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Is there even a reason to use iCloud if...

B

bluesTank

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 21, 2008
181
0
...I only own an iPhone and a mac notebook, but I still run Snow Leopard.

I also use the Microsoft Office suite, and so syncing iWork wouldn't even be useful.

The only thing iCloud has done is cause problems, deleting saved games (ie: Infinity Blade 2) and I can't find a single reason to use it, so I am going to turn it off and just back up on my computer only.

Are there any reasons why I would even need it at all?
 
If you can't find a single reason to use it, then don't. Don't grasp at straws just for the sake of saying, "Yeah, I use iCloud! Look at meeee!"
 
Yes, for wireless backups. iCloud will constantly backup your phone when you forget to back it up to your Mac, or if you lose your phone.
 
It certainly doesn't live up to the hype. At least not yet.
I use it about like I used MobileMe. Plus photo stream.
I think the iWork document saving is pretty limited. If you have dropbox and a symbolic link you've already got that. And you're not limited to iproducts.
 
LapsangSouchong said:
It certainly doesn't live up to the hype. At least not yet.
I use it about like I used MobileMe. Plus photo stream.
I think the iWork document saving is pretty limited. If you have dropbox and a symbolic link you've already got that. And you're not limited to iproducts.
Click to expand...

Except with Dropbox you have to manually upload the files, whereas with photostream it's done automatically.
 
Buckeyestar said:
Except with Dropbox you have to manually upload the files, whereas with photostream it's done automatically.
Click to expand...

No. I don't. I use a symbolic link. My documents folder is automatically synced. I choose not to sync my iphotos, because iPhoto itself uses symbolic links so it tends to get messy. As I said above: I use photo stream for my iPhones photos, and dropbox for everything else (including my pictures that aren't in iPhoto which is most).
 
But what is the point of photostream if I am not using Lion? I can't access my pictures from anywhere except my iphone anyways.

I upload them to Lightroom when I plug in my computer.


And some mentioned that it backs up automatically wirelessly... What is the point of this if I cannot access any of my data unless I do a full restore on my phone.

I have had issues where I supposedly lost my saved games, then I could SEE the saves in the iCloud area in settings, but could not get them back unless I did a FULL RESTORE... pointless.
 
bluesTank said:
But what is the point of photostream if I am not using Lion? I can't access my pictures from anywhere except my iphone anyways.

I upload them to Lightroom when I plug in my computer.


And some mentioned that it backs up automatically wirelessly... What is the point of this if I cannot access any of my data unless I do a full restore on my phone.

I have had issues where I supposedly lost my saved games, then I could SEE the saves in the iCloud area in settings, but could not get them back unless I did a FULL RESTORE... pointless.
Click to expand...

The real question is: Why aren't you going to Lion?
 
Maybe, just maybe you should upgrade to Lion? ( unless you're stuck with some PPC legacy apps).

Edit: Haha! Melman beat me to it!
 
Leonard1818 said:
Find my iPhone?
Click to expand...

Yup. That's all I use, and I have a MBP on Lion and a 4S. None of it is useful. Even Photostream is more of a pain than it's worth.

Zcott said:
Yes, for wireless backups. iCloud will constantly backup your phone when you forget to back it up to your Mac, or if you lose your phone.
Click to expand...

Right, because it totally makes more sense to back up to North Carolina than to your computer over a USB cable.
 
BiggAW said:
Yup. That's all I use, and I have a MBP on Lion and a 4S. None of it is useful. Even Photostream is more of a pain than it's worth.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I heard about it, read about it and then decided it would not be useful to me. Then I wanted to set up "find my iPhone" and saw that you HAD to enable iCloud for it. So I did... then I turned EVERYTHING off except the "find my iPhone" feature.

I would think all the other stuff would just suck the battery dry constantly syncing and stuff.
 
BiggAW said:
Right, because it totally makes more sense to back up to North Carolina than to your computer over a USB cable.
Click to expand...

Actually, it does make a lot of sense for me and the people that I've set that up with.

1. They never plug into iTunes anyway. So backing up is relative. If they never plug in, they never back up. If they never back up when they lose their phone, they get all annoyed. This allows them to just make sure they charge it and it will back up.

2. You don't always bring your computer everywhere with you. Now, if for some reason I mess up my phone, and get a replacement I can instantly start restoring it as soon as I get it from the Genius bar.

It makes total sense for me. I almost never plug my iPhone/iPad into my computer anymore
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

melman101 said:
BiggAW said:
Right, because it totally makes more sense to back up to North Carolina than to your computer over a USB cable.
Click to expand...

Actually, it does make a lot of sense for me and the people that I've set that up with.

1. They never plug into iTunes anyway. So backing up is relative. If they never plug in, they never back up. If they never back up when they lose their phone, they get all annoyed. This allows them to just make sure they charge it and it will back up.

2. You don't always bring your computer everywhere with you. Now, if for some reason I mess up my phone, and get a replacement I can instantly start restoring it as soon as I get it from the Genius bar.

It makes total sense for me. I almost never plug my iPhone/iPad into my computer anymore
Click to expand...

This is pretty much it for me.

Probably 75% of users I know never backup their iPhones. They lose it, or something goes wrong and they don't understand why they are SOL.

iCloud (being free and fairly simple) solves that problem for most folks.

In my case I really like iCloud. I picked up my 4S on the first day of a vacation trip, restored from my iCloud backup right there in the mall and carried on without much disruption at all. I sync with my PC only when I want to get music from a CD, and photo stream deposits my photos on my PC hard drive right where I want them.

I have a few gripes (not all apps use it and bring out photo stream pic deletion already!) but overall I like it.

As for limited functionality, well I can't really speak to that. I've never used DropBox or any cloud storage. But if those paid alternatives are better for your use case, I'd say "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"
 
Leonard1818 said:
Yeah, I heard about it, read about it and then decided it would not be useful to me. Then I wanted to set up "find my iPhone" and saw that you HAD to enable iCloud for it. So I did... then I turned EVERYTHING off except the "find my iPhone" feature.

I would think all the other stuff would just suck the battery dry constantly syncing and stuff.
Click to expand...

It's actually not bad on battery, but I ended up doing the same just because all the other features are already handled by Google, or are useless unless you have two iDevices.


melman101 said:
Actually, it does make a lot of sense for me and the people that I've set that up with.

1. They never plug into iTunes anyway. So backing up is relative. If they never plug in, they never back up. If they never back up when they lose their phone, they get all annoyed. This allows them to just make sure they charge it and it will back up.

2. You don't always bring your computer everywhere with you. Now, if for some reason I mess up my phone, and get a replacement I can instantly start restoring it as soon as I get it from the Genius bar.

It makes total sense for me. I almost never plug my iPhone/iPad into my computer anymore
Click to expand...

Well, whatever frequency your favorite Podcasts comes in dictates your sync frequency. If I know I've done a lot on one side or the other, I'll just sync.

iCloud doesn't restore all the music anyways.

EDIT: Combine posts
 
TruckdriverSean said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)



This is pretty much it for me.

Probably 75% of users I know never backup their iPhones. They lose it, or something goes wrong and they don't understand why they are SOL.

iCloud (being free and fairly simple) solves that problem for most folks.

In my case I really like iCloud. I picked up my 4S on the first day of a vacation trip, restored from my iCloud backup right there in the mall and carried on without much disruption at all. I sync with my PC only when I want to get music from a CD, and photo stream deposits my photos on my PC hard drive right where I want them.

I have a few gripes (not all apps use it and bring out photo stream pic deletion already!) but overall I like it.

As for limited functionality, well I can't really speak to that. I've never used DropBox or any cloud storage. But if those paid alternatives are better for your use case, I'd say "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"
Click to expand...

Dropbox is free, and pretty much essential for any modern computer user. You are forced to backup on the interval that your Podcasts come out, or whenever you get new music, so it pretty much takes care of itself.
 
BiggAW said:
Dropbox is free, and pretty much essential for any modern computer user. You are forced to backup on the interval that your Podcasts come out, or whenever you get new music, so it pretty much takes care of itself.
Click to expand...

Ah Gotcha. I may eventually get around to checking out Dropbox then.

I use Podcaster 4 for my subscribed podcasts, and sadly (or not) since Spotify, my CD buying has gotten rare. Kinda miss those old things... :)
 
icloud.com allows people with snow leopard to see stuff uploaded etc. I know its not fluid and smooth like Lion, but since I also haven't taken the big step to Lion on my MBP I just go to icloud and check out whats there, make sure everything is in order....

I use it to backup contacts, email, and wireless backups...

Heres the thing...I backup my phone with iTunes AND iCloud...I am that OCD about the way my phone settings, icons and apps are set up. I have plenty of apps and little tweaks, so in case my hard drive crashes the same day I lose my iphone, I have a backup in the cloud.

Can never be too careful, its free, and why not take the extra avenue.
 
I personally love iCloud. I don't use it for documents or photo stream (still using iLife '09) but I do use it for iCal, Reminders, Notes, Safari bookmarks, Contacts, and Find My iPhone.

To me it's so much better to use iCloud than Dropbox+Gmail+whatever other 3rd party "middle man" for syncing data. It can all be done in iCloud.

I used Gmail prior to iCloud for syncing Notes and Calendar but it never worked like I'd like it. I often found it either didn't sync unless I manually pushed it and other times it duplicated events and notes. It was just a hassle for me.

Back-ups that are available anywhere are also well worth it.
 
I also travel a lot, imagine losing my phone, having to remote wipe it, walk into an Apple store 1500 miles away, buying a replacement, and having my backup pushed and restored the drive back to my hotel....thats the beauty of icloud, its available anywhere you are, not where you Mac is...

Also, if you lose your mac in a divorce settlement, you don't lose your backups....zing
 
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