Apple offers a cloud storage platform to safely store all your content. It is referred as iCloud and can be accessed from all iDevices like iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch. iCloud is a service which you can access through a website or from various sections in your device. Whether you want an email service or looking for an external storage, iCloud is a good option. This will work like a charm especially when you have home network setup with multiple Apple devices. In this article, let us explore 10 reasons why you should use iCloud on Apple devices.
If you simply want to increase storage space by cleaning up your device, then checkout how to increase storage space on your Mac and how to free up space in iPhone?
iCloud Vs iCloud+
iCloud is a free service while the premium version is iCloud+ which offers features like Hide My Email, additional storage, etc. for a monthly subscription. If you have large amount of photos and files on your devices, you may need to upgrade to iCloud+ for keeping them on cloud and syncing across your devices. Neither iCloud nor iCloud+ has an app, you can find the options in your Apple account settings page under “iCloud” section to use the followings:
- Enable sync for Photos, Calendar, Notes, Reminders, Safari, etc. to use iCloud.
- Keep other files in iCloud drive.
- Sync your passwords and credit card details.
- Enable device backup.
- Create iCloud email
- Use hidden emails, custom email domain and private relay to protect your privacy as part of iCloud+.
Now, let’s see why you need to go for iCloud service.
1. Easy Setup and Use
iCloud setup is optional when starting the device for the first time. You will also be prompted to setup iCloud account after major OS upgrades. If you choose to setup later, navigate to “Settings > Tap Your Account Name > iCloud” section on iPhone and setup any time. It’s a hassle free setup without the need of any payment or credit card. Simply use your Apple ID to start with your free iCloud account.
iCloud.com website has all the needed apps to improve your productivity on the go. You can customize the home page and keep the frequently accessed items on top.
2. Attractive Pricing Plans
The free storage has a limit of 5GB. This will be sufficient for personal usage of storing important documents. The premium iCloud+ service has the following plans paid monthly. The 1TB plan available earlier was removed and two new plans are added for 6TB and 12TB.
| Storage | Price per month in US |
|---|---|
| 5GB | Free |
| 50GB | $0.99 |
| 200GB | $2.99 |
| 2TB | $9.99 |
| 6TB | $29.99 |
| 12TB | $59.99 |
Note that you can get 1TB free OneDrive storage space with Microsoft 365 subscription which also includes all Office apps. Of course, you should never compare an Apple and an Orange – there are pros and cons on both sides. If you have iPhone and Mac, then it is definitely worth to use iCloud+ as other applications like Pages, Keynote and Numbers are free.
3. Managing Storage Space
You can choose the premium plan based on your need and cancel, downgrade or upgrade the subscription any point of time later. Easily customize the content to be backed up and manage the available storage space.
4. Seamless Document and Photo Sharing
You can create documents on iPad and access it instantly on iPhone or Mac. iCloud website also has online apps for creating documents with Pages, Keynote and Numbers. These free apps will help to access and edit your documents on the go even when you travel. This is a big advantage that you do not need to install any software for modifying the documents on the cloud.
Similar to documents, take a photo on iPhone and view it instantly from iCloud website or access across all your devices from any part of the world. When you disable the photo library sharing for saving space on iCloud you will have 30 days to download all photos before they get deleted.
5. Device Backups
You can take a complete backup of your iPhone or iPad on cloud. It is also possible to manage what type of content are backed up and control the storage space.
The best part is that you can also seamlessly restore the iCloud backup on your iPhone.
6. Secured Browser Access from PC and Mac
Accessing iCloud website is more secure and safer from Mac and PC. Once signed in, you will be prompted to enter secure two-factor authentication pin sent to all your Apple device.
You can trust the browser to bypass the two-factor authentication from next time. Also, sign out from all other browsers in case if you forget to logout the previous sessions from different location.
You will get alert email every time when logging into icloud.com account. This will help to track if anyone logging to your account without your knowledge.
7. Integrated in macOS and iOS
As mentioned, you can access iCloud services from your account settings on any device. On Mac, you can access iCloud settings under “Apple Menu > System Settings… > Click Your Apple ID > iCloud”. Here you can enable or disable content syncing from various apps to your iCloud account. For example, you can create an instant backup of all your desktop and documents folders to iCloud Drive. This means when you store a file on the desktop, it will be automatically backed up on your cloud storage.
Earlier, there was an iCloud Drive app which you can use for browsing through the cloud storage from iPhone.
The latest iOS comes with Files app which makes thing easier to find documents and files available on your cloud storage.
8. Send Email Attachment
You can access the iCloud content from most of the default apps like Mail, Notes, Reminders, etc. One useful thing is that you can retrieve files from iCloud account and attach them in your email from Mail app. Similarly, you can download the email attachment to iCloud Drive and access them from other devices. This will be super useful if you are using the same email address from multiple Apple devices.
9. Restore Files, Contacts, Calendar and Bookmarks
The deleted files, photos, contact, calendar entries and bookmarks are stored for 30 days in iCloud account. If you have wrongly deleted any content on iCloud drive then this option will help you to recover the deleted content. You can recover the files from corresponding app like deleted pictures from Photos app’s “Recently Deleted” section.
If you are on iCloud website, go to “Data Recovery” section and select the items you want to restore from there.
10. Family Sharing
Family sharing allows you to share content and purchased apps across all your family members. Up to six members of a family can share purchases without sharing the accounts. You can track family members by sharing locations and locate other family member’s phone using Find My iPhone.
Final Thoughts
Frankly, it is not possible to use multiple Apple devices without iCloud service. As you can easily exceed the free 5GB plan with photos and videos, you will also need to go for one of the premium iCloud+ plans. With content syncing, backup and email features, you can make use of the technology to its best.
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