iCloud superguide FEATURE
T
he iCloud concept started off
as a way to sync settings
between devices, and that’s
still one of its most useful
abilities. The less you notice it, the more
useful it’s probably being.
On a Mac, check what iCloud is
managing in System Preferences > iCloud.
In iOS, open Settings and tap your name,
then iCloud. Your Contacts, Calendars
and Reminders will all appear the same
everywhere if you turn on their switches
on all your devices.
For Safari, iCloud syncs your
bookmarks and enables Safari Tabs,
which shows web pages currently open
on other devices. In iOS, scroll to the
bottom of the Tabs view (bottom right
icon on iPhone, top right on iPad) or in
macOS, click the Tabs icon at the top
right. It’s also meant to combine your
browsing history, although many users
report it doesn’t; turning Safari off and
on again in iCloud’s settings on all your
devices may help. Private browsing
windows aren’t synced.
Scroll down the iCloud list and you’ll
see lots of third-party apps too. It’s agood way for them to store data,
including your preferences, and sync
it between devices, but remember they
won’t necessarily sync every document
you create: it may be your choice whether
to store it in iCloud Drive or not, and you
can also move documents in the Finder
or the Files app (see page 26).Key information
Keychain is an important feature that
syncs personal data including passwords,logins and credit card details that are
available for autofill in Safari and apps.
Like data belonging to Apple’s Health
and Home platforms, it’s handled using
end-to-end encryption (read more about
that on page 30).
Messages and Game Center are
shown as options in the iCloud settings
in iOS, but not macOS. If you have the
same iMessage account set up on
each device (plus your iPhone’s phone
number for texts), you’ll see the same
conversations everywhere, but storing
messages in iCloud and syncing changes
is a separate option that requires two-
factor authentication (see page 30). If
you need to enable this from macOS,
go to Preferences > iMessage within
the Messages app (requires macOS
10.13.5 High Sierra or later).
Apple’s Game Center is increasingly
irrelevant, especially on the Mac, but if
you do have games that use it to sync
progress and high scores or enable
multi-player, you set it up, rather
bizarrely, in System Preferences >
Internet Accounts. Click the + then
choose Add Other Account.Sync your settings and info
Apple’s built-in tools head the list of apps using
iCloud, in Settings or System Preferences.macformat.com @macformat SEPTEMBER 2019 | MACFORMAT | 29Behind the scenes, iCloud keeps your services in sync between devices