6 tips to know to get the most out of iCloud

iCloud will help you automatically update, store contacts, photos, applications, notes, calendars, … available on your iPhone / iPad device. These are data that you often have a headache every time you change phones because you have to find a way to transfer them to your new phone. Using iCloud, just login and activate on the new device, everything will automatically download quickly. Not only that, this is also a very safe security tool for your device if you accidentally lose your device.

With 5GB for a free account and can be upgraded to 50GB, 200GB or 2TB at a cheap price, you can take advantage of iCloud for a variety of things. The following will be a summary of 06 best uses of iCloud that if using iPhone or iPad you should take advantage, specifically as follows.

1. Backup device

With an iCloud account, you can use it to backup all supported devices like iPhone, iPad or iPad Pro, Apple Watch and iPod Touch. But on a Mac computer, you can only choose to store the data in Documents and Desktop only. Of course, if your iCloud account has enough space.

With the above mentioned Apple mobile devices, after logging in to your iCloud account, simply go to Settings> [YourName]> iCloud> iCloud Backup to activate the feature.

Here iCloud will provide you with 02 backup operations, including manual and automatic backup. Whenever you connect your device to a power source and it is connected to Wi-Fi, the backup will take place automatically, even when you have locked the screen.

Depending on your settings, iCloud will perform backup tasks, including app data, settings, home screen, Apple Watch, message history, ringtones, purchase history, and files. personal. If you have the “iCloud Photo Library” option turned on, all your photos and videos will also be backed up.

To be able to restore your device from an iCloud backup, you must reset it via “Delete all content and settings” under Settings> General settings> Reset. Then click “Restore from iCloud backup” during a new device reset. This recovery depends on the speed of your internet connection.

Don’t forget that Apple also gives you the option to backup your iPhone and iPad locally using iTunes. Using iTunes for local backups is ideal and fast for transferring data content from one device to another, but it’s not useful in case you lose or damage your device. Therefore, the use of iCloud for backup is most satisfactory.

2. Use iCloud to store photos and videos

By enabling sync of your photo library from your device to iCloud, you can access this data on any device. In addition, this option also activates automatic creation of low-resolution images and videos on the device and directly uploads the original photo and video data to iCloud, helping optimize and solve. Free up space for iPhone / iPad.

When you want to view your photos or videos, iCloud automatically downloads the better quality version (or you can also request the originals anytime you need them). This service is not limited to any data format, so it can be considered a pretty big advantage of iCloud compared to other “clouds”.

However, keep in mind that streaming or downloading photos and videos from iCloud can be a rather frustrating experience if you are using a poor network connection.

In addition, you can also view the image data, videos directly from the web browser or download them all from “iCloud.com”. For a Mac computer, you can use the Photos app. And on Windows, you can use the iCloud for Windows software.

3. Store application data on iCloud for easy access

On a Mac, it’s no coincidence that apps like Pages, Numbers, GarageBand and TextEdit are the default setting for storing data in iCloud. These are quite useful applications for office users, and if you make your projects on them, you can see that 5GB is not enough to store.

In addition, using iCloud to store application data will help you easily recover the latest session if your device has a problem. At that time, you only need an internet connection to continue working.

If you use iCloud to store work data, you can use your web browser to browse them from “iCloud.com”, in the “iCloud Drive” section. Or from the “Files” app on iPhone or iPad or iCloud Drive on Mac computers.

4. Store and transfer data via iCloud

Like Dropbox, Google Drive or any other cloud storage service, you can use your iCloud storage as an additional drive to store data. This makes it easy to transfer files to devices over the web, especially handy when you’re working when you’re not using a Mac or other Apple devices.

On a Mac computer, click the “iCloud Drive” option from the Finder. You can then create folders and move around data just like you would with local data. You will also see the upload or download progress of any data as you manipulate it.

On an iPhone or iPad, you can use the “File” application to access everything stored on iCloud Drive. To upload files, you will have to use the “Share” option in the relevant application. Then just select “Save to File”. You will be asked to select a location before saving and you can also create new folders if desired.

On Windows, you can install “iCloud for Windows”, then add iCloud Drive access to Files Explorer. From there, you can copy the data to your iCloud Drive and use it like any other cloud storage service.

On the web, you can access all your iCloud data through “iCloud.com”. You can also organize or upload files or create folders in the web interface. If you want, you can share the folders with others via their email addresses.

The most surprising thing about iCloud is that there is no limit to the types of file formats you can store on iCloud. You can upload music, videos, ZIP packets or anything, as long as they are individual and use less than 50 GB.

5. Free up storage space for Mac computers

In new versions of macOS, the system automatically helps create more storage space by optimizing data on the drive. When space is needed, it stores files, photos, videos, movies on Apple TV and apps, as well as email attachments to iCloud and makes them available on demand.

The files won’t take up space on your Mac and you can download the original files when needed. Recent files and optimized versions of photos are always on your Mac.

6. Share iCloud storage space with family

When buying iCloud storage plans with capacities starting at 200 GB (200 GB shared by all members), iCloud will give you the option to share your family. When activated, iCloud gives each person a separate, very personal storage space, so you don’t have to worry about your sensitive data being scrutinized.

Family members will not have access to each other’s files, but can see which members are using how much storage.