iCloud is one of the most important functions of an iPhone and an iPad and is an application that is already pre-installed on every Apple device. The purpose of iCloud is to provide an online storage space in which to save a secure copy of photos, address book and other personal data so that they can be restored to a new iPhone or iPad and so that they can also be viewed on a computer, whether it's Windows or Mac.
To access iCloud there is no need to register an account because just use the Apple ID that we created to access the iTunes store.
If we created an Apple account on the iTunes program, we can use that.
iCloud, most likely, is already active on the iPhone or iPad because the request to use it appears the first time the device is activated.
If, at that time, the request to use iCloud had been skipped or refused, you can still activate it from the Settings menu, under the iCloud item.
In this section of settings you can also choose what to store in the online space offered by Apple and, precisely, whether to include in your backups the photos, the address book, calendars, reminders and Safari settings and favorites .
All this data is then saved online in the iCloud storage space and synchronized between the various devices .
This means that a photo saved in iCloud from an iPhone also becomes visible on another iPhone, iPad and computer.
The functionality is also very useful for saving the address book and for transferring contacts from one iPhone to another and for synchronizing the address book from iPhone to PC in order to import contacts from iPhone to another phone, even non-iPhone.
iCloud, once activated, also allows you to backup iPhone data as you would using the iTunes program and as explained in another article.
As for saving photos on iCloud, there are two ways.
One is Streaming Photos, active by default on each iPhone (to be activated in the case in Settings> iCloud> Photos ).
With Photo Streaming, you can automatically save all photos taken with the camera online and synchronize them with other devices and on your computer.
To find these photos just open the Photos app and then go to Album> My Photo Stream .
The limit is 1000 photos after which the oldest photos are deleted and replaced in Streaming Photos.
In addition, each photo remains saved on the Internet space for a maximum of 30 days, after which it is deleted.
In the Settings menu > iCloud> Photos it is better to keep disabled the option that downloads and preserves originals of the photos saved on iCloud, so as not to occupy too much memory on the phone or iPad.
The other mode is Photo Library, which you can always activate from Settings> iCloud> Photos .
In this mode all photos are saved in iCloud, with a limit that, in the free plan offered by Apple, is just 5GB .
If, however, you want to keep online, safely and permanently, all the photos taken over time, you will need to activate Photo Library and sign an iCloud subscription plan to increase the space up to 50GB (0.99 euros per month), 200GB (2, 99 euros per month) and 1TB for 9.99 euros per month.
Increasing storage space can be done in iCloud settings > Archive .
The iCloud Drive space not only allows you to save photos, but any document and file created with other apps.
ICloud space management and apps that can save data in iCloud are done from the iCloud menu > Archive> Manage space .
In the backup options you can deactivate the apps and delete the related saved files.
Going back to iCloud Photos, there is still a trick to save every image online, for free, without filling the iCloud space.
In Settings> iCloud> Photos you can activate iCloud photo sharing.
From the Photos app of the iPhone and iPad, go to the Shared tab and add, pressing +, one or more photos to create a new album.
The photo albums created and shared, with all or only with some people, are saved online and always visible even if these photos were deleted from the iPhone memory.
The limit is 5, 000 photos per album.
All this is very nice and useful, but if you want to safely save all iPhone photos online without any limit, it is certainly worth using the backup function of the Google Photos app and deactivating the photo backup on iCloud instead .
Everything that is saved in iCloud, including backups of photos and contacts, can be seen on the internet on the icloud.com website, on the iCloud application on Mac (which is already installed) and also on the iCloud program for Windows .
For any other doubts or questions, you can read the guide to iCloud on the Apple website
UPDATE: With iOS11 you can use the Files app on iPhone and iPad to create folders and add files to iCloud .
