Oct 20 2011

iOS 5 – what now? Ten Things about iCloud

The last in our series  ‘iOS 5 – what now?’. Today – Ten Things about iCloud

 1 iCloud is Apple’s new ‘cloud computing service’.  It allow users to store their files and data remotely on Apple’ servers. This allows data to be easily synced between computers, iPads and iPhones – keeping them all up to date with the same files and information automatically. Create an event on a calendar on one device, and it is automatically added to all your other devices. Create a document in Pages on your iPad, and it available on your iPhone (but not yet on your Mac – see 10 below)

 2. Apple has invested $1 billion in a ‘server farm’ in North Carolina to host the world’s data. 

 3. iCloud replaces MobileMe, but has  a number of new features. Current subscribers to MobileMe have until July next year to make the switch to iCloud. This is easy to do – viist http://me.com and follow the links.

 4. The iCloud service is free for the first 5 Gb of data. An extra 10 Gb costs $21 year. Current MobileMe subscribers get 25 Gb of storage when they switch.

 5. iCloud require an AppleID, which you already have. This is the email address that you use to log in to the iTunes store. This is known as your Main Account.

 

6. If everyone in the family uses the same Main Account, they can all access any of the apps or songs or videos or books you have purchased from iTunes. Indeed, they will receive any new purchases automatically. You will be asked to enter your Main AppleID when you first set up your device with iOS5.

 

7. You can also create a new free personal AppleID for each member of the family. This is a good idea. You do this in Settings>Mail,Contacts,Calendars>Add Account>iCloud>Get a Free Apple ID.

 

8. There is some data that you want to share between members of your family, and some data that is best used individually. You do this by setting which Services you would like to use with your individual AppleID, and which to use with the family common AppleID. Cathy and I can share Contacts and Calendars and Remiinders between us on all our computers and devices, and the kids can each use their own AppleIDs for their Contacts and  Calendars and Reminders. ( otherwise our contact list quickly fills up with people rather unfortunately named  ‘Reddog’, ‘Jayjay’ and ‘Rumps’)

You set the services to use with each account through

Settings>iCloud

and Settings>Mail,Contacts,Calendars (select each account in turn)

 

9. Photostream is a service which automatically shares up to 1000 photos taken on iPhones or iPads (or added from iPhoto). Your AppleTV can also show your Photostream. You need to update iPhoto to iPhoto ’11 if you haven’t already done so.

 

10.  To enable syncing of Pages documents on your iPhones and iPads, you need to turn it on in two places.

Settings>iCloud>Documents and Data

Settings>Pages

The same applies for Numbers and Keynote

Documents are not automatically synced to and between iMacs/MacBooks, which is a pain that hopefully will soon be remedied. You need to upload and download documents through the web page http://icloud.com

(I had trouble turning on the iCloud Sync for Pages (it kept turning off again). This turned out to be due to a MobileMe account which had been migrated to iCloud but was not my Main Account. Deleting and then re-entering this account on each iDevice did the trick)