iPhone: The Missing Manual, 7th Edition

Chapter 14. iCloud

Apple’s free iCloud service may have opened for business in October 2011, but it’s had a long history. It began life as something called iTools, resurfaced as a service called .Mac, popped up again as a $100-a-year entity called MobileMe, and has now become iCloud.

In each case, though, it all stems from Apple’s brainstorm that, since it controls both ends of the connection between a Mac and the Apple Web site, it should be able to create some pretty clever Internet-based features.

This chapter concerns what iCloud can do for you, the iPhone owner.

Note

To get a free iCloud account if you don’t already have one, sign up at www.icloud.com. Then enter your iCloud email address and password in Settings→iCloud.

What iCloud Giveth

So what is iCloud? Mainly, it’s these things:

• A synchronizing service. It keeps your calendar, address book, and documents updated and identical on all your gadgets: Mac, PC, iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch. That’s a huge convenience—almost magical.

• Find My iPhone. Find My iPhone pinpoints the current location of your iPhone on a map. In other words, it’s great for helping you find your phone if it’s been stolen or lost.

  You can also make your lost gadget start making a loud pinging sound for a couple of minutes by remote control—even if it was set to Vibrate mode. That’s brilliantly effective when your phone has slipped under the couch cushions.

• An email account. Handy, really: An iCloud account gives you a new email address. If you already have an email ...