Syncing with iCloud
iCloud is chock full of features for syncing, sharing photos, listening to music, reading, backing up your devices, hanging out with friends, and more. In this tip, we will learn how to master iCloud's syncing components, among its most valuable core offerings.
Sync your Data and Documents
Once you have iCloud set up on your devices, you can take advantage of the service's syncing and storage capabilities. Whenever you make a change within an iCloud supported application, your data is seamlessly pushed across all of your devices; your won't actively have to choose when you want to sync. Instead, your data is automatically stored in iCloud, and your iOS devices sync to and pull information from this central server on a regular basis, keeping everything up to date.
How Apple's iCloud Sync Works
This tip does not go into nitty-gritty explanations about online storage and push servers. Instead, we will outline the basics of how Apple's iCloud sync process works. It is a fairly simple and (usually) seamless process.
- You add or change a reminder on your iPhone.
- If your iPhone has a network connection, that change goes up to the central iCloud server. (If, for whatever reason, you don't have a network connection when you first make an edit, your iPhone stores the change locally until it can sync with iCloud again.)
- iCloud confirms that this is the newest change or addition made to that reminder list.
- The server makes the change to iCloud.com, and then sends that change down to all of your other iCloud-connected devices.
This all takes place behind the scenes and within seconds of your initial change.
Change the same reminder on both my computer and my phone? While it is not the best idea to do that, iCloud tries to handle near-simultaneous changes by syncing them in the order in which it gets them, with the most recent change synced last. For example, if you add 'Milk' to your shopping list of your computer, and then immediately add 'Egg' to your iPhone list before iCloud has had a chance to sync, iCloud will add first 'Milk' and then 'Egg' to your list on iCloud.com. Next, it will add 'Milk' to your iPhone list above the 'Eggs' item. Finally, it will add 'Eggs' to your Mac's shopping list.
The said, any sync service-iCloud included-can get tetchy if you try changing multiple records or the same record in multiple places. iCloud will try its best to reconcile your wishes, but you might occasionally end up with duplicate list entries, events, or notes.
What Can I Sync?
iCloud's document and data sync makes up a large portion of the service. You receive full sync support across all devices (PC, Mac and iOS) for your iCloud.com email, contacts, calendars, reminders, and notes, and that data also appears when you log in to iCloud.com. Depending on your device, you can also sync Safari bookmarks and open tabs, Passbook passes, and app documents and data.
Each feature your device supports is listed in the iCloud preference screen; from there, you get to choose what items you want the service to store. For instance, if you enable contact sync for your iPhone, whenever you enter a new contact there, it automatically gets pushed to iCloud.com and any other devices you have set up to allow contact syncing.
Mail, Calendars, Contacts, Reminders and Notes
These five areas are part of iCloud's core sync program; they are the only ones that can be synced across all iCloud-supported platforms and thus the only ones viewable on iCloud.com.
On the Mac and iOS, these areas sync to the programs of the same name: your email syncs to Mail, calendars to Calendar, contacts to the Contacts app, and so on. On a PC iCloud syncs with Outlook 2007 or later.
When you first set up your iCloud account, these features are on by default; that means when you check off a reminder on your iPhone, that reminder will also show up as completed on your Mac (assuming you have set up the service on both Mac and iPhone). If you don't want to sync certain data your contacts, or your calendars - you can turn off syncing by going to System Preferences → iCloud (on your Mac) or Settings → iCloud (on iOS) and unticking the boxes or turning off the toggles for the appropriate selections.
Safari Bookmarks, Reading List and iCloud Tabs
Available for iOS and Mac users only, the Safari option let you sync bookmarks, your Reading List, and open tabs and windows (which Apple refers to as iCloud tabs). This data doesn't go to iCloud.com; it gets synced directly between devices.
Bookmarks and Reading List are fairly straightforward: add a new bookmark to your browser, or an article to your Reading List, and that change gets pushed to all your other devices within moments.
If you have ever found yourself viewing a web page in Safari on your iPhone and wanting to instead view it on the large screen of your iPad or Mac - or, conversely, reading an article on your Mac and wanting to transfer it to your iPhone as you walk out the door - iCloud Tabs is for you. Instead of emailing URLs to yourself, you just tap the iCloud Tabs button and grab the URL from your other device.
iCloud syncs any tabs or windows open on any of your devices - assuming they have internet access. On your iPhone or iPad, you access synced tabs by tapping Safari's Bookmarks button, and then tapping iCloud Tabs. (If you are already in a sublist in the Bookmarks list, tap the left-facing arrow until you get to the top level, titled Bookmarks.) Tabs are grouped by device, and each tab's entry shows the name of the web page and its URL; tap any item in the list to open that webpage on your device.
On you Mac, you access synced tabs by clicking the iCloud Tabs button - which looks like a cloud - in Safari's toolbar. Tabs are similarly grouped by device, although on the Mac they only display the website's title instead of both its title and its URL.
Passbook
Designed for the iPhone and iPod touch, Apple's mobile wallet app stores boarding passes, event tickets, customer loyalty cards, coupons, movie tickets and other assorted passes and cards in one location. Whenever you pick up a pass, ticket, or coupon, your iCloud account automatically uploads these to the service's central server.
While you can technically sync Passbook with other devices, the only ones available are the iPhone and iPod touch - which means that as an iPhone owner, you'd need to also own an iPod touch (or two iPhones) to take advantage of this. But if you are giving your daughter movie tickets, for example, the sync feature might be useful.
Photo Stream
With Photo Stream, you can snap a picture from any iOS device - or upload a photo to your Mac or PC - and have it pushed to all your other devices and computers. You can also create Share Photo Streams, which allows you to collect and send albums of images to your friends and family.
On iOS devices, iCloud syncs your Photo Stream to the Photos app, under the Photo Stream tab; on a Mac, you use iPhoto or Aperture; and on a PC, you must choose a folder on your hard drive to use as your Picture Library. The Apple TV can view your Photo Stream, but you cannot upload images to it from the device (as there is no actual way to add photos to the Apple TV).
Photo Stream keeps a copy of the last 1,000 photos snapped on your iOS device or uploaded to your Mac or PC; these photos are stored on iCloud's central server for 30 days. Your computer automatically downloads any new synced photos to your chosen photography program, or to your designated photo library folder. In iPhoto, the photos appear under Events, with a default name that includes the month and year, along with Photo Stream. You can, however, change the event name, or reorganize those images and put them elsewhere.
iOS devices, in contrast, won't automatically download full-quality Photo Stream images to your phone - they are only available for viewing. If you want to edit an image or save a hard copy of it, you must first download it by going to Photos → Photo Stream, selecting the appropriate photo, and then tapping Share → Save to Camera Roll.
You can delete individual Photo Stream images from iCloud via your iOS device: Just go to Photos → Photo Stream, tap the image in question, and tap the Trash button. You can also delete multiple images by going to Photos → Photo Stream, tapping the Edit button, and then selecting the images you wish to delete. You can delete Photo Stream images from iCloud via your Mac by opening iPhoto and selecting Photo Stream, and then choosing the photo(s) you wish to delete.
You can't delete individual Photo Stream images from a PC, though you can clear your entire Photo Stream online by logging in to the iCloud.com, clicking your name in the top right corner to bring up your Account preferences, selecting Advanced, and then clicking Reser Photo Stream.
If you want to share images in your library with friends - whether you have added them to Photo Stream or not - you can create a Shared Photo Stream on your Mac or iOS device (from iPhoto or the Photos app, respectively).
On your Mac, select the images you want to share, click the Share button, and then click Photo Stream. From here, you can create a new Shared Photo Stream, or add it to a Shared Photo Stream you have already created.
Create a new stream, and you will need to choose whom to send it to and whether you want to make the images available on the web. Friends who have iCloud will see the shared stream pop up in the Photo Stream section of iPhoto or the Photos app on iOS; those without an iCloud account can view the images on the web.
You can also easily create a Shared Photo Stream on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad by selecting the images you want, and then tapping Share → Photo Stream.
After you make a Shared Photo Stream, you recipients can comment on or like your photo, and even save it to their own computer or iOS device.
Documents & Data
This toggle controls the wireless sync and storage of all iCloud-enabled apps. Sometimes referred to by Apple as Documents in the Cloud, Documents & Data keeps your app information ubiquitous across all your iOS devices and computer, allowing you to create a document on one device, save it, and pick up where you left off somewhere else.
Accessing documents between iOS devices is seamless. Say you started a Numbers spreadsheet on your iPad, you could save it and open it up later on your iPhone to do some tweaking. You can access your projects across all your iOS devices (and, if the app in question supports oS X, the Mac), so it is not necessary to file share or email copies to yourself. Documents & Data will automatically sync your documents through iCloud, so you can access them on all of your iOS devices.
Apple's own App Store apps (such as Pages, Keynote, Numbers and iPhoto, among others) use this functionality, as do third-party apps like AgileBits' 1Password, Tapbots' Tweetbot and Autodesk's SketchBook Pro. Using iCloud in apps that support it is simple as can be: Just flip the Documents & Data switch on in iCloud settings. Then, when you download an iCloud-enabled app, it should prompt you to use the service to store documents or data. (If the app doesn't ask you about iCloud functionality automatically, you may need to turn on a setting in its preferences.)
If you ever want to delete an app's iCloud information, on an iOS device, select Settings → iCloud → Storage & Backup → Manage Storage → Documents & Data; on a Mac or PC, go to the iCloud preference pane or control panel and click the Manage button.
iCloud Sync Troubleshooting
Here is a couple of common issues with iCloud syncing, and how we would advise tackling them.
Merge Content merge - when you try to sync an active iCloud account with a device that has calendars and contacts on it - can be a source of trouble.
iCloud always attempts to merge things seamlessly: if it is merging calendars, and you have two events with the same name, it automatically tries to accept the one you created most recently. Most of the time, data merges should work, but there can be mistakes. If you are worried about overwriting data, back up your device before you turn on iCloud.
Duplicates: If you are using iTunes 10 or earlier, and you have switched on calendar syncing with both iCloud and iTunes, you could be in for some serious duplication. Connect your iOS device to your PC or Mac, select it in iTunes' Source list, choose the info tab, and peer at the Sync Calendars entry.
Look for these words: "Your calendars are being synced with iCloud over the air. Your calendars will also sync directly with this computer. This may result in duplicated data showing on your device." This is a strong hint that you are doing a bad thing and that you need to make a choice between syncing with your computer and syncing with iCloud. You can disable calendar syncing within iTunes by unticking the Sync Calendars option. When you do, iTunes will offer to remove its calendar entries from your iPhone.
But suppose you have different events in the calendars synced events in the calendars synced from your Mac and those synced via iCloud, and you'd like to have all of your events on the iPhone. Try this: attach your iPhone to your Mac and, in the info tab, disable Calendar syncing. When you see the offer to keep or remove the calendars currently on the iPhone, keep them, then click the Apply button at the bottom of the window.
Now, move to your iPhone, choose Settings → iCloud, and flick the toggle next to Calendars to Off. Again, you will be offered the choice to keep or delete your calendars. In this instance, delete them (don't worry, they are stored in the cloud). Now switch the Calendars toggle back to On. In the sheet that appears, tap Merge.
The duplicate events currently stored on your iPhone (the ones synced from your Mac) and on iCloud are merged into a single event. Any additional events not found in your iCloud calendar get added to iCloud.