iCloud is a cloud storage known to all owners of Apple gadgets. In iCloud, the user can exchange data, bookmarks, photos and other information between all iOS devices. And no matter how you use the Apple gadget, you can always access the cloud whenever you want. There you will find the latest versions of software, contacts, documents, etc.
This material will describe in detail how to work in iCloud, as well as how to log into it from an iPhone. To begin with, we note that this service greatly simplifies the user’s interaction with all iOS gadgets.
The main task of this service is to carefully store various types of user data and information coming to it from different types of Apple devices. For example, if a user takes a photo on a Mac gadget, it will automatically appear on the tablet. How is this possible? Data exchange simply happens automatically. The frame is synchronized with the “cloud”, and from there all the user’s iOS gadgets take it for themselves. The same thing happens with Safari bookmarks, settings and other information. You only need to be connected to the Internet for iCloud on an iPhone or other device to work correctly.
Below is a list of information that will be automatically transferred from the service to Apple gadgets:
- music tracks, videos, software, books;
- photographs taken with cameras of iOS devices;
- settings;
- all data stored by the software;
- desktop settings;
- all messages;
- ringtones.
All these advantages will be especially useful for gamers. After all, it’s very convenient when you can start a game on one gadget, then pause the process, and continue on another device. In iCloud, such seemingly impossible things become reality.
iCloud or Dropbox: what to choose?
The main point why the well-known Dropbox service loses to iCloud is the need to work with it manually. Every time you need to save something from a specific application, you need to indicate and confirm it.
The iCloud operating algorithm is completely different. The system does not care where the user saves the information. If the software developer has made it so that the program supports the “cloud”, then data exchange will occur fully automatically. Of course, this process must be allowed by the user. And then there is no need to worry about synchronization.
Let's say a user creates a fresh entry on his iPhone, and it will instantly be transferred to his iPad. It’s great that today the cloud supports more than 90% of all existing software for Apple products.
Where to download iCloud?
This question in itself is incorrect, although many novice users often ask it. The thing is, you don't need to download anything. The service comes built into the system, starting with the fifth version of the operating system.
But today, in order to use all the functionality in the Cloud, you need to have iOS version no lower than 8. You can upgrade to it completely free of charge.
Registering in the cloud
Here, as in the previous step, everything is also extremely simple. No registration is required from the user to start using the service. To enter it, you will need to enter your ID number, as well as enter your password and login from the Apple store.
Now you know how to log into iCloud from an iPhone or any other iOS device.
How much space is available in the cloud?
The system provides 5 GB of memory for one “account”. This volume allows you to store mail, software data, backup and other small things automatically generated by different applications.
If we talk about photographs, there are no restrictions on their size. But the “cloud” can save no more than a thousand photos from the last month.
If the user does not have enough allocated space, he has the right to purchase additional gigabytes. You can pay quickly from your Apple account. Prices for different tariffs, by the way, are very low.
Methods for setting up iCloud on iPhone
All manipulations with the “cloud” occur in the corresponding settings menu. You should use the “account” information from the ID number as your login. Experienced users are well aware of how to create and subsequently use this number.
In the pop-up window, activation of data exchange for system applications is available. In the main window, the user can select the main software to be synchronized. In just a couple of clicks you can create an email by entering the desired nickname. In this case, the password from the “account” in Apple ID will be used. This data will also be required for exchanging notes.
In the storage subsection in the menu in question, the user will find statistics on the use of free space. You can immediately buy more seats and activate data exchange, which is disabled at the beginning. Therefore, if you recently purchased an iOS device, go to this section and enable synchronization.
In the named sub-item, information about the software that exchanges data with the “cloud” is also available. Usually these are standard applications. It is better to disable all unnecessary software to save space in the service. After all, if the user does not do this manually, third-party software will also synchronize with the iPhone.
Copying on the machine in the “cloud” is carried out only when the iOS device is connected to a power source, to Wi-Fi networks, or there is a block on it. But it is always possible to start data exchange manually.
Useful photo stream feature
For those who have not yet heard about this useful option, we will tell you a little about it. It allows you to exchange data automatically. Moreover, photographs and screenshots can be transmitted. To activate it, the user should go to the photo section.
After this, he will be able to exchange photos taken on the smartphone with other iOS devices. But disabling the function will result in all photos from the device being deleted. Although they will be saved in the cloud.
To make this setting, the user needs to enter the store and select the necessary items. Now, when you purchase software on your iPad, it will be downloaded to your phone.
To set up a Mac and PS, you should go to iTunes, so go to the store settings and mark what you need in the same way.
iCloud web version: how to use
It is located on the service resource on the network. There the user must enter his ID-login and password, after which he will gain access to mail, contacts, calendar and various services. In terms of functionality, everything listed is identical to the regular version. But it’s worth talking in more detail about such a useful service as Find My iPhone.
Find My iPhone: What's Good
If the device search function is activated in the “cloud” settings of an iOS gadget, then when entering the corresponding application on the device, the user will see a list of gadgets connected to the service.
As for the popular Find My iPhone service, it is more accessible both through software on an iOS gadget and on the Internet. If the iPhone is currently connected to the network, the user can see its location on the map. The data is taken either from Wi-Fi coordinates or from a GPS element.
The user can send a message, lock the device by setting a password, and clean the device.
If there is no connection to the network and the gadget is not shown on the map, manually set one of the above commands. But the system will automatically perform it only when the network appears. In this case, a message about the action taken will be sent to your mailbox.
As you know, Apple gives each registered user () 5 GB of disk space in the iCloud cloud for free, but many iDevice owners fill up the storage in a matter of weeks and then face the problem of creating backups, copying important data, etc. It is noteworthy that in 99% of cases this situation is a consequence of incorrect synchronization settings.
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Free space on iPhone or iPad is not the same as free space on iCloud
Unfortunately, many users saw the message on the screen , not understanding its meaning, they begin to delete everything, freeing up the iOS device’s storage.
- - remaining storage space on the iOS device (internal memory). Everything that is downloaded to the device is stored here (software, applications + cache, downloaded and created photos and videos, etc.).
- - remaining space in iCloud cloud storage. Basically, the iCloud cloud is designed to create automatic backups, as well as to synchronize personal data.
Of course, 5 GB by modern standards is, to put it mildly, not very much. However, often even this memory is filled with data that is not at all what the user really needs. Typically, the lion’s share of disk space is “eaten up” by backup copies that most people don’t need, as well as photos and media files, which are saved twice.
How does this happen? When the iCloud Backup option is enabled, the device, when connected to a power source and Wi-Fi, automatically copies the entire media library to the cloud, and then additionally creates a backup copy, which also includes all media files.
How to check how much free space is left in iCloud?
It’s quite easy to check this - go to the menu Settings → Apple ID (your first and last name) → iCloud → Storage. The chart that appears will visually represent iCloud storage, including the amount used and sorting by type of content.
By following the path Settings → Apple ID (your first and last name) → iCloud → Storage management, you will probably see the most “heavy” sections at the top of the list “ Backups" or " Photo". They are the ones that clog up space in iCloud. Delete unnecessary files to free up space in Apple's cloud storage.
In addition, you should turn off future automatic backups to iCloud (either completely or selectively).
To completely disable iCloud backups, go to Settings → Apple ID → iCloud → Backup and disable the option iCloud backup.
The optimal option for most users is to manually specify files when creating backups (selectively prohibiting copying of Media Library data).
You can do this as follows:
1. Go to Settings → Apple ID → iCloud → Manage Storage → Backups;
2. Select the desired device;
3. Select the checkbox next to the item “ Media library"(and other applications as desired) to the passive position;
4. In the same menu, press the button “ Delete copy" to clear the cloud;
5. Return to Settings → Apple ID → iCloud → iCloud Backup and create a new copy without gluttonous photos and media files.
How to view data (photos, videos, files) stored in iCloud?
You can view the data stored in iCloud (and, if you wish, delete it) using the web version of the Apple cloud service located at icloud.com (you need to log in from a computer). The main sources of the “heaviness” of the occupied volume are data from web applications Mail, Photo And iCloud Drive. They can be removed if desired.
For a long time it was unknown how the iCloud Drive service would work. Will there be a separate client for Mac and Windows? How to open files in the cloud from mobile devices? What should OS X Mavericks users do?
In fact, Apple's new cloud service is an analogue of Dropbox and Yandex.Disk Drive and works on the same principle. If the previous version of iCloud was only a thin layer for applications and services, the new service provides the user with full access to content and opens up broader opportunities for using the cloud.
Unfortunately, at the start, Apple did not offer iPhone and iPad owners a separate client for accessing files in iCloud Drive. Yes, third-party software can indeed work with content in remote storage, but it is not at all necessary. Due to this limitation, iCloud Drive cannot yet be called a full-fledged alternative to Dropbox.
How to View Files in iCloud Drive Using Cloud Opener
If you need an application to view iCloud Drive content on iPhone and iPad, you will have to use a third-party solution. For example, the free Cloud Opener program.
Despite the promising name, the client has a number of limitations. For starters, Cloud Opener can be used solely to view files in the cloud. The program allows you to sort files by name, modification date and tags, and shows the size of the documents. However, there is no talk of saving content to the device or editing it.
At the same time, Cloud Opener can interact with other applications as part of extensions in iOS 8. If the utility's capabilities are enough for you, you can download it from this link.
How to work with files in iCloud Drive using Documents 5
Documents 5 offers more features than the previous application. And unlike alternatives like Goodreader, this client has a user-friendly interface. Plus it's free.
Documents 5 is easy to use. Just open the application on a device with a logged-in Apple ID, go to the tab with the cloud icon on the bottom panel and click on the iCloud Drive link at the top. With Documents 5, you can view almost any document and graphic file, as well as edit text, work with PDF, listen to music, etc.
Android and iOS are extremely reluctant to make steps towards each other, so such basic things as accessing online storage or transferring data often have to be done using third-party applications. This also applies to opening iCloud on an Android device: you can access the service from an iPad, iPhone, Mac, PC, but Android devices remain outside the list of allowed ones.
There isn't a full standalone iCloud app for Android, so you have to find a new way to perform every operation, be it transferring contacts, syncing your calendar, or copying files. Theoretically, the solution could be to use the iCloud web interface. It's available on Mac and PC, but if you try to access icloud.com from an Android device, you'll see a notification that the browser is not supported. Interestingly, on Windows you can use not only the web version, but also a separate application, which is configured in the same way as on Apple devices. At the same time, Android remains a completely isolated environment, with which it is very difficult to establish communication from iOS or Mac OS. 
If you search for applications that work with iCloud on Google Play, you will find only programs that perform strictly defined functions:
- Sync for iCloud – for calendar synchronization.
- Synchronization for iCloud Mail – synchronization of the mail service.
- Sync for iCloud Contacts – contact synchronization.
If you only need iCloud to transfer contacts or synchronize your calendar, then the functionality of these applications will be quite sufficient. To synchronize email, you can do without third-party software altogether. You just need to set up an email client on Android.
Setting up iCloud mail on Android
Typically, two clients are installed on Android - Gmail for Google mail and Email for other mail services. To set up receiving emails from your iCloud mailbox, use the built-in Email app.
- Email – repeat the iCloud email address.
- The username is part of the email address before @icloud.com.
- Password – repeat the email access code.
- Server – imap.mail.me.com.
- Security type – SSL or SSL with all certificates accepted.
- Port – 993.
The IMAP path prefix does not need to be filled in. After entering all the data, click “Next” to begin setting up the SMTP server.
- Address – smtp.mail.me.com.
- The username and password are the same as in the IMAP settings.
- Security – SSL or TSL.
- Port 587.
If prompted for authentication, click Yes. After setup, all emails from iCloud will be automatically duplicated into the email client on Android. If the procedure turns out to be too complicated, you can significantly simplify the task of synchronizing data by using special applications - for example, myMail or K-@ Mail. There is no need to separately configure IMAP and SMTP; you just need to specify the iCloud email address and password.
Other ways to access iCloud
If you are looking for how to access iCloud services from Android not only for email messages, but also to gain access to other data, then you will have to look for other ways to synchronize information. Connecting iOS with Android is not so easy, but there are still proven methods.
If you need to transfer contacts, you can use the built-in capabilities of the Google Contacts service or transfer the data as a vCard file. In the second case, you will first have to log into iCloud from your computer, export the data to a separate file, and then import it into Google services. The first method is much more convenient:
The only drawback of this method is that during synchronization, some independent company gets access to the data. Therefore, many users ignore this method, preferring to transfer contacts in a file or use CardDAV applications. 
CardDAV allows you not only to transfer contacts, but also enable their synchronization, that is, as soon as the data on iCloud is updated, similar changes will occur in the Android phone book. The main thing is to specify the server p02-contacts.icloud.com, Apple ID and enable synchronization only from the server to the phone.
iCloud stores not only contacts, emails and calendar entries, but also multimedia files. With their transfer, everything is also not so rosy, but there is some progress in synchronizing content between iOS and Android. For example, if you want to merge music, use the Google Play Music app. 
The service has a client for iOS, so you can easily access tracks stored on iCloud. Another way is the Amazon Cloud Player app. It also has clients for iOS and Android, which can be combined with one account, resulting in access to a common music collection.
If you purchased content from a paid YouTube channel, you can easily access it from the official video hosting client on Android and iOS. Online services are generally the best way to view content. They work the same on any device without making any special system requirements. 