iCloud - What the Purpose is & How is it supposed to work!

*Update: Apple increased the prices again October 2023
The price changes in the U.S. are as follows:
Apple TV+: $6.99 per month → $9.99 per month
Apple Arcade: $4.99 per month → $6.99 per month
Apple News+: $9.99 per month → $12.99 per month
For those who subscribe to Apple TV+ on an annual basis, the price has increased from $69 per year to $99 per year accordingly.
Prices for the Apple One bundles that include these services are also increasing as a result:
Individual: $16.95 per month → $19.95 per month
Family: $22.95 per month → $25.95 per month
Premier: $32.95 per month → $37.95 per mon

If you own and use an Apple device, chances are you have heard of iCloud. Better yet, you may be using it and not even know it. However iCloud can be a little bit confusing sometimes if we have a misconception of how it actually works.

In this video I discuss how to verify what iCloud/Apple ID account you’re using on your devices and provide some examples of how different content and information syncs among all devices and the iCloud. This is designed for users who are just starting to use iCloud or may have gotten their first apple device and want a brief introduction to what iCloud is and what it does.

Devices used in this tutorial:
macOS 14 Sonoma
iOS 17 & iPadOS 17

00:00 | Welcome Back!
02:34 | How to verify what your iCloud Account is
03:46 | How to access iCloud from a web browser
04:24 | Example of Photos Syncing within iCloud
07:04 | Example of Photo Edits syncing in iCloud Photos
10:22 | How to sync Notes in iCloud
12:46 | How to sync iCloud Calendars
15:20 | Other Apps that can sync within iCloud
17:06 | iCloud vs iCloud+ vs Apple One

Apple One

iCloud and iCloud+ on Apple

iCloud for Windows 11 - How to INSTALL & SYNC your APPLE DEVICES to your WINDOWS PC WIRELESSLY!

Understanding iCloud Syncing - BEGINNERS GUIDE 101

Understanding iCLOUD PHOTOS - Syncing iPhones, iPads, and Apple Computers IN-DEPTH

Storage is FULL! - How to OPTIMIZE FILES and FIX your STORAGE PROBLEMS on Macs, iPhones and iPads

*macOS 14 Sonoma and iOS 17 used in this tutorial. Updated from older video

If you have a video suggestion, let's chat!

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[ricwestdoesitwork]

Glad you’re back. You’ve been missing in action for way too long long brother. Glad you’re back any hope you don’t disappear for months on end again. Great information Joel. Thanks!

[theontologist]

Love the video!

So many people misunderstand that iCloud doesn't do file storage or backup, only sync. And that confusion can be dangerous, resulting in file loss. Why doesn't Apple resolve that confusion by offering real storage -- any thoughts?

And how might one evaluate and compare third-party cloud storage/backup services, or external drives?

[JudithBradley-scki]

Joel, thank you for all your videos. Attempting to get 46, 000 photos and 3000 videos to an external hard drive through my Mac. On my desktop where my system library is it says in eligible and has a cloud with a slash through it. I am stuck I don’t know what to do next or what this means. I cannot find it on the Apple site.

[tradepandey]

So? Getting bigger iCloud subscription will not reduce the file size on my iPhone? Do I need iPhone with 1tb storage or iCloud with 1 tb storage when I have 128gb iPhone

[TheMotb]

It's a shame Apple doesn't let you pick your services in a bundle; i'm in a family of 2 and just need the storage for foto's and music; don't need arcade or TV

[Jugin]

Very cool videos. Thank you. I would like to clarify about the family subscription. Do I understand that, for example, a plan where there is 200 GB, these gigabytes are returned to all users of the family, and if someone takes 150 GB, then for all other parts 50 GB. Or will everyone get 200 GB for personal use?

[LazyJones]

There is no "button" to force a sync but if you pull up the photos page, as you would when pulling down to refresh a web page, it will force a resync so you don’t have to wait

[PatrickMastersProductions]

One thing that frustrates me with iCloud is I have moved over to the 6TB option and I want to use iCloud as a repository for files I want to access from different Macs which all have 1TB hard drive space. The second I upload footage to my iCloud drive on my Mac Studio, my Macbook Pro automatically starts downloading it and eating up space on the MBP. Then I have to manually go in and right-click and remove downloads. I just wish Apple would give us the option to upload whatever files we want in the cloud drive and then manually decide if we want a file/folder to automatically download or set it to manually download files as needed.

[cosimop]

Hi Mr. Feld. I've heard in lots of your videos that Icloud could be used as a sort of Backup for all our photos/video, but that Icloud is not supposed. and created for this use. But why? If I got 100gb and don t have a backup on the ssd but I pay for a monthly plan of 200gb Icloud, why shouldn't continue?
Which are the motivation to let me backup also on external disk?

[wittypediay]

Thats why i love andoid phones and google. My iphone is just my secondary phone. Things are so much more seamless with android. And so much less confusing like why cant you just make icloud the id account and just sync all the data to it when you know that when you make an apple id with a gmail account you cant sync the gmail to you iphone. Why do you need this confusion? Apple users be like oh but the ecosystem bla bla. I have android and imac and ios and windows and trust me no one does it better than google. I use google for my iphone. Calender notes apps everything.

[Mbfrmdao]

so the login for the apple id in settings is just for icloud ?

[deanroadifer]

So if I'm outside and take a picture, when it shows up on my Imac and I want to keep it from being deleted do I save in on a picture folder on my hard drive?

[Pachistory]

Does it work with an Android phone or have
to be an Iphone one?

[Stig]

Great video! and can we all just appreaciate that he can show us iphone screens like that, instead of Zollotech and a few others who have to show their gnarly hands and wierd hand movements everytime they show us a new thing on the iphone?