iCloud Pros and Cons

[Fagen]

iCloud has me totally stumped and I would greatly appreciate someone's help!!

I had an iphone 4s (16GB), but my husband has it now. He wanted to keep my apps and contacts, so didn't format when he started using it.

My current devices: iphone 4s (32GB), ipad 3 (32 GB), pc w/ Windows 7.
Before ipad 3, synced my phone to itunes only and restored the new phone from a backup.

As an aside, my iphone 3gs had more info than the 16GB iphone 4s, so info, mainly songs, dropped out when I set it up. When I got the 32GB iphone, I had to restore it from a back up of the iphone 3gs, to get all of the missing stuff back.

I set up the ipad as "new". Opted to use iCloud to sync contacts, calendar.

I would like to understand the pros and cons of using iCloud.

I would like to be able to sync calendars, contacts, etc between my iphone and ipad. I would like to keep music and pictures on my iphone only. Or, can someone tell me a reason why I would want them on both devices???

I renamed the iphone 16GB so it would be my "husband's", but I think it is still technically "mine" because it was not reformatted. Does that mean that if I want to sync info between my 32GB iphone and ipad that it will also sync with the 16GB iphone that my husband is now using?? My husband would like the 16GB iphone to have his own info.

I'm afraid I messed it all up, so I have not done anything with the ipad 3 for fear of making a further mess. If someone could help me with all of this, I would really appreciate it!!

 

[Peligro911]

Basically iCloud will sync and back up your devices if you .. It's will sync mail , notes , calandar etc as long as both devices are using the same iCloud log In Id

Music is up to you that is synced using iTunes so if you don't want it on the iPad don't sync it and you will be fine ...

I recommend your husband setting up his own iCloud thou reason being if u make a new contact he will have it and vise versa ... You can have separate accounts and still share the main account in settings for store so that way you can share apps and only buy once .. But this way everything else will be separate and your iPad and your phone will be in sync and your husbands phone will have his own info


Sent Into Orbit from my iPhone 4S using Tapatalk

 

[Fausty82]

Here's my setup... maybe it will help you (maybe not).

My wife and I each have an iPad and an iPhone.

Each device has its own iCloud account for stuff like Find my Device and backups... and we use it for the messaging email address, as well (myphone@me.com, mypad@me.com, herphone@me.com and herpad@me.com).

Then we have another iCloud account (family@me.com) which we use for syncing contacts, calendar, etc between devices and with my MacBook Pro and her iMac.

Each device has both the family@me.com iCloud account set up first, and with it we sync contacts and calendars. Each device also has it's 'device' iCloud account for email, bookmarks, reminders, backing up the device to the cloud, etc...

Within the contacts, we have two groups: his and hers. This way, we each have our own contacts, but have access to the other contacts, should the need arise. Typically, I use the HIS group on my devices and she uses the HER group.

Within the calendars we have his, hers, family, and other - each with a different color code... this way if either of us needs to make an appointment for both of us, we have instant access to that information.

We don't use iTunes match, so we physically sync specific playlists to each phone so we have our own music.

Same with photos... no synching with each other, though I do sync my PhotoStream to the cloud for syncing with my MacBook Pro.

Hope that helps you understand some of the logic/reasoning for iCloud and how to use it. As always, YMMV.

 

[Fagen]

Thanks so much for the great info! It does raise more questions

Does it make a difference that I have a pc w/ Windows7 and my husband has an iMac?

Fausty82, what do you mean by "the messaging email address"? Is that a mobile me account? I've never used it. I have turned on the iMessage feature so that I can send messages to my husband without them counting against my contract.

Within the "his" and "hers" contact groups, can you each create subgroups, such as restaurants, medical, work, etc?

Ditto for calendars.

My husband doesn't want much of my music. I've enabled sharing between the computers. Can't he just take the music he wants off of the shared iTunes?

I'm still confused about the photos...I take a fair amount of pictures with the iphone. I put them in folders on my pc by USB connection between iphone and pc and opening iphone like a hard drive and moving pics to folders. I don't want to clutter up my iPad with all of the pictures from my phone. Will that happen if I use the "photo stream" iCloud feature? Also, will I go way beyond the 5GB iCloud limit if I store pics in the cloud? Is "photostreaming" just moving the pics to the cloud?

Peligro911--if I set up the devices as Fausty82 suggests then my husband and I can still use the same iTunes account??

Thanks very much! I really appreciate the help!

 

[Peligro911]

Photo stream is a diff cloud so to speak the 5 gig is used to backup your camera roll only not the stream

Here is my setup

I have 4 iPhones and 2 iPads All using my main iTunes account for purchases lets call it
Main@gmail.com

Now that account is my main account
So I use that for all my info for iCloud etc on my iPhone and iPad

My wife iPad and iPhone has the main@gmail.com
For under settings store only .. just for purchasing apps , music , etc ( this way all devices can use the content and only have to pay once )
The rest of her device has a diff apple Id IE

Wife@gmail.com

This address is used for iMessage iCloud , photo stream etc

Same setup for her iPad

The other 2 iPhones have same
Purchasing email
Main@gmail.com

But like my wife have separate emails apple Id for everything else

This setup enables you to share purchases but everyone has there own backups , contacts , photo stream etc.

If you want 2 devices to sync content because they are both the same persons like phone and ipad
Just use the same apple Id on both devices when setting up iCloud
and iMessage

Hope this helps



Sent Into Orbit from my iPhone 4S using Tapatalk

 

[Peligro911]

Also like suggested of you want to share a calendar just make another iCloud account like suggested and add to each device u want to have access this way each device will have his or her calendar and a joint calendar

My setup is diff then what was suggested but it works for me ..

If you want to share contacts or photos etc it's just a matter of what apple Id / email you use on each device as the main account


Sent Into Orbit from my iPhone 4S using Tapatalk

 

[Fausty82]

Thanks so much for the great info! It does raise more questions

Does it make a difference that I have a pc w/ Windows7 and my husband has an iMac?

Fausty82, what do you mean by "the messaging email address"? Is that a mobile me account? I've never used it. I have turned on the iMessage feature so that I can send messages to my husband without them counting against my contract.

Within the "his" and "hers" contact groups, can you each create subgroups, such as restaurants, medical, work, etc?

Ditto for calendars.

My husband doesn't want much of my music. I've enabled sharing between the computers. Can't he just take the music he wants off of the shared iTunes?

I'm still confused about the photos...I take a fair amount of pictures with the iphone. I put them in folders on my pc by USB connection between iphone and pc and opening iphone like a hard drive and moving pics to folders. I don't want to clutter up my iPad with all of the pictures from my phone. Will that happen if I use the "photo stream" iCloud feature? Also, will I go way beyond the 5GB iCloud limit if I store pics in the cloud? Is "photostreaming" just moving the pics to the cloud?

Peligro911--if I set up the devices as Fausty82 suggests then my husband and I can still use the same iTunes account??

Thanks very much! I really appreciate the help!

We use the "messaging email address" for messaging on the iPads. It's necessary since there is no telephone number associated with the iPad.

The address book/contact applet do not allow sub-groups, so that could be an issue for some. Personally, I don't use/see the need for groups within the contact applet beyond "his" and "hers". But I guess for some, it would be useful.

We experimented with calendars a bit... at one point we had 9 or 10 different calendars, but some were rarely used... and we eventually settled on those few. Obviously, you need to determine what you need, then go for it. These were what worked for us, and served to demonstrate the concept.

As for music, again, just how we do it. You can share any/all music as you see fit. For us, playlists just seems to simply the process of sharing.

With photos, there's the 5GB limit (you can purchase more if necessary), but photos only stay in the cloud for 30 days... it's not meant to "stream" photos as much as to facilitate sharing/synching them between devices. And it eliminates the need to constantly plug your phone into your computer to sync it.

As with most things, there's no hard and fast rules, and for everyone, you mileage may vary...

 

[Fagen]

Thanks so much for your input--I really appreciate all of the info.