iCloud confusion

[igorsky]

I've noticed since iOS 5 that the contents of my phone now include 6.5GB of "other". Is this somehow related to iCloud? I've heard from other people that they also have a ton of "other" content added.

Also, when I dig into the iCloud "manage" area on the iPhone, I noticed that all my apps are backed up to iCloud. How is this different than before iOS 5? Were apps being backed up to my computer then and now they're backed up to iCloud? And is it ok to not back up apps to iCloud?


Thanks in advance!

 

[iphone_guy]

I removed all but contacts and important stuff...I can re-download apps as I find out I lost them if I need a backup...and signing into fb/twitter/ and that always has my account on their server anyway, I actually sync my contacts via gmail through an exchange acct on the iphone so icloud....simply is unnecessary for me...

Personally, I like to keep it all on gmail, just for the added freedom IF I ever decided to go android, I could just sign in and be done.

 

[Ipheuria]

OP the other is usually data that is associated with your apps. So saves in games, documents in an app, etc. I don't know if there is some extra in there from using iCloud.

The firmware before iOS backed up apps through iTunes. It also didn't backup the data so if you reloaded your phone and restored from a backup you would need to play your games from scratch again. Now with iCloud if you reloaded your phone or deleted an app you wouldn't have to hookup to iTunes to get it back you just restore via iCloud. It eliminates the need to use iTunes and it also would put back your data for the apps that it is backing up. The choice is yours which method you want to use to backup your device.

 

[igorsky]

Actually I had everything synced to Google up until yesterday when I upgraded to iOS 5. I guess I just wanted to have everything backed up in one place, but you're rationale makes more sense because you never know.