If you haven't used Apple's proprietary cloud storage before, you're missing out. In addition to the fact that content is automatically distributed through iCloud (Russian iCloud) to all devices connected to the same Apple ID, you can store iPhone and iPad backups, photos, phone books, notes, calendars, etc. in it. It’s also great that changes made to iCloud from any device are automatically applied to everyone at once.
You can sing the praises of Apple and iCloud, in particular, for a long time, but let’s get to the point: “under the cut” is information about what iCloud is, what it is for, how to connect iCloud on iPhone and iPad, Mac and Windows.
What is iCloud?
In fact, iCloud combines a whole list of various Apple web services, which significantly simplify access to data from any device from anywhere in the world via the Internet. iCloud allows users to store documents, email, photos, content from the iTunes Store, music from Apple Music, and more on remote servers.
By default, each user with an Apple ID account is given 5 GB of free storage space. If desired, space in the cloud can be purchased in accordance with current tariffs.
Data stored in iCloud is automatically synchronized with all devices assigned to the same Apple ID. For example, a new contact card or reminder added to iPhone will immediately appear on both iPad and Mac, provided that all three devices are linked to the same Apple ID account.
- How to create an Apple ID.
- How to reset Apple ID security questions and why you need a backup e-mail.
Data Storage Capacity
How to view the cloud on iPhone? Before you start working with this service, you need to study it thoroughly.
Any data cloud has a certain volume. By default, only 5 GB of space is allocated for storing data from iPhone. You won't have to pay for this volume.
If for one reason or another a person does not have enough allocated space, he can purchase more. To do this, there is a “Buy” button in the cloud service settings.
Photos have no storage limitations. But the cloud service stores the last 1,000 pictures per month. As soon as the total number of images in iCloud exceeds the specified limit, the service will automatically clean up the old data.
How to enable iCloud?
To activate iCloud on an iOS device or Mac, Apple recommends installing the latest version of the operating system; however, this instruction point is only advisory. Next, you just need to go to Settings on your iDevice or System Preferences on your Mac, select the iCloud section and enter your Apple ID account information.
There is a list of services from which data can be synchronized, as well as items for activating Photo Stream, iCloud Drive, Find iPhone, Keychain and automatically creating backup copies of your iOS device in the cloud.
Windows users can also use iCloud; for this you need.
- How to unlink an iPhone or iPad from iCloud (remove from Apple ID)?
About registration
How to log into the iCloud cloud? First you will have to register here. But how?
iCloud is a service from Apple. It uses Apple ID to work. There is and cannot be any separate registration in the cloud service. Therefore, all that the owner of an Apple device needs is to get an Apple ID.
icloud.com
The address icloud.com (accessible only from a computer) contains an interface for managing some iCloud services. To get started, you need to log in using your Apple ID.
Here you have access to managing Contacts, Notes, Photos, Reminders, Calendars, Find My iPhone, iCloud Drive cloud storage, and so on.
In addition, the service allows you to run free cloud tools from the iWork package (analogous to Microsoft Office from Apple). You can edit text documents (Word) and spreadsheets (Excel) directly in the browser.
iCloud Photo Library
The service allows you to create a copy of content in the cloud with the ability to synchronize with all iOS devices and Mac computers associated with one Apple ID account.
iCloud Music Library supports 3 types of content: photos, videos, and music, and iCloud Music Library has a separate switch.
iCloud Photo Library for Photos and Videos
The service allows you to upload photos and videos taken on all devices connected to one Apple ID to the cloud. The same content will be available on all devices in the Photos app.
You can also access iCloud Photo Library for photos and videos using a web browser. All photos and videos will be available in the Photos app on icloud.com.
You can enable iCloud Photo Library for photos and videos by going to Settings -> iCloud -> Photos .
- iCloud Photo Library for Photos and Videos - Questions and Answers.
- How to upload photos and videos to iCloud Photo Library from iPhone, iPad, and iCloud.com.
iCloud Music Library
iCloud Music Library has a separate switch and is activated on iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch along the path: Settings -> Music .
On computers running macOS and Windows, iCloud Music Library is enabled in the iTunes application by following the path: iTunes -> Settings -> General .
After activating iCloud Music Library, all music, including music added from the Apple Music service, as well as created playlists, are synchronized between devices.
- Apple Music songs and playlists are missing from iTunes. How to recover?
- “The song cannot be played because you are not signed in to Apple Music” - how to fix the error.
Results
We got acquainted with the iCloud service for iPhone. Moreover, it is now clear how to work with this cloud utility. There is no need to download separate data clouds to Apple devices.
Is it possible not to use iCloud? Yes, but then problems may arise when working with an Apple device. For example, you won't be able to activate the Find My iPhone option. Otherwise, work with third-party cloud services on Apple products does take place.
Brief description of the main iCloud services
Each user can create their own E-mail in the cloud for free in the form “ [email protected] ” and get quick access to correspondence at any time. Directly on the icloud.com website, the service is implemented in the form of a classic mailbox, divided into categories (Inbox, Spam, Drafts, etc.). To activate mail in the cloud, you need to go to the Settings -> iCloud menu on your Mac or iDevice and specify the name of the E-mail address that will be created automatically.
How to set up a mail filter (e-mail) on Mac OS X and iCloud.com.
Contacts
All contacts from the device's address book are automatically copied to iCloud and vice versa. At the same time, in the cloud on icloud.com there are all the possibilities for editing profiles, which is quite convenient - for example, it is much easier to attach photos to contacts on a computer than to do it on a smartphone or tablet.
- How to transfer contacts from iPhone to iCloud.
- How to recover contacts from iCloud on iPhone or iPad.
- How to Recover Contacts and Other Information on iPhone Without Backing Up to iTunes or iCloud.
- How to recover files, contacts and other content deleted from iCloud.
Calendar, notes, reminders
Naturally, with a cloud service, there is no need to transfer information from the corresponding applications from one device to another - iCloud automatically synchronizes all specified events, created records and other data.
Photo
The photo service on icloud.com is almost identical to the mobile and desktop applications. This is a full-fledged media library for storing photos and videos, divided into albums or moments (depending on the display mode). From here you can easily delete, move or send pictures by email.
iWork on iCloud (Pages, Numbers, Keynote)
A recently appeared iCloud section containing browser analogues of the Numbers, Pages and Keynote applications of the same name. This allows users to create, edit and send spreadsheets, text documents or presentations from any device.
iWork is a free web-based analogue of the Microsoft Office suite (Word, Excel).
How to transfer Word, Excel, Pages, Numbers documents to iCloud Drive and work with them on Mac, iPhone or iPad.
Find iPhone and Find Friends
If your mobile device goes missing, the easiest way to locate it is to use the Find My iPhone app on icloud.com by entering your Apple ID and password. Here you can completely erase the device, play sound on it, or enable lost mode (see screenshots above).
The Find Friends web application allows you to get information about the location of your friends on the map.
The Find My iPhone and Find My Friends apps come pre-installed by default in the latest versions of iOS.
- How to check if your iPhone or iPad is linked to iCloud (Find iPhone).
- How to track your friends' location (Find Friends) on icloud.com.
- “Find Friends,” or how to view the location of friends on iPhone and iPad.
iCloud Drive and iCloud backups
The service is a full-fledged cloud storage (analogous to Dropbox, Google Drive, Yandex.Disk, Mail.ru Cloud, etc.), which can contain any data. The amount of disk space is determined by the tariff plan; the following prices are currently valid: 5 GB - free, 50 GB - 59 rubles/month, 200 GB - 149 rubles/month, 1 TB - 599 rubles/month.
- How to use the iCloud Drive application.
- How to Recover Contacts and Other Information on iPhone Without Backing Up to iTunes or iCloud.
- Backup to iCloud and iCloud Drive, what's the difference?
- How to attach files to emails on iPhone from Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud Drive, etc.
- How to save attachments from Mail to iCloud Drive on iPhone and iPad.
- How to create a backup in iCloud.
- How to choose applications for iCloud backup.
- How to restore an iCloud backup to iPhone and iPad.
- How to delete backups stored in iCloud?
Bunch of keys
The Keychain Access service in iCloud allows you to automatically save bookmarks, browsing history, logins and passwords from the Safari browser on all user devices.
We talked about how to activate and work with Keychain on iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Mac in this article.
How to sync Safari bookmarks between iPhone, iPad and Mac using iCloud.
