Chapter 1
iCloud Explained
So what exactly is iCloud? And how do you get it if you don’t already have it? I tend to test out consumer products and services via my mom. Yes, seriously. A prime example of this technique was when she asked me whether she needed to sign up to this “iCloud thingy” she had received an e-mail about. As she’s a Mac, iPhone, and iPad user, I told her that it would make sense to sign up to iCloud and ran her through the benefits of syncing all her contacts and being able to access her calendar on all her devices. It wasn’t until I came to the fact that she would also receive an @me.com e-mail address that she informed me she already had one. She was already using iCloud but didn’t realize it.
I’m sure the same is true for many Mac or iOS users, primarily because iCloud is designed to get out of your way and work in the background with little or no upkeep required. An iCloud account can be created on a Mac, a Windows PC, or on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch and it be can surprisingly easy to forget the process and assume that you aren’t an iCloud user and that your products “just work” the way that Apple intended. That’s what Apple wants and, contrary to my opinion, shouldn’t be meddled with for you to achieve the ultimate experience.
That’s not strictly the case, however. Truly understanding iCloud rather than blindly letting it “work” is the route to true harmony when using Apple’s suite of online services. For example, what happens if, through an accidental ...
