Anyone have experience (good or bad) with Apple's @iCloud.com email system?
Thanks.
Account recovery can easily fail. It request 2FA by an Apple device signed in to that account. So you risk loosing access when you do not have an apple device anymore or your last apple device dies. That means, you need at least 2 Apple devices with supported OS non colocated to never loose access...
Thanks, guys. I created an iCloud account using my iPhone which automatically did the same on my Mac. I went to the website to log on wondering how because it never asked me to create a password when I created the account, but it used my fingerprint. I guess the password is my Apple one.
I tried sending emails from Hotmail to iCloud and visa versa. Hotmail rejected the email. I had to change the iCloud setting so as not to hide my IP address. Then it worked.
I don't think it will be for me, though. It's 5 gb which should be fine for email, but it's 5 gb of cloud which is for my email AND my iPhone. My iPhone hasn't backed up in years because there's not enough storage available. 2.8 of 5 gb is used I guess by the photos on my iPhone. Oh well.
But it was my wife who asked me about it. And she pays for 50 gb of cloud.
So I'd still appreciate comments.
I don't back anything up to iCloud (penny-pincher that I am), but back up directly to my MacBook for every device in my house...
Five Gigabytes for free is good enough for me; I use an external 2GB SSD for anything I need extra space for.
I don't back anything up to iCloud (penny-pincher that I am)
I don't intentionally put anything in the cloud. I actually don't trust it. That's why I was surprised that's where my photos on my iPhone are. On my Macbook Pro, I store everything on the laptop's hard drive and I back up to two 1 TB external hard drives (one for Time Machine and one for my manual backups).
But that has nothing to do with the email I use. Other than that the 5 GB @iCloud.com email gives you for free is the same cloud as all the other Apple stuff is in. So it's not 5 GB for email. It's much less. That's a killer for me. But not my wife.
I don't back anything up to iCloud (penny-pincher that I am), but back up directly to my MacBook for every device in my house.
Nothing wrong with with being a penny pincher, but that strategy is kind of foolish unless the laptop is also backed up to an external media.
iCloud is very handy and extremely useful and reliable in case you lose an iPhone or iPad (stolen, destroyed or failed), recovering via iCloud is very simple.
Cloud backups are more reliable because themselves are backed up using industrial level backups.
But then again, it all goes back to how much you value your data.
Yeah, Time Machine backs up to half of the 2TB external SSD automatically. I used to save the stories I was working on to the cloud, so I could write at work (lots of downtime as a dispatcher at my last job when you worked nights), but I started bringing my laptop with me instead.
Cloud backups are more reliable because themselves are backed up using industrial level backups.
Yes, but, in my opinion, only if you are using a proper dedicated backup service. Jut using general purpose cloud storage for backup is foolish.
I use a disk array for local backups (3 disks data, 2 parity), and iCloud.
When you have multiple Apple devices (I have iPhone, iPad, Mac Desktop and Mac Laptop) then iCloud becomes the most convenient way to do a lot of things.
When you have an iPhone, iCloud becomes practically almost instant backup.
If you take pictures, they're backed up to iCloud quickly. I you were to lose that phone before you get to plug it in to your computer to back it up, then whatever pictures and other data you had accumulated since your last back up would be lost.
Having your systems logged into iCloud means all your passwords are seamlessly synced across the devices, your documents folder is in the cloud and used across devices. Etc, etc...
I've been using iCloud (2TB) service since 2014, and no issues ever and saved my ass every time I lost a phone (two were smashed and one simply failed).
If you can afford it and you have multiple Apple devices, then iCloud storage/backup is worth every penny. Well, it is for me.
Look into family sharing for iCloud services. Especially if you have any other apple service subscriptions.
I don't use any cloud service. I read the Terms and Conditions for one, and if it goes into the cloud you lose control and they can use your personal information for AI training, among other uses. Windows11 keeps trying to get me to use the cloud to back up my hard drive. I have a stack of older hard drives that I use with an external hard drive enclosure. I also just added a SSD enclosure with a ½TB SSD.
A friend that is in Federal Law Enforcement says that they have nailed a bunch of child porn criminals because their phone and/or computer had been automatically backing up to the cloud and the cloud's AI eventually flags the child porn. The company notifies Federal LEO with enough info that they can get a search warrant and subpoena and then LEO's arrive to seize the devices. Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned that.
Lets not forget the iCloud hack of celebrity photos and videos .
Just do a search on The Fappening or Celebgate.
And maybe not Apple but lets not forget to mention Kim Dotcom and all his servers being seized causing Business and Private owners of all there legal personal uploaded data to the cloud being lost forever.
Lets not forget the iCloud hack of celebrity photos and videos .
It was not a 'hack' in the sense that someone broke into iCloud by exploiting a software bug or security weakness; it was social engineering, phishing, and brute-forcing easily guessed passwords.
See, e.g, Celebgate hacker jailed over Jennifer Lawrence hack (BBC).
Garofano, aged 26, had admitted accessing usernames and passwords by sending out emails in which he posed as a member of Apple's security team.
Or, see Hacker jailed for stealing nude celebrity photos from iCloud accounts (Mashable)
Collins used phishing emails to get a hold of usernames and passwords for the celebrities he hacked, and did so over an almost two-year period that ended in early September, 2014.