macformat.com @macformat SEPTEMBER 2019 | MACFORMAT | 23
iTunes
iTunes and iCloud. iCloud and
iTunes. Which is which? What
do they do? Why is iTunes the
name of an app as well as an
online store that sells films and
TV shows as well as tunes? Wait,
what about apps and the App
Store, that’s another thing
again? It’s all got so confusing.
OK, let’s just slow down... We’ll
try to clear as much of this up as
possible as we go along. Find
explanations as to what’s what
on pages 26 and 32.
iOS backups
> If you lose or replace your
iPhone, iPod touch or iPad, how
do you put everything back on
the new one that you had on the
old one? It turns out all you have
to do is keep iCloud Backup
turned on. Well, that and make
sure you have enough space for
all your backups in your iCloud
storage plan. We discuss
storage plans in further detail
on page 26. And you can find
out more about backup options
on page 33.Backup for your Mac
>iCloud can back up all your iOS
devices, but for macOS you’ll
need to use Time Machine with
a hard disk or SSD.A master photo library
>If you delete a photo from a
device, it’s deleted from iCloud.
Copy photos to a drive on your
Mac to keep them safe.Unlimited
>You get 5GB of storage free,
but that’s unlikely to be enough.
Expanding this costs extra: see
‘How much space?’ on page 26.(^) iTunes
Don’t confuse the two: the
iTunes app in macOS is used to
back up your devices to your
Mac, not to the cloud.
Dropbox
More sharing features are
coming, but for now iCloud is
focused on you, rather than
multi-user collaboration.
What
iCloud
isn’t
Find my devices
Losing a gadget is more than
just annoying – Apple devices
cost a fortune and have all your
stuff on them. Fortunately,
Apple devices are good at
detecting where they are in the
world, and iCloud’s Find My...
feature is good at helping you
track them down on a map, find
them under the sofa or in the
fridge, and if necessary lock or
wipe them to thwart evildoers.
Turn to page 31 for info.
Access anywhere
The great thing about having
everything in the cloud is that
it’s not a real cloud, it’s actually
a chunk of storage on a server
in a massive Apple data centre
powered by solar panels in a
remote desert region of
America, and since it’s on the
internet, you should be able to
get at it from just about any kind
of computer. And you can! The
secret is iCloud.com. Read more
on page 32.