iCloud facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

iCloud

The iCloud.com web interface
Type	Cloud service
Launch date	October 12, 2011; 13 years ago (2011-10-12)
Status	Active
Pricing model	Free; optional subscription for more storage

iCloud is a special online service made by Apple Inc.. It helps you store your digital stuff, like photos, videos, and documents, on the internet. This way, you can access them from all your Apple devices, like your iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch. It also helps keep your information, like contacts and calendars, updated everywhere.

iCloud started on October 12, 2011. It lets you share files with friends and family, and even find your lost Apple devices. You can use iCloud on Apple devices, through a website, or with a special app for Windows computers.

Everyone gets 5 GB of free storage when they sign up for iCloud. If you need more space, you can pay for extra storage plans, like 50 GB, 200 GB, 2 TB, 6 TB, or even 12 TB. These paid plans also come with extra features called iCloud+.

As of 2018, about 850 million people around the world were using iCloud! Apple has also added a special security feature called "end-to-end encryption" for most iCloud data. This makes your information very private and secure.

How iCloud Started

iCloud was first announced on May 31, 2011. Steve Jobs, who was the head of Apple at the time, said that iCloud would replace an older service called MobileMe. MobileMe hadn't worked very well, and iCloud was designed to be much better.

iCloud officially launched on October 12, 2011. MobileMe was then stopped in June 2012. If you had an email address with MobileMe, you could still use it with iCloud.

Within just one week of launching, 20 million people started using iCloud! At first, there were a few small problems, especially with syncing data, but Apple fixed these issues in later updates to their software.

Apple uses its own data centers to store iCloud information. They also use services from other big tech companies like Google Cloud Platform to help store all the data. In June 2019, iCloud became available as an app for Windows 10 computers.

In June 2021, Apple added new features for paid users, calling the service iCloud+. These new features include Private Relay, Hide My Email, and Custom Email Domain.

Cool Things iCloud Can Do

iCloud gives you 5 GB of free storage. If you need more, you can subscribe to iCloud+ for more space, up to 2 TB. If you have an Apple One Premier plan, you can even get up to 4 TB.

Many iCloud features work right inside your Apple devices. You can also use some of them on the iCloud.com website.

Main iCloud Features

iCloud Mail: This gives you a free email address (like @icloud.com). It works like a regular email service and can send new emails to you right away.
Contacts and Calendar: iCloud keeps your contacts and calendar events the same across all your devices. You can also share calendars with others.
iCloud Drive: This is like a special folder in the cloud where you can save any type of file. You can then open these files on your Mac, iPad, iPhone, or Windows PC.
iCloud Photos: This feature stores all your photos and videos in their original quality. You can see them on any of your devices. It can also save smaller versions on your device to save space.
Pages, Keynote, and Numbers: These are Apple's apps for writing, making presentations, and working with spreadsheets. iCloud lets you work on these documents with other people at the same time, even on the web.
Notes and Reminders: Your notes and reminders stay synced across all your devices. You can also create and edit them on the iCloud website.
Find My: This amazing feature helps you find your lost Apple devices, like your iPhone or AirPods. You can see where they are on a map, make them play a sound, or even erase all your personal information if they are truly lost. You can also share your location with friends and family.

iCloud also works behind the scenes with many other Apple apps to keep your data and settings synced. This includes:

Apple Books: Your books, highlights, and notes.
Apple Home: Settings for your smart home devices.
Apple Music: Your music library.
Apple Wallet: Your passes and credit cards.
Safari: Your bookmarks and browsing history.
Siri: Your settings and past interactions.

App developers can also use iCloud to let their apps save and sync your data.

Backup and Restore

iCloud can automatically back up your iPhone or iPad every day. This happens when your device is locked and connected to Wi-Fi and power. The backup includes your photos, videos, device settings, app data, messages, and ringtones. If something goes wrong with your device, you can easily restore all your data from iCloud.

Find My

The Find My app helps you locate your Apple devices, like iPhones, iPads, Macs, Apple Watches, AirPods, and even AirTags. You can see their location on a map. If you lose a device, you can make it play a sound to help you find it. If you think it's stolen, you can lock it or erase all your information from it remotely. You can also share your location with friends and family.

There's a cool feature called "Send Last Location." If your device's battery is very low, it will automatically send its last known location to Apple.

iCloud Keychain

iCloud Keychain is like a super secure digital safe for your passwords. It remembers your website passwords and credit card details. It also suggests strong, unique passwords when you create new accounts. iCloud Keychain uses very strong "end-to-end encryption," which means only you can access your sensitive information.

iTunes Match

iTunes Match helps you keep all your music in one place. For a yearly fee, it scans your music library, even songs you copied from CDs. It then matches them with songs in the iTunes Store. This means you can download high-quality, DRM-free versions of these songs on all your devices without buying them again. Any songs not found in the iTunes Store are uploaded to iCloud for you to access. This music does not count against your iCloud storage space.

If you stop paying for iTunes Match, you can keep any songs you've already downloaded.

iWork for iCloud

iWork for iCloud lets you use Apple's Pages (for writing), Numbers (for spreadsheets), and Keynote (for presentations) apps right in your web browser. This means you can create and edit documents online, even if you're using a Windows computer. Your work automatically syncs with the apps on your Apple devices. This makes it easy to start a project on one device and finish it on another.

iCloud Photos

iCloud Photos is a feature that stores all your photos and videos in their original quality. You can access them from any of your Apple devices or through the iCloud.com website. It helps save space on your devices by storing smaller versions of photos locally, while keeping the full-resolution versions in the cloud.

Storage

Every iCloud account comes with 5 GB of free storage. You can pay a monthly fee to get more storage: 50 GB, 200 GB, 2 TB, 6 TB, or 12 TB. This storage space is shared across all your Apple devices linked to your iCloud account.

Some things use your iCloud storage, like your device backups, emails, contacts, and calendars. Files you save in iCloud Drive also use this space. However, music from iTunes Match and photos from Photo Stream (an older service) do not count against your storage limit.

Apple also keeps track of everything you've bought from the iTunes Store (music, movies), Apple Books Store (books), and App Store (apps). This means you can always re-download these items to any of your devices without using your iCloud storage.

iCloud Drive

iCloud Drive is a special cloud storage service where you can save any type of file, like photos, videos, and documents. You can access these files from your Mac, iPad, iPhone, or Windows PC. This means you can start working on a document on your computer and then continue editing it on your iPad. Each file can be up to 50 GB in size.

In iOS 11, iCloud Drive became part of the new Files app, which lets you see all your cloud and local files in one place.

Messages on iCloud

Messages on iCloud keeps all your iMessages and regular text messages stored safely in the cloud. This means your message history stays the same across all your Apple devices.

Private Relay

Private Relay is an iCloud+ feature that helps you browse the internet more privately using Safari. It works a bit like a virtual private network (VPN) by hiding your internet address. However, due to rules in some countries, Private Relay might not be available there.

Hide My Email

Hide My Email is another iCloud+ feature. It lets you create temporary, fake email addresses when you sign up for things online or send emails. These fake addresses forward messages to your real email, helping to keep your main email address private and reduce spam.

Custom Email Domain

With Custom Email Domain, an iCloud+ feature, you can use your own special domain name for your email address (like yourname@yourcompany.com). You can also invite family members to use the same custom domain with their iCloud Mail accounts.

How Secure Is iCloud?

Apple works hard to keep your iCloud data safe. They use strong encryption to protect your information.

End-to-end Encryption

Some of your iCloud data is protected with "end-to-end encryption" by default. This is a very strong type of security where only you can unlock and read your data. Examples include your iCloud Keychain passwords, Health data, Home data, and Messages in iCloud. This means Apple cannot see this information, even if they wanted to.

Advanced Data Protection

In December 2022, Apple added an even stronger option called Advanced Data Protection for iCloud. If you turn this on, almost all your iCloud data, including your backups, notes, and photos, will be protected with end-to-end encryption. The only things not covered are Mail, Contacts, and Calendars, because they need to work with other apps. This feature makes your iCloud data incredibly secure.

iCloud in China

In February 2018, Apple changed how iCloud data for users in China is stored. To follow local rules, this data, including encryption keys, is now kept on servers located within China. Apple says that their encryption is the same everywhere in the world, including China. However, some people worry about how this might affect privacy for users there.