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iCloud is Apple's solution for storing your contacts, reminders, photos, passwords, backups, and more, and making them easily available anywhere. It is built into all modern Apple devices. If you recently purchased your first iPhone, iPad, or Mac, you may be wondering how to get, set up, and access iCloud.
Let's start by telling you a little more about iCloud and its requirements. After that, we'll look at quick steps to enable and use iCloud on Apple and non-Apple platforms.
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Why might you want to set up iCloud?
iCloud is the sticker that holds all your Apple devices together and ensures your data syncs wirelessly. As mentioned, you can use iCloud to store and sync photos, videos, device backups, passwords, files, contacts, calendar events, reminders, notes, messages, and more.
Your iCloud data is encrypted. And thanks to two-factor authentication, only you can access it on trusted devices and browsers.
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Additionally, you can use iCloud to share things like photos, photo albums, notes, files, shortcuts, and more with family, friends, and colleagues.
With iCloud Tabs, you can see web pages opened from one Apple device on another. For example, let's say you opened iDB in Safari on your Mac. Now, when you open Safari on your iPhone, you'll see it there too. iCloud also ensures that your Safari bookmarks, Reading Lists, etc. are up to date across all your devices.
iCloud Drive is similar to Google Drive, One Drive and Dropbox. You can safely store almost anything in it. Additionally, third-party iOS apps can also store data here. For example, WhatsApp keeps your chat backups in iCloud Drive.
Finally, you also get a free @iCloud email that you can use like any other email.
Plus, if you pay and upgrade to iCloud+, you'll get premium services like Hide My Email, Private Relay, and HomeKit Secure Video support.
In short, iCloud is one of the essential things to set up on your Apple devices. And it's easy to do, as shown below.
Requirements to get iCloud
iCloud offers many features, and many of them require a specific version of iOS or macOS. For example, Account Recovery Contacts is only available if you're on iOS 15 or later. Shared notes require iOS 9 or later. iCloud Drive is available on iOS 8 and later. For iCloud Drive folder sharing, you must have iOS 13.4 or later. And so on.
So we can say that as things progress and new iCloud features are added, they require modern versions of iOS, iPadOS or macOS. But in general, if you're using the latest version of iOS, you should have everything currently offered.
That said, to use iCloud (and at least its initial basic features), you need to:
- An Apple ID
- Internet connection
- iOS 5 or later on iPhone 3GS, iPod touch (3rd generation) and later
- Any iPad, even the first iPad released in 2010, is compatible with iOS 5
- Mac running OS X Lion 10.7.5 or later
- PC with Windows 7 or later
For the record, iOS 5 and OS X Lion were released in 2011. So you don't have to worry. The iPhone or Mac you're using almost certainly supports iCloud. Here's how to access it.
How to Set Up and Get iCloud on iPhone and iPad
When you buy a new iPhone or set one up after erasing it, it's recommended that you sign in using your Apple ID. Once you do this, it automatically sets up iCloud and turns on the default options.
However, if you omitted this during device setup. Or, if you just want to ensure whether iCloud is active on your iPhone or not, here are the steps to do so.
- Open the application Settings and at the top you will see Sign in to your iPhone . Tap it and sign in using your Apple ID. After that, follow the next steps. If you see the your name in instead of Sign in on your iPhone, it means you're already signed in. Simply follow the steps below to ensure your desired iCloud services are set up.
- Tap iCloud .
- Here, you have several options. Turn switches on or off to enable or disable said services.
- After enabling the iCloud Drive , you will see additional third-party apps appear at the bottom of the screen. You can allow or deny these apps from saving data to iCloud Drive.
You have successfully set up iCloud on your Mac. To use the enabled services, open the respective application. For example, if you enabled Notes in step 4, you'll find all your iCloud notes in the Notes app on your Mac. Plus, new notes you create here will be saved in iCloud and available on other devices and even the web.
How to Access Your iCloud on Windows PC
After setting up iCloud on your Windows PC, you can access the photos, contacts, calendar, files, etc. stored in it. Here's how to do it.
- On Windows 10 or 11, download and install iCloud from Microsoft Store . If you are on Windows 7 or 8, use this link from Apple.
- Restart your PC.
- Open iCloud for Windows and sign in to iCloud using the Apple ID you have on your iPhone, iPad or Mac.
- Check which services you want to enable.
- Finally, click To apply .
You have successfully set up iCloud on your Windows PC. You should now see the supported enabled services folders in Windows File Explorer. For example, if you've enabled iCloud Drive, you'll see its folder in File Explorer. Same for iCloud Photos. Any files or photos you add to these folders on your PC will be synced and displayed on your Apple devices.
How to Access iCloud on Your iPad Computer or Browser
You can also use iCloud on Google Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Opera or Safari to view, add, edit, download or delete certain things like contacts, notes, photos, etc.
- Visit iCloud.com and sign in using your Apple ID. If you're using Safari, you may see an option to sign in via Touch ID, Face ID, or by entering your device password instead of your Apple ID details.
- Choose one of the apps or services here.
- Additionally, iCloud on the web also lets you see your account configurations . You can manage multiple options here. It even allows you to restore recently deleted files, contacts, calendars and bookmarks.
On iPhone, you can sign in to iCloud web, but it will only show six options – Mail, Photos, iCloud Drive, Notes, Reminders, Find iPhone. Also, on some Android phones, you can force login to iCloud using desktop mode, but the experience may be poor and unusable.
This is how you can get to iCloud, set it up and access it on different devices. Typically, it’s a “do it once and forget it” kind of thing. You've set it up and now it will store and sync everything across your Apple devices. I hope this guide was helpful and you had fun using iCloud.
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