, Apps, Calendar, Calendar Accounts, Add Account, Other, Add CalDAV Account.
3. Enter your server domain, the app login and the app password. If needed, use Advanced Settings with the path example.com/remote.php/dav/principals/users/username/ and SSL on.

Add contacts the same way as a CardDAV account, import your vCard and ICS files to the server, and watch them appear. On Android the manual uses DAVx5, from Google Play or F-Droid. Use one app password per device so a lost phone means revoking one password, nothing more.

iCloud Keychain, Passwords and passkeys

Apple's Passwords User Guide for macOS: open Passwords, choose File, then Export All Passwords to File, click Export Passwords, and save. Apple warns exported passwords "are not encrypted and are visible to anyone who has access to the file," and says to delete the file after importing. Do the import at once, on a trusted machine, outside any synced folder.

Apple lists what cannot be exported: Wi-Fi passwords, passwords shared with a group you did not create, and Sign in with Apple accounts. So before erasing the iPhone:

• For each passkey stored in iCloud Keychain, sign in and add a passkey from your new manager or phone, and test it.
• For each app using Sign in with Apple, add a password or another sign in method in the app's account settings.
• Re-enrol one-time code generators on the new device through each site's two-factor settings.

This guide does not name password manager brands. Judge them on client-side encryption with a published design, a readable independent audit, CSV import, passkey support on your platforms, and a usable export if you leave.

iMessage and FaceTime

Signal is an open source messenger that runs on iPhone and Android. Its privacy policy says Signal "cannot decrypt or otherwise access the content of your messages or calls," that message history is stored on your own devices, and that you register with a phone number. Move important conversations to it before you switch. For ordinary texts, Android's switching page notes RCS works between Android and iOS, including high resolution photos.

Messages content is not in Apple's export, so save the conversations and attachments you care about from the iPhone itself.

How to deregister iMessage

Skip this and iPhone users may keep sending iMessages to your number that never reach the new phone. Apple's page "Deregister iMessage on your iPhone or online" gives two methods.

If you still have the iPhone:

1. If you moved the SIM to the new phone, put it back in the iPhone.
2. Connect to the cellular data network.
3. Open Settings, tap Apps, tap Messages, and turn off iMessage.
4. Go back to Settings, tap Apps, tap FaceTime, and turn off FaceTime.

If you no longer have it: use selfsolve.apple.com/deregister-imessage. Apple says texts should arrive right away, but some Apple devices may take a few hours to notice. iMessages sent to your Apple Account email still reach any Apple devices you remain signed in to.

Apple Maps

There is little to export from Apple Maps beyond saved places, so this move is mostly choosing an app. OpenStreetMap's wiki describes the project as "a free, editable map of the whole world" built by volunteers under an open licence. Organic Maps is an offline maps app whose privacy policy says it has "no tracking, no ads," and collects no location or personal data from your device. Offline routing also keeps searches off any server. Expect thinner live traffic, transit and opening hours in some regions; many people keep one commercial map for traffic. Anyone can fix errors in OpenStreetMap.

Safari

Apple's archive article: in Safari on a Mac, choose File, then Export Browsing Data to File, choose what to export and save. Import the file with your new browser's bookmark import.

Firefox is open source. Mozilla's privacy notice says "What little we do know, we never sell," but read the detail: search suggestions are on by default and send what you type to your search provider, New Tab can show sponsored content, and sync data falls under a Mozilla account's terms. Review those settings on first run. In any browser, keep automatic updates on and install few extensions, only from the official add-on store.

App Store

App Store purchases are licensed for Apple platforms and do not move to Android. List the apps you rely on, check each has an Android version, and cancel subscriptions billed through Apple in your Apple Account.

On Android, Google Play is the default store. F-Droid catalogues free and open source apps; its security model page says it borrows from how distributions such as Debian publish software, with a unique signing key per repository, HTTPS only, and Android checking that updates match the installed app's signature. When we fetched it, F-Droid's site showed a notice that Google is changing how apps are installed on Android, so check the current state before planning around apps outside Google Play.

Every extra app source is another party you trust to sign software. Use official sites only, never install an APK sent in a message, and leave "install unknown apps" off for everything except the store you chose. Our post on iOS sideloading security implications covers the same trade-off from Apple's side.

Apple Music

Separate what you own from what you rent. Apple says DRM-free iTunes Store purchases keep working after account deletion, but DRM-free content stored only in Sync Library becomes inaccessible, so download purchases and any iTunes Match tracks you lack first. DRM-protected purchases such as movies stop working or stop updating after deletion. Apple Music streaming ends with the subscription, so rebuild playlists, after checking privacy.apple.com for transfer options in your region. The open route is music files you own, in any player, backed up like your photos.

Apple Pay

Apple's selling checklist says to remove cards and passes from Wallet, and erasing the iPhone removes Apple Pay cards too. Watch transit cards: Apple says deleting your account loses access to transit cards in Apple Pay and Apple cannot refund the balance, so spend it or ask the transit operator. On the new phone, add cards to its wallet, or use your bank's app or a physical card.

Find My

Find My locates devices and powers Activation Lock, which Apple says is designed to stop anyone else using a lost or stolen iPhone or iPad. Replace the first job and switch off the second.

On Android, Google's page "Be ready to find a lost Android device" says Find Hub can ring, locate, secure and erase phones, tablets, Wear OS watches, headphones and tracker tags. On day one: turn on location; open Settings and confirm Find Hub is on (under Security on many phones); set a PIN, pattern or password, which Google says offline finding needs; and review offline finding, where Google says devices by default store encrypted recent locations with Google and join a network that uses end to end encrypted location data.

Accessories tied to Apple's Find My network are managed from Apple devices, so deal with them before you give up your last one. For what Find My does on a phone that looks switched off, see Is an iPhone really off? Find My when powered off.

How to move from iPhone to Android

Android's official switch page describes two methods; the new phone tells you which applies.

Upgraded method (select Pixel and Samsung phones, wireless or cable):

1. Charge both phones. On the Android phone, choose to set up with an iPhone.
2. Scan the QR code on the Android phone with the iPhone's camera.
3. Choose the data to copy and keep the phones side by side until done.
4. Transfer or set up your eSIM; Google notes this depends on brand and carrier.
5. Transfer WhatsApp separately afterwards.

Classic method (other Android phones, cable or the Android Switch app):

1. Choose to set up with an iPhone and sign in to your Google Account.
2. Connect the phones with a cable when prompted and choose apps and data.
3. Wait for the completion screen.
4. On the iPhone, open Settings, Apps, Messages, and turn off iMessage.

Google's Pixel help adds that data in Google apps travels with the Google Account and that some manufacturer-specific app data may not transfer. Expect to sign in to each app again and re-register banking apps. Stock Android setup uses a Google Account, but you can keep its role small with your own mail, CalDAV and CardDAV, and Signal.

Privacy-focused Android distributions

Judge any distribution on device support and update policy before features. GrapheneOS's FAQ lists the specific Pixel models it supports, says broad device support "is counter to the aims of the project," states that 8th generation and later Pixels get a minimum of 7 years of support from launch, and lists verified boot with rollback protection for firmware and the OS. It drops devices once firmware and vendor code are no longer maintained.

General rules for any project:

• Install only on a listed device, using the project's official install guide.
• Relock the bootloader where the project supports it. An unlocked bootloader on a daily phone weakens protection against someone with brief physical access.
• Compare how fast it ships security patches with the phone maker. Lagging months behind is a downgrade from the iPhone you left.
• Check your must-have apps first. Some banking and payment apps that rely on Google's device integrity checks may not run.

For the platforms themselves, see iPhone vs Samsung Galaxy security compared.

Leaving the Mac too

macOS uses ordinary file formats, so once iCloud data is out, copy your home folder to an external drive, export anything inside app libraries, and install the new OS from its official site only. Sign out of iCloud before erasing so Activation Lock does not follow the Mac.

Remove Activation Lock before you sell or give away a device

Apple says Activation Lock stores your Apple Account on its activation servers, linked to the device, and your password is then needed before anyone can turn off Find My, erase it, or reactivate it. Forget to turn it off, and the next owner has a locked phone.

If you still have the device

From Apple's "What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your iPhone or iPad":

1. Back up, and confirm your data is on the new phone. Unpair any Apple Watch.
2. Sign out. On iOS 26 or later: Settings, tap your name, Sign Out, then choose Erase this device or Sign Out But Don't Erase. On iOS 18 or earlier: Settings, your name, Sign Out, enter your password, tap Turn Off.
3. If switching to a non-Apple phone, deregister iMessage.
4. Open Settings, General, Transfer or Reset, then Erase All Content and Settings, and confirm.
5. For an eSIM phone you are selling, erase the device and the eSIM profile when asked.

Apple states that erasing turns off Find My and Activation Lock and removes Apple Pay cards, but does not delete your content from iCloud. Then remove the device from your account: on another Apple device, tap your name, the device, then Remove from Account, or at account.apple.com select Devices, the device, then Remove from Account. Apple says removed devices lose iCloud and Find My access and stop showing verification codes.

If the device is gone or offline

From Apple's "How to remove Activation Lock": go to icloud.com/find, sign in, select the device and click Remove This Device. Apple says this may work for an iPhone even when it is online. With proof of purchase you can open an Activation Lock support request; for an employer or school device, IT must release it.

If you are buying a used iPhone

Apple says a locked device on iOS 15 or later shows "iPhone Locked to Owner" at start-up, and if you see a passcode screen or home screen it has not been erased. Do not take ownership until it is erased and unlinked.

Keep, deactivate or delete your Apple Account

You do not have to delete the account to leave. A dormant account with two-factor authentication costs nothing and keeps DRM purchases playable; Apple also suggests temporary deactivation, where available.

Before deleting, Apple's "How to delete your Apple Account" says to back up iCloud data somewhere that does not need the account, download purchases, cancel AppleCare (you cannot delete with an active plan), review subscriptions (they end at the billing cycle), and sign out of all devices. You then receive an alphanumeric access code, which lets you cancel during a short processing window. Once deletion completes, Apple cannot restore anything, and you cannot reuse the email or phone number for a new Apple Account for several years. A family group is disbanded and members lose shared content.

Common mistakes

• Erasing the iPhone before exporting passwords and Messages. The export does not include them.
• Selling without signing out of iCloud. The buyer gets an Activation Locked phone.
• Not deregistering iMessage. Texts from iPhone users go missing.
• Leaving the password CSV in Downloads or a synced folder. It is unencrypted.
• Deleting the account before removing devices. Activation Lock can then no longer be turned off.
• Changing number without adding a new trusted number to your Apple Account first.
• One copy of your photos. Keep originals on a separate drive and test a restore.
• Forgetting Sign in with Apple accounts and passkeys stored in iCloud Keychain.
• Leaving a public calendar link active after Apple's iCloud.com download method.
• Installing a custom Android build on an unsupported device, or leaving its bootloader unlocked.
• Not patching what you now run. A self-hosted server, a new phone and new apps all need updates; turn on automatic updates everywhere and check the rest monthly.

Where Safeguard fits, honestly

Safeguard does not replace any consumer service here, move iCloud data, manage your phone or check which apps you installed.

The connection is the idea under this guide. Swapping one platform for a mix of apps, servers and clients means choosing and patching a software supply chain for your own life. Companies face that at scale in the software they build, where each application pulls in hundreds of open source dependencies. Safeguard scans repositories, container images and SBOM files, matches components against vulnerability databases, uses reachability analysis to rank findings your code actually calls, and shows which projects contain a given component and version.

Fix it without waiting for upstream

If you self-host Nextcloud, Immich or another open source service after leaving Apple, you will meet the problem software teams meet weekly: a vulnerability lands in a component you run, and you wait for a release. For the software your team builds and ships, there is a faster path than waiting.

Whatever the vulnerability, most of the risk sits in two gaps. The first is the time between a fix being published and that fix actually running in your production builds. The second, and worse, is the time before any fix exists at all, while a maintainer works out a patch and a release schedule. Waiting through both gaps is a habit, not a requirement. Safeguard gives teams three ways to close them.

1. Autonomous remediation: pull requests, not tickets

When a fixed version exists, Safeguard's Griffin models open a tested, policy gated pull request that moves the affected dependency to the safe version. You can run it on one repository or in bulk across every project that carries the vulnerable version. Remediation covers eight categories, including dependencies, licenses, security posture and findings. Reachability analysis ranks the vulnerable code paths your application actually calls first, so the first pull requests you merge are the ones that matter most. Autonomous remediation ships switched off, with every category set to Manual, so your team decides how much runs on its own and what still needs a human approval.

2. Gold Open Source: the safe version in seconds, free

gold.safeguard.sh is free and needs no login. Search any CVE or package to see affected and fixed versions, CVSS, EPSS, CISA KEV status and a recommended safe version, or use the "Am I affected?" checker. The same data is available through a free read API, README status badges and RSS threat feeds. The safeguard-sh/gold-scan-action GitHub Action can fail a build on a known exploited vulnerability, on any known vulnerability, or never, so a version you have just removed cannot quietly come back in next week's merge.

3. Gold Registry: start from components that are already fixed

registry.safeguard.sh provides hardened, drop in replacements for upstream packages and container images. Every Gold artifact is held continuously to zero exploitable critical or high CVEs, zero malware and a completed license check, with SLSA L3 or higher provenance, a Sigstore signature and a public evidence page you can hand to an auditor. An artifact loses its Gold badge if it regresses. Teams can point their own package directory at the registry so hardened equivalents resolve without changing how developers install anything.

When upstream has no fix yet, or will not ship one, Safeguard first works to get the fix accepted upstream. If the issue is severe or upstream will not move, Safeguard builds a fork, fixes the vulnerability there and publishes a hardened Gold build, so you are not stuck on a maintainer's release schedule. You can also request a hardened, compatibility tested build of a specific package. This fork and patch flow is in early access today, so ask which packages it covers before you plan around it.

One honest limit: when the vulnerable code lives in a vendor appliance, a hosted service or an operating system runtime you do not build yourself, the fix still has to come from that vendor or distribution. The steps above apply to the open source dependencies and container images you build and ship, which is where most teams carry the largest and least tracked share of their exposure.

FAQ

How do I download all my data from Apple?

Sign in at privacy.apple.com, select "Request a copy of your data", choose categories and select Continue. Apple verifies you, prepares the files and gives you 14 days to download. Messages and iCloud Keychain passwords are not included; export them from your devices.

What can I use instead of iCloud?

IMAP mail on your own domain, CalDAV and CardDAV for calendars and contacts (Nextcloud offers both), Nextcloud or another sync service for files, Immich or a backed-up local library for photos, and a password manager that imports CSV and supports passkeys.

How do I turn off iMessage after switching to Android?

Put the SIM back in the iPhone, connect to cellular data, then in Settings, Apps, Messages turn off iMessage, and do the same for FaceTime. Without the iPhone, use selfsolve.apple.com/deregister-imessage.

How do I remove Activation Lock before selling my iPhone?

Sign out of iCloud (Settings, your name, Sign Out), then Settings, General, Transfer or Reset, Erase All Content and Settings. Apple says erasing turns off Find My and Activation Lock. If the phone is gone, use icloud.com/find and Remove This Device.

How do I export iCloud Keychain passwords?

In the Passwords app on a Mac, choose File, then Export All Passwords to File. The CSV is unencrypted, so import it and delete it. Wi-Fi passwords, some group-shared passwords and Sign in with Apple accounts cannot be exported.

Will my photos lose quality if I move them off iCloud?

Not if you export originals: set Download and Keep Originals, then use Export Unmodified Original on iPhone or File, then Export on a Mac. Apple notes Shared Album copies may not be full resolution.

How do I transfer data from iPhone to Android?

Choose to set up the Android phone with an iPhone. Supported Pixel and Samsung phones pair by QR code; others use a cable or the Android Switch app. Transfer WhatsApp separately, then turn off iMessage.

Should I delete my Apple Account after switching?

Only if you are sure. Apple says deletion is permanent and you cannot reuse the email or phone number for a new Apple Account for several years. Sign out of every device first, or keep a dormant account with two-factor authentication.

Is a privacy-focused Android phone as secure as an iPhone?

It can be on a supported device with verified boot, a relocked bootloader and prompt security updates. It is weaker if the device is unsupported, the bootloader stays unlocked or updates lag.

See how Safeguard would help

These demos show Safeguard's own tools. None of them moves Apple data; they show the same know-what-you-run, patch-what-you-run habit applied to software you build.

The first is a real Android session: you send work to a computer running the Safeguard CLI and approve each command on the phone with Allow once, Allow for turn or Deny. If your new phone is Android, this is how you stay in the approval loop without reaching for the laptop.

Click through it at your own pace, or open it full screen.

The second is a real CLI session. Asked to fix the lodash CVE in a repository, the CLI reads the finding and advisory, asks before each command, edits package.json to lodash 4.17.21, runs npm install and npm test with approval, and pushes nothing. If you build or self-host software, it is patching applied to a codebase.

Click through it at your own pace, or open it full screen.

The third sets up the local runner on your own machine, approves it with its device code and scans from the terminal. If you prefer keeping work on hardware you control, much like self-hosting after leaving iCloud, this is how it runs.

Click through it at your own pace, or open it full screen.

To try it, download Safeguard at safeguard.sh/download and read the CLI docs.

Quick check

Sources

• Apple Support: Get a copy of the data associated with your Apple Account
• Apple Support: Archive or make copies of the information you store in iCloud
• Apple Support: Use the Mail app on your Mac to move, delete, or copy iCloud email
• Apple Passwords User Guide: Export passwords from your Mac to a file
• Apple Support: iCloud data security overview
• Apple Support: Deregister iMessage on your iPhone or online
• Apple Support: What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your iPhone or iPad
• Apple Support: How to remove Activation Lock
• Apple Support: Activation Lock for iPhone and iPad
• Apple Support: Review devices signed in to your Apple Account
• Apple Support: How to delete your Apple Account
• Android: Switch from iPhone to Android
• Pixel Phone Help: Transfer data from your previous device to a Pixel phone
• Android Help: Be ready to find a lost Android device
• Nextcloud User Manual: Synchronizing with iOS
• Nextcloud User Manual: Synchronizing with Android
• Immich: Quick start
• Signal: Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
• Mozilla: Firefox Privacy Notice
• Mozilla: Thunderbird Privacy Notice
• F-Droid: Security Model
• OpenStreetMap Wiki: About OpenStreetMap
• Organic Maps: Privacy Policy
• GrapheneOS: Frequently Asked Questions

Last reviewed: 23 October 2026. Apple, Google and the projects above change menus and policies often; check the linked official pages before you erase or delete anything.