iPad: The Missing Manual, 6th Edition

Chapter 16. Back Up and Sync Your Gadgets with iCloud

You’ll learn to:

• Set up iCloud on your iPad and desktop computers

• Back up music, photos, apps, email, and more to the Cloud

• Tap into iWork documents

• Sync your photos to all your devices

• Share and manage online photos with friends

ODDS ARE YOU HAVE more than one computer in your life. An iPad for sure, and maybe a desktop or laptop computer, an iPhone, an iPod Touch, or some combination of these devices. All of them can snap photos, store contact information, keep track of appointments, and transport downloaded music, apps, and books. Wouldn’t it be great if they could share the same files and information so all your devices were always in sync and up-to-date?

They can. When you set up all your iOS and desktop/laptop devices to work with iCloud, it backs up and syncs your music, email, apps, photos, books, contacts, calendar appointments, notes, reminders, and iWork documents across Windows PCs, Macs, iPads, iPhones, and iPod Touches. Best of all, the service is free and comes with 5 gigabytes of online storage—and that’s over and above the space taken up by your iTunes Store purchases and your cache of photos.

The iCloud service has been around since iOS 5 and well-integrated into Apple’s products by now. You may have signed up for it when you activated your iPad. If not, you’ll learn how to do that now. Either way, this chapter tells ...