iCloud Explained.

[@shehalk1238]

So iCloud is a means to link up your İOS devices and not necessarily for storage. Totally got it wrong all these times. My iPad pro storage got full. I started uploading to iCloud thinking that would help me free up my ipad storage. Thank God I didn't delete anything before watching your video. Thanks Carl.

[@Carl_Pullein]

In a way, yes. Essentially, iCloud is like an old-fashioned hard drive. It connects everything together through the cloud, so you can use it for storage.

[@joec2158]

It took me a while to understand how the iCloud works but once I did it , it is the most convenient and secure one from my point of view !!! Great video !!!

[@Carl_Pullein]

Thanks, Joe.

[@Tony-dx3eo]

Excellent explanation of the iCloud function--much appreciated!

[@Carl_Pullein]

You're welcome, Tony.

[@benburke9050]

Excellent video. I am currently in the process of moving all my files from various cloud providers and consolidating them in iCloud Drive as I too only use Apple products. Your videos are informative and explain using Layman's terms which is great. Look forward to watching more of your videos, keep up the great work.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hi Ben, I did that a few years ago. Yes thing I ever did.

[@Oldnose63]

Excellent explanation of iCloud but there is one thing to add: you only get to “see” what is on iCloud on your Apple devices is when they are synchronised. So you can choose to have a backup of your iPhone on a computer, you can choose to only synchronise certain folders. Don’t let Apple decide that for you, but think about what is best for you. If you don’t do that you’ll certainly run out of iCloud space even if you have the largest (payed) storage option. Also continuously syncing your pictures and videos might leave you running out of data on your subscription if you don’t sync over WiFi.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Thank you for sharing that, Pieter.

[@6packjesus]

can you individually save specific photos to the cloud ?

[@MxAvA]

@@6packjesus If your photo is in your Photos library and you have iCloud on for Photos, then your all photos in that library will be in iCloud. For any photos you have outside of the Photos library, you can always copy them into your iCloud drive. So the answer is yes.

[@user-fi5yb]

Hello. When downloading videos from icloud to windows desctop the "date taken" is missing. Also the "creation date" is set to the date that has beeing downloaded. Is there any way to download the videos with the correct metadata? I've tried every possible way and still havent got to the buttom of it

[@DemetriPanici]

iCloud is a really convenient service! Great stuff Carl

[@Carl_Pullein]

Couldn't live without it, Demetri.

[@RA-lc5ed]

What is the relationship between iCloud and iPhone internal storage? If I turn sync on for contacts, photos, messages etc does it move them all to iCloud, or does it copy it to iCloud and keep the files on the internal storage as well? Also, if I turn contacts sync from 'on' to 'off' in iCloud settings on the iPhone, what does it actually mean when it displays the message 'what would you lke to do with the previously synced iCloud contacts on your iPhone?' Thanks

[@zachpark7854]

You say when you delete from one you delete from all. However when I send a text it shows on all devices, when I delete that text it still shows on all the other devices? First I don't want my text populating on all devices, I disabled messages in iCloud but it had no effect, it still populates messages across all devices then I have to run around deleting the same text from 5 devices. Any help?

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hi Zach, Messages will keep a local copy of your messages. If you were to reset your phone / iPad etc and have not turned on iCloud sync your messages will disappear from that device.

[@NPTVtrainsis8450]

Great explanation, thank you. Another question please; since iCloud is an external storage system, why does it take up GB's of storage space on my hard drive?

[@Carl_Pullein]

iCloud is a "smart" drive. It will leave files you are using on your hard drive. Once you stop using them, the thumbnail will remain, but the file contents will be removed from your hard drive and only be accessible when you need it and have an internet connection.

[@NPTVtrainsis8450]

Thank you Carl! And if I want to set up iCloud storage (using my own paid iCloud 200G allowance) for my son's iPad, is the best way to do this through family sharing? I don't want my photos to appear on his device and vice versa. @@Carl_Pullein

[@xblmind5et]

So I need more space on my phone. I can send everything to the cloud and clear out my phone. the cloud will have all my files that I may want back from it? Am I missing anything before I make a huge mistake?

[@Carl_Pullein]

NO! Please do not do that. iCloud is an extension of your phone. Anything you delete there will be deleted in the cloud also. Instead, go to your settings and enable iCloud. Then let it do its magic to clear up space on your phone.

[@TM-vg4mx]

how one can back up files on icloud drive using time machine, when local hard drive is small? thanks for all great videos

[@Carl_Pullein]

I don't think that is possible. Time Machine is designed to be set up with an external hard drive.

[@TM-vg4mx]

@@Carl_Pullein thanks a lot. This one of my big issues. I am using both iCloud and Dropbox coz my local hard drive is small but I have no idea how to backup my files as I cannot keep all files offline on my local hard drive. If there is any tips that would be great, or perhaps an idea for another great video :)

[@TheBassetlover]

Very helpful. Thank you Carl.

[@Carl_Pullein]

You're welcome, Larry.

[@prince1313100]

What about device storage

[@allans7281]

What actually is the cloud is it a storage somewhere is it only web storage and not physical storage what is it

[@DuckingAround58]

Will iCloud automatically move inactive files to the cloud for me, or do I need to initiate the transfer??

[@Carl_Pullein]

It happens all automatically if you initiate the "optimise" storage in your iCloud settings.

[@MrsB_734]

I understood what you said, but I'm still confused as to why my computer is saying there is not enough space to copy a folder of photos. I have an iMac with 1T HD I have moved almost everything to my 2T cloud storage. When I try to move/copy a folder of photos it says I don't have enough space. My icloud says I have 1.26T available and my iMac says I have 39G left. First with everything moved off my Mac and to the cloud, I should have a lot more room on my Mac and second, there is plenty of room on the cloud. I am totally confused as to why I can't move anymore folders to icloud?

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hi Carla, that sounds like you need to visit an Apple Store for a look at it. There could be multiple reasons why that might be happening and having an expert look at it should solve the problem very quickly.

[@CathySmith22849]

any tips on how to back up photos that are in iCloud - and devise storage too small to save them all too?

[@Carl_Pullein]

If you select the photos you wish you backup, you can then drag them to an external hard drive for backup. However, this will be a very slow process if you have 1000s of photos and videos. This link may help. support.apple.com/en-mn/guide/photos/pht6e157c5f/mac

[@yangnes]

hey, great video ! I have a question: how do I save apps to icloud or is this even possible? For example I have some games that are using a lot of space and I wish to storage them just as the photos to icloud. Can I do that ?

[@Carl_Pullein]

That happens automatically if you are not using an app very often. The app will be offloaded in the background, leaving just the preferences. If you want to open the app again, there will be a short delay as it redownloads the app.

[@garrincha2813]

Hi Carl, thanks for the info. If I'm going someplace for an extended period, where there's no internet, how do I download all my iCloud files (info), including Safari, calendar, photos, iCloud Drive, notes etc, onto a hard drive to take with me.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Your safari preferences will be saved onto your device. But if you don't have internet access, Safari, email and pretty much everything else will not work anyway. You can always drag any files you need onto a hard drive directly from your computer.

[@janelatamayo8573]

if i delete a photo on the photos app of my iphone, will it be deleted on my icloud as well?

[@Carl_Pullein]

Yes.

[@janelatamayo8573]

@@Carl_Pullein will it be deleted instantly? i tried it just now and it wasnt deleted on my icloud. i also tried to cobtact apple support and they said it wont be deleted on icloud. now im confused. 😓

[@Carl_Pullein]

@@janelatamayo8573 It will hang around for 30 days in your deleted folder. So you have 30 days to recover it. After that it will be deleted. It can take a little while for iCloud to catch up with a delete. All you need to know is if you delete a photo from one device it will be deleted from ALL your devices.

[@wrd2b.11]

I accidentally signed in to icloud , i dont want it how do i remove it

[@Carl_Pullein]

I'm not sure what you mean? You can log out anytime.

[@lhr1701]

The photos on my iPhone don't match the photos on my iMAC and everything is synced up .

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hi Larry, if you log out of iCloud on the device that is not showing all the photos and shut it down. Then restart the device, and log back into iCloud. That should fix it for you.

[@lhr1701]

@@Carl_Pullein thanks I will try that.

[@jjhatnm]

Man, I'm still confused lol. My backups are failing since I only have 5GB of storage. How do I add additional storage? I don't need the iCloud services right? My phone is 128GB, so I'll never need more than that. I have four phones (family) so we need max 512GB. I do want Apple storage so that the backups compete. What are our options?

[@Carl_Pullein]

I'm afraid the only option you have is to upgrade your iCloud. However, I did find this article: www.theverge.com/22673693/iphone-apple-backup-ios-icloud

[@jjhatnm]

@@Carl_Pullein Thanks! I bit the bullet and now have iCloud.

[@emirgundogar79]

I have this problem ; On my dekstop, I log into my icloud, to my photos. It shows I have 7143 pictures and videos updated 1 hour ago but on my iphone i have 6013 pictures and videos and i did that 2 weeks ago. I do have wifi and power connection. I have changed my phone 1 month ago with 5000 pic and videos, when i backed up from icloud it installed more than 8000 pic and videos. Same problem with contacts, i have different numbers on icloud and on the phone. How can i fix this syncronization well forever ?? Thank you for the amazing videos. Have a nice day. Looking forward to hear from you

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hi Emir, there could be a multitude of reasons why this may be happening. However, if you go to iCloud.com and look to see the number of photos you have there, that should be the accurate number. From there, to unstick syncing, you will need to log out of iCloud completely on your phone. Shut down your phone and then restart and re-log into iCloud. That usually clears any sync issues.

[@emirgundogar79]

@@Carl_Pullein wow thank you. I ll try that

[@cosmincraciun4810]

@carl Please someone explain me something. If my pictures are uploaded in iCloud why my photo app says that I have used 14GB of memory for photos?. The photos that I make everyday suppose to be stored to iCloud and not in may phone. Or the photos stay saved in the cloud and in the phone’s memory ? But if this is true why we pay for iCloud if the pictures use the storage space from iCloud and phone ?

[@Carl_Pullein]

The photos you take on your phone do not immediately get saved to the cloud only. They will stay on your phone for a period of time (not sure how long). Also, any photo you have viewed or favourited will also be copied to your phone. There isn’t a way to see which photos have been. Downloaded back to your phone and you do not need to worry about it. iCloud is doing the calculations in the background and is determining how much space you have for photos all the time.

[@cosmincraciun4810]

@@Carl_Pullein ok thanks…. google photos is better than iCloud. There i can save my photos and clear my storage phone.

[@Carl_Pullein]

@@cosmincraciun4810 Ah, the genius of iCloud is you don't need to do anything or worry about it. It's all done automatically. (I understand it's not for everyone, though)

[@cosmincraciun4810]

@@Carl_Pullein the Google photos efective save your pictures in a separate storage and if I delete a photo from my iPhone the picture is stilled saved in Google photos. I have big problems with my iPhone storage and this helps me alot.

[@MaiKai_Makena_Property_Advisor]

Carl is the MAN 🙌👊⚡️❤️

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hahaha Thank you.

[@AnHeene]

Nice tutorial. My question: why do you need a back up, when everything is stored in ICLOUD? I should think that a back up isn't needed, because your data are already safe and accessible in ICLOUD. Thank you.

[@Carl_Pullein]

I don't backup my iCloud data. I do back pmy computer once a week, though. That backs up my computer's settings and other non-iCloud stuff.

[@RunTFC]

You're saying this is how operating all your devices work together, assuming you've engaged or turned on iCloud itself. You skipped that part. I never used iCloud for years and years but did when the 12 Pro Max phone came out. But I don't even see that backup. It's not even registering on my space used so where would that backup be?

[@Carl_Pullein]

Head over to your settings and at the top of the list is iCloud. Go in there and turn on everything you want iCloud to store for you.

[@MaryAllan45]

Please if you will read this message, can you explain the situation, how from the icloud storage the pictures can be deleted. Situation- Person has device with half of the 5Gb storage full, but somehow the iphone storage gets full. The person receives the message-optimize your photos, after that the 50% of tge photos that was stored on the icloud dissapearing.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hi Katrina, Your photos shouldn’t be disappearing. Once your iCloud is full, your photos will be stored locally on your phone (and not uploaded to iCloud). You will still have access to them, but you will not be able to upload anything new. I would also check that your photos settings are set to “optimise iPhone storage”. This will make sure that only the thumbnail of your photos are stored locally and the full image will be on iCloud. You can find this is the iCloud settings on your phone.

[@MaryAllan45]

@@Carl_Pullein I want to thank you that you answer to my question. I am working in Apple support:) All the time i am receiving calls with sutiations where the icloud of the customer is 2,5 gb, and the storage of the device, somehow is getting full. Why the information is saving on the device if the icloud is synchronising. And after for example the back up of icloud and update of device the person is losing his photos for example. But the main question of the people is: why the information is saving on the device.

[@Carl_Pullein]

@@MaryAllan45 the first place photos and other information will be stored will be the device. If you have iCloud enabled, then the information will be sent to iCloud. When iCloud is full it will stop uploading to iCloud and only store on the device. Once something is stored in iCloud, only the thumbnail will email on the device. The idea is iCloud potentially has more storage space (up to 2 TB) so pushing information to iCloud will save space on the device.

[@Carl_Pullein]

@@saltycrusader3107 I've no idea. I leave that side of things to Apple to sort out.

[@MxAvA]

You should have used a bigger mouse pointer. For a while I didn't even notice it was there.

[@solbibiano5780]

Hi Carl I recently switched to Apple (again😅) and when I was transferring my stuff from my Samsung all my photos and contacts were tripled if not quadrupled! I managed to delete the extra contacts but I do have a lot of pictures and videos and it’s taking me forever to delete the extra ones is there a tip / trick to delete the pictures that are extra ??

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hi Sol, sadly, I don't I've never been through transferring contacts and photos from an Android device to an iOS one.

[@solbibiano5780]

@@Carl_Pullein aaww, ok well thanks for replying anyways !(:

[@javtimestwo]

Isn't freeing up space on your device the #1 complaint by users? iCloud does exactly that so those complainers really are out of line. Carl, great job explaining this. If a user deletes photos(per your example) of course they are gone for good. Unless they back-up those photos to an external drive. Very well said and perfectly summarized. Where can I find more of your Apple productivity tools?

[@lorimast]

I think people complain about space rightfully so. I’ve had my iPhone for a year and I keep getting a message that I’m out of space. I had to turn off my backups for more space.

[@javtimestwo]

@@lorimast I think that issue was related to the phone & Apple updates. Not so much with iCloud itself 👍🏼

[@Carl_Pullein]

You're right, Jav. iCloud is there to help with storage limitations and it works brilliantly. It works very well on my MacBook.

[@brandyserafio]

⁠​⁠​⁠any recommendations on external drives to easily transfer from Apple iCloud? I cloud makes it difficult to transfer files in bulk

[@Alexxander100]

how it's saving space ?! .......if i have 200gb on my phone, 200 gb on cloud, everything on my cloud is a clone of what i have in the phone , it's not a phone memory extension, that would be nice

[@MrKen-wy5dk]

You have such a tiny mouse please consider putting a circle around it to make it easier to follow you. Your mouse is literally "lost in the Cloud".

[@bobstillman2225]

Carl, I can see you mean well, but I gave this a thumbs down because at 5:18 through 5:35 you say something that seems to directly contradict what you've been saying earlier. You say people have been getting really angry (no kidding!) because they have deleted a photo from one device, and now it has disappeared from iCloud. As an explanation, you say, well, sure, that's because all the photos are "stored here" -- and you point to the Cloud! As I understand English, if you tell me something is "STORED" in the cloud, I assume that means it (or a copy of it) RESIDES there, and deleting it from my device should not delete it from the cloud. It is absolutely galling to be told on the one hand "iCloud frees up space on your local device by moving files into the Cloud," and then in the next breath "But don't remove those files from your local device or you will delete them from the Cloud! You must let them remain on your device and take up space!"

[@maxgrande467]

I'm afraid I'm still confused about how things are stored. If everything was actually stored in the cloud and not on my individual devices, then why are the Photos libraries taking up so much space on each of my devices? This has become a serious issue, because I do take lots of photos and would love it if they were just stored on iCloud. But my Photos app library, which is taking up local space on my MacBook Air, for instance, amounts to 100GB on that device, which has begun to become a problem, since that device has limited storage (and, in fact, I can't update the system, since it says it needs 16GB more space to do so). I also have had to enable my iPhone to "offload" apps that have not been recently used, since it's so low on space due to the photos library (and the Lightroom library, which also takes up a large chunk), and I find this to be thoroughly annoying, since "recently" is something my phone interprets very liberally, and I too often have to wait to reinstall apps that I use with relative frequency. I'm also confused about how the desktops are handled. This only became a concern for me recently as I revived my old MacBookAir, thinking I'd use it for work, while using the newer MacBookPro for my general use, and I thought it would be best to have everything shared over iCloud except that I wanted my workplace desktop to be independent of my home desktop that is accessed by my phone and my iPad as well. I might have made a grave error in thinking I could just uncheck the iCloud desktop and documents preference for the MacBookAir, since everything that I had stored on that desktop then suddenly disappeared, and I'm concerned that if I re-check it, then the now-blank desktop will replace the ones that the other devices see....

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hi Max, if photos is taking up too much space on your devices, you can go into settings and make sure you have iCloud Photos turned on and "Optimise iPhone Storage". Then sit back and let Apple do the hard work. It does work, but you may have to give it a little time offload the bulk of your photos to iCloud.

[@neuromanifest]

iCloud works in EXACTLY the opposite way to what people actually want. iCloud is Apple's biggest fail as a product company.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Ah, as Henry Ford explained, “If I’d asked my customers what they wanted, they would have asked for a faster horse”

[@meg-a-bytes]

AGREE! Why do they (software companies) think they know what we want to do?

[@Carl_Pullein]

@@meg-a-bytes Ah, I think that's because tech companies were blamed for causing people to lose their digital files. We had twenty years to figure it out, and the vast majority of people failed miserably. Hence tech companies stepping in to solve the problem. Of course, in doing so, they will always upset a small percentage of people. You can turn if though if you wish: www.businessinsider.com/guides/tech/how-to-turn-off-icloud

[@Lee-nu2cu]

Apple locked away the other cloud storage platform from behaving exactly like iCloud, due to so-called closed ecosystem restriction or don't want the others to be inferior to Apple's, I don't know but if I have a choice then I will use Boxcryptor due to end to end encryption of everything. So I use iCloud. 256GB works well for my backup, my iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch.I took quite of few photos back in many years ago and I forgot about it, then when I try to web version of my iCloud then I see all those photos. Perhaps preserving memories is my favorite part.

[@meg-a-bytes]

How do you NOT use icloud? i have no need for it. I am a windows user on a desk top. I do not need any cloud storage by anyone. The only reason i have icloud is because i have an iphone and i'm trying to use itunes. I do NOT want it to synch automatically. I do NOT want to store photos on icloud. I simply want to put my music on my phone when I want to. This is so frustrating. How do i delete all of the contents in my icloud? Everytime i connect my iphone to my PC it shows music that is physically NOT on my iphone. Where is it coming from? I have deleted the Music app which deleted all of the music files from the phone but when i connect the phone to iTunes, it recognizes my phone and shows all the music files i just deleted when i deleted the music app! Why can't software just let us control our own hardware & software? Why must they assume they know what we want to do?

[@Carl_Pullein]

Here you go: www.businessinsider.com/guides/tech/how-to-turn-off-icloud

[@tompov227]

I want to recognize the criticisms of depending on cloud for everything but as an apple ecosystem user iCloud makes things so convenient

[@Carl_Pullein]

It does, you're right there, Thomas.

[@tuworlds]

i don't think the topic was explained well as by saying if you delete from apple device your files in the cloud will also be delete. this is partly true. i have 2 iphones and a mac with 200gig icloud storage and i have no storage issues at all. what he forgot to mention like many others is this. icloud ONLY sync files from the folders photos or images, documents, desktop and downloads. for example what i do is create additional folders in icloud like a folder that's called oldPhotos then i copy or move all my photos to that folder because it's not like i sit and look at them everyday but still i don't want to loose them. by doing this you can delete or even format your apple device and you WONT loose the photos that's in the oldPhotos folder and to get them resynced just simply copy the photos or files that you need back to the icloud sync able folder and they will unturned be copied back to your device. i have 150 gigs of mixed files in icloud for some years and never lost anything. in that time i have been through 3 phones and 2 macs i have a external time machine drive 500 gig that i backup on 2 times a year and up till now never once i had to restore from it. icloud is really good as a sync and storage drive

[@Matschbacke25]

Love iCloud, but I don’t love that iCloud isn’t private.

[@peterc2248]

An interesting video. As a long time Apple user, I only recently moved over permanently to using iCloud for pretty much everything. However, I still maintain a free dropbox account and use it to store copies of my REALLY important stuff as well as having a portable hard-drive using Time Machine. Probably overkill I know but I have experienced data loss a few times and it hurts. Great channel by the way. Suggest a video on how to move from one Time Machine back up drive to a new higher capacity one? That really foxes me! 🙂

[@hookerrabbit]

when it comes to backing up important content there is no such thank as overkill. ;/)

[@Carl_Pullein]

I do too, Peter. It does keep things safe (ish)

[@raygold1]

Carl is right. You always need not only your physical backup drive(s) but you need cloud/offsite backup(s). You never know when your physical drives could crash or be harmed in a disaster.

[@Carl_Pullein]

@@raygold1 Good point, Ray.

[@Rich-y8n]

One thing that is a source of confusion is that iCloud is NOT AN ARCHIVING SOLUTION. It is a BACKUP for what is on your device(s). It is not an archiving dumping ground for anything and everything that does NOT reside on your device, i.e., laptop, computer, iPad, iPhone, etc. If your data exceeds the storage space that is on your device then you need additional storage to ARCHIVE your data. This difference is not evident in your explanation. Sorry.

[@CarlPaulsen]

Wow! The very fact this needs to be explained to Apple users explains why they're Apple users...

[@Carl_Pullein]

I suppose it's because Apple does things differently.

[@hadeseye2297]

Wow. Entire 6TB? xD

[@terrifictomm]

Do you wanna know what NOT on iCloud? The Books App! Yet iCloud Will remove every book you have from off your device and not let you access it from your phone unless you have connection. I have books that I have specifically downloaded that iCloud stole off of my device which I could not access when I was somewhere without an Internet connection. That is precisely the reason why I downloaded it! in fact, it is this indiscriminate hijacking of my notes, my photos, my Voice Memos, my books, everything on my device and putting it into the cloud or I cannot access it without an Internet connection. For iCloud to be worth anything you have to pay for it every single month. If I use iCloud WTF did I pay $300 more to have 512 G memory on my iPhone? it’s shit and I want nothing to do with it and I can’t get rid of it without losing things on my phone will be removed when I sign out.

[@abvarvin]

I wish the worst who ever invented this horrible horrible thing iCloud