iCloud is a cloud storage and cloud computing service from Apple Inc. launched on October
12, 2011. As of July 2013, the service has 320 million users.
The service allows users to store data such as music and iOS applications on remote computer
servers for download to multiple devices such as iOS-based devices running iOS 5 or later,
and personal computers running OS X 10.7.2 "Lion" or later, or Microsoft Windows. It
also replaces Apple's MobileMe service, acting as a data syncing center for email, contacts,
calendars, bookmarks, notes, reminders, iWork documents, photos and other data. The service
also allows users to wirelessly back up their iOS devices to iCloud instead of manually
doing so using iTunes. One of Apple's iCloud data centers is located
in Maiden, North Carolina, U.S.
History iCloud is the latest branding of Apple's cloud
computing services. It has previously been branded as iTools in 2000, .Mac in 2002, and
MobileMe in 2008. iCloud was announced on June 6, 2011, at the
2011 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference. Apple announced that MobileMe would be discontinued
after June 30, 2012, with anyone who had an account before the unveiling of iCloud having
their MobileMe service extended to that date, free of charge.
The official website, www.icloud.com, went live in early August for Apple Developers.
On October 12, 2011, iCloud became available to use via an iTunes update. iCloud had 20 million
users in less than a week after launch. The iCloud.com domain and registered trademark
were bought from a Swedish company called Xcerion, who rebranded their service to CloudMe.
CloudMe still controls major domains like iCloud.de, iCloud.fr and iCloud.es.
A class action lawsuit by customers unhappy over the transition from MobileMe to iCloud
was filed in early May 2012. Announcement
The first official mention of iCloud from Apple came on May 31, 2011, when a press release
announced that it would demonstrate the service at the WWDC on June 6, 2011. A banner hung
at the Moscone Center for WWDC revealed the iCloud logo five days before the official
launch. In the WWDC 2011 keynote speech, Apple announced
iCloud will replace MobileMe services and that the basic iCloud service will be free
of charge. Features
The cloud-based system allows users to store music, photos, applications, documents, bookmarks,
reminders, backups, notes, iBooks, and contacts, and provides a platform for Apple's email
servers and calendars. Third-party iOS and OS X app developers are able to implement
iCloud functionality in their apps through the iCloud API.
Backup and restore iCloud allows users to back up the settings
and data on iOS devices running iOS 5 or later. Data backed up includes photos and videos
in the Camera Roll, device settings, app data, messages, ringtones, and Visual Voicemails.
Backups occur daily when the device is locked and connected to Wi-Fi and a power source.
In case of a malfunction of any Apple device, during the restoration process, iCloud offers
to restore all data along with App data only if the device was synced to iCloud and backed
up. Back to My Mac
Back to My Mac, also previously part of MobileMe, is now part of iCloud. As before, this service
allows users to log in remotely to other computers that have Back to My Mac enabled and are configured
with the same Apple ID. Email, Contacts, and Calendars
As with MobileMe, an iCloud account includes an email account. Unlike MobileMe and its
previous iterations, an email address is an optional part of an iCloud account, in that
the user can choose not to use it but can still use the email as their iCloud Apple
ID. The email account can be accessed using any standard IMAP-compatible email client
as well as the web portal mail client on iCloud.com. Additionally, on an iOS device, iCloud email
is push-enabled. Users converting existing MobileMe accounts
to iCloud accounts kept their existing "@me.com" email addresses, and users whose accounts
pre-dated MobileMe and had both me.com and mac.com email addresses kept both. In iOS
6 beta 3, Apple gave notice to developers that new signups would instead get "@icloud.com"
email addresses. As with the .Mac to MobileMe transition, existing users get to keep their
old addresses and also get a matching new icloud.com address, so messages sent to a
valid account with multiple addresses all end up in the same inbox.
Users setting up new iCloud accounts, whether completely new or attaching them to existing
non-MobileMe Apple IDs, can opt to not have email with their iCloud account. These users
don't see the iCloud webmail component when signing in at iCloud.com. They still need
a valid email address with another email provider to sign up, and that existing non-Apple email
address becomes their iCloud login. Find My Friends
In iOS 5, iCloud introduced a new feature called Find My Friends. Find My Friends is
very similar to Find My iPhone, except users can share their location with other friends
or family using the feature. Concurrently with the launch of iOS 5, Apple released an
app for Find My Friends. iOS 6 added location-based alerts to notify the user when a device arrives
at a certain location. Find My iPhone
Find My iPhone, formerly part of MobileMe, allows users to track the location of their
iOS device or Mac. A user can see the device's approximate location on a map, display a message
and/or play a sound on the device, change the password on the device, and remotely erase
its contents. The feature was first announced on June 10, 2009 and was included in iOS 3.0
software update as a feature for paying MobileMe users. Find My iPhone was made free of charge
with the iOS 4.2.1 software update on November 22, 2010, but only for devices introduced
in 2010. An iOS app was also released by Apple on June 18, 2010, which allows users to locate
their device from other iOS devices running iOS 4 or later software. In iOS 5, Find My
iPhone was continued as a feature for iCloud. iOS 6 introduced Lost Mode, a new feature
that allows the user to mark a device as "lost", making it easier to protect and find. The
feature also allows someone that finds the user's lost iPhone to call the user directly
without unlocking it. Similar phone finder services under various names are available
for other families of smartphones. iCloud Keychain
iCloud Keychain was announced at the 2013 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, to
be released as part of iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks. It was not released with the initial release
of iOS 7, instead being added with the release of iOS 7.0.3 and OS X Mavericks following
Apple's October 22, 2013 event. It re-introduces the old MobileMe Keychain syncing function
that was removed with the initial release of iCloud in 2011, but now renamed iCloud
Keychain. It functions as a secure database that allows
information including a user's website login passwords, Wi-Fi network passwords, credit/debit
card management, and other account data, to be securely stored for quick access and auto-fill
on webpages and elsewhere when the user needs instant access to them. They are always stored
encrypted using 256-bit AES encryption, are stored on device and pushed from iCloud between
devices, and only available on a user's trusted devices.
The service can also suggest new longer and more secure passwords to the user, if and
when required. It will only be available for use on Apple platforms, and even more specifically,
when using inside a browser, will only work with Safari browser on iOS 7.0.3 and OS X
Mavericks onwards. iTunes Match
iTunes Match debuted on November 14, 2011. It was initially available to US users only.
For an annual fee, customers can scan and match tracks in their iTunes music library,
including tracks copied from CDs or other sources, with tracks in the iTunes Store,
so customers do not have to repurchase said tracks. Customers may download up to 25,000
tracks in 256 kbit/s DRM-free AAC file format that match tracks in any supported audio file
formats in customers' iTunes libraries, including ALAC and MP3. Customers also have the choice
to keep their original copies stored on their computers or have them replaced by copies
from the iTunes Store. Any music not available in the iTunes Store is uploaded for download
onto customers' other supported devices and computers; doing this will not take storage
from the customers' iCloud's storage allowance. Any such tracks stored in the higher quality
lossless audio ALAC, or original uncompressed PCM formats, WAV and AIFF, are transcoded
to 256 kbit/s DRM-free AAC format before uploading to the customers' iCloud storage
account, leaving the original higher quality local files in their original format.
If a user stops paying for the iTunes Match service, all copies of the DRM-free AAC iTunes
Store versions of tracks that have already been downloaded onto any device can be kept,
whether on iOS devices or computers. From iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks onwards, the
iTunes Radio function will be available across devices, including integration with the Music
app, both on portable iOS devices and Apple TV, as well as inside the iTunes app on Macintosh
and Windows computers. It will be included in an ad-free version for subscribers to the
iTunes Match service and is currently only available in the US and Australia
As of March 26, 2014, iTunes Match is available in 116 countries, while iTunes in the Cloud
is available in 155 countries. iWork for iCloud
During the 2013 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference keynote speech, iWork for iCloud
was announced for release at the same time as the next version of the app versions of
iWork later in the year. The three apps for both iOS and OS X that form Apple's iWork
suite, will be made available on a web interface, and accessed via the iCloud website under
each users iCloud Apple ID login. They will also sync with the users iOS and OS X versions
of the app, should they have them, again via their iCloud Apple ID.
This allows the user to edit and create documents on the web, using one of the supported browsers;
currently Safari, Chrome, and Internet Explorer. It also means that Microsoft Windows users
now have access to these native –previously only Apple device– document editing tools,
via the web interface. iCloud Drive
iCloud Drive is iCloud's file hosting service for devices running iOS 8, OS X Yosemite,
or Windows 7 or later. This feature allows users to save photos, videos, documents, and
music, and other apps data on iCloud. Users can start their work on one device and continue
on another device.[1] By default, users will get 5 GB of storage for free, but this space
will be expandable via subscription. This section of the article was pulled from
the iCloud Drive article.
iCloud Photos iCloud Photos is a new feature coming to iOS
8 as well as OS X Yosemite. This additional service stores all of your photographs whilst
maintaining their original resolution. iCloud Photos makes all stored photos available 'in
the cloud', so as to limit local storage use on a device.
Photo Stream Photo Stream is a service supplied with the
basic iCloud service which allows users to store the most recent 1,000 photos on the
iCloud servers up to 30 days free of charge. When a photo is taken on a device with Photo
Stream enabled, it is automatically uploaded to the iCloud servers; from there, it is automatically
pushed to the rest of the user's registered devices. Photos in Photo Stream will automatically
be removed from other devices after the user reaches the 1,000 photo or 30 day limit. Users
who utilize Photo Stream on their Mac or PC can choose to have all photos permanently
saved on their computer - their photos in Photo Stream will not be removed from the
computer when they are dropped out of Photo Stream after the user reaches the 1,000 photo
or 30 day limit. The service is also integrated with Apple TV, allowing users to view their
recent photos wirelessly on their HDTV. Storage
Since introduction in 2011, each account has 5 GB of free storage for owners of either
an iOS device using iOS 5.x or later, or a Mac using OS X Lion 10.7 or later. Additional
storage can be purchased in tiers of 10, 20, or 50 GB being the maximum. The amount of
storage is shared across all devices per iCloud Apple ID.
Several native features of iCloud use each user's iCloud storage allowance, specifically,
Backup and restore, and email, Contacts, and Calendars. On Macs, users can also store most
filetypes into iCloud folders of their choosing, rather than only storing them locally on the
machine. While Photo Stream uses the iCloud servers, usage does not come out of the user's
iCloud storage allowance. iTunes Match music content that is not sold in the iTunes Store
also gets uploaded to the user's iCloud storage and comes out of the user's allowance. Other
apps can optionally integrate app storage out of the user's iCloud storage allowance.
Not all of a user's content counts as part of their iCloud storage allowance. Apple is
able to keep a permanent track of every purchase a user makes under their Apple ID account,
and by associating each piece of content with the user, means only one copy of every Store
item is needed to be kept on Apple's servers. For items bought from the iTunes Store, iBooks
Store, or App Store, this uses a service Apple call iTunes in the Cloud, allowing the user
to automatically, or manually if preferred, re-download any of their previous purchases
on to a Mac, PC, or iOS device. Downloaded iTunes Store content can be used across all
these devices, however while iBooks Store and App Store content can be downloaded to
Macs and PCs for syncing to iOS devices, only iOS and Mac devices - and their respective
apps - can be used to read the books. Similarly, OS X apps purchased from the Mac App Store
are also linked to the Apple ID they were purchased through, and are able to be downloaded
to any Mac using the same Apple ID. Also, when a user registers any new device, all
previously bought Store content can be downloaded from the Store servers, or non-Store content
from the iCloud servers. URL access points
There are subdirectory access points to each iCloud user's individual account functions
on the main iCloud.com portal. Once signed in, these provide web access to each iCloud
user's account via direct links to each function. See list:
http:www.icloud.com – main user login. http:www.icloud.com/mail – user's Mail access.
http:www.icloud.com/contacts – user's Contacts access.
http:www.icloud.com/calendar – user's Calendar access.
http:www.icloud.com/find – user's Find My iPhone access.
http:www.icloud.com/iwork – user's iWork access.
As well as private subdirectory access points, the previous similar MobileMe service also
had subdomains for public access to certain user account functions, which are not offered
in iCloud. System requirements
iCloud requires an iOS device running iOS 5.x or later, or a Mac running OS X 10.7.2
"Lion" or later, to create a new account. Synchronizing with a PC requires Windows Vista,
Windows 7, or Windows 8 using iCloud Control Panel, optionally Outlook 2007 or later to
sync Calendar, Contacts and Reminders, and Internet Explorer 9 or later or Safari 5.1.1
or later to sync Bookmarks. Online access to iCloud requires a compatible web browser.
MobileMe account users could move their accounts to be an iCloud account, keeping the same
account details. Name dispute
iCloud Communications, a telecommunications company in Arizona, sued Apple in June 2011
for trademark infringement shortly after Apple announced iCloud. The lawsuit was filed in
the US District Court of Arizona and demanded that Apple stop using the iCloud name and
pay unspecified monetary damages. iCloud Communications changed its name to Clear Digital Communications
in August 2011 and dropped its lawsuit against Apple shortly thereafter.
Privacy iCloud data is kept encrypted on Apple servers,
but Apple maintains a master key and can decrypt it when requested by government agencies.
Criticism iCloud has been criticized by third-party
developers for bugs that make some features nearly unusable, specifically the use of Core
Data in iCloud, for storing and syncing larger amounts of data between users' devices, which
Apple is attempting to address with the release of iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks.
See also Comparison of file hosting services
Comparison of online backup services Comparison of online music lockers
Cloud Backup Cloud computing
File hosting service References
External links iCloud – official site
iCloud – information site at Apple System Status – iCloud services status at
Apple