iCloud services are tied into apps like Mail, iCal and Address Book. But you can also access your data through the iCloud.com web site. This allows you to get your email and access your events and contacts even when you are using a computer that doesn't have iCloud. The web-based apps are very sophisticated, offering almost the same functionality as the full apps, and often more functionality than the iOS apps. You can also use iCloud.com to transfer documents between your Mac and iOS devices, even in Lion.
Comments: 19 Responses to “MacMost Now 723: Using the iCloud.com Web Site”
G. James
12 years ago
One big thing that bothers me about iCloud.com is that I'm not allowed to access it from my iOS devices, particularly the iPad, no matter what browser I use. It just directs you to activate iCloud on the iOS device itself, which it already is.
I often have problems with the calendar not syncing reliably between my iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad--usually producing duplicate entries indistinguishable from the synced entries, so I end up removing the wrong one--unless I make the changes to iCloud.com directly. I can't set events at custom intervals (Monday-Thursday, 3rd Tuesday, etc.) or at times at other than 5 minute increments on the iOS devices, and attempts to edit them on the iOS device can lose the custom nature of those I did set up via iCloud on a computer.
Also, my iCal application on my Snow Leopard Mac Pro appears to have become completely disassociated to the other devices ever since Lion came out.
FYI -- having duplicate events and contacts often happens when someone upgrades to iCloud, but leaves the old MobileMe account active on the device. Check in your Settings and in the apps for that possibility.
Jerry G
12 years ago
I was getting the message that G. James cites, on my MBP. I ended up calling AppleCare and getting some help. It seems that it's common, as Gary suggests, for some confusion to happen during migration from MobileMe. The problem is that there are multiple accounts, and the iCloud account is not the same as the Apple ID account on your device, so the error is reported. The cure was to log out of iCloud and then log back in with the same account that you use for other Apple ID requirements on your device.
Jerry
G. James
12 years ago
I never signed up for a MobileMe account and all three iOS devices' iCloud settings are to the same Apple ID. I'll have to try tagging each calendar event with the device name that created it and observing how it propagates to the others. I suspect that I'll have to turn iCloud completely off on all the devices and then back on again. But I can't see how that could resolve not being able to access iCloud.com's services from an iOS device's browser.
It won't resolve your issue with trying to access iCloud.com from your iOS device. You simply can't. I wish you could. I was addressing the duplicate entries problem.
John Fitzpatrick
12 years ago
Gary when you say you can "transfer documents" do you mean only keynote, pages, and numbers documents? I can,t get anything else to transfer to other devices. Particularly I can,t get iawriter to sync to my ios devices. At this stage I have given up on icloud, and I will not be buying any more apps that advertise that they work with icloud. The fact is icloud is broken (in the wider context) except for apples own software apps.
Do you know of an app that will allow access to google docs / drive?
Right. Only from those three apps now. Apple has already announced "Documents In the Cloud" coming in Mountain Lion that will allow more -- any app developer can add their app, so soon many will be using this system.
Google Drive is too new for apps to be using it yet.
Matt
12 years ago
Gary: when i go to iCloud via safari...and click iWork's it says I need pages for iOS? i am accessing from iMac...and have pages installed....when i go to the store...the download button is grayed out...and says "downloaded"....what gives? thanks
Right. The primary use for that right now is Pages, Numbers and Keynote on iOS (not Mac). But that will change with Mountain Lion. Pages for iOS is Pages for your iPad or iPhone -- it is different than Pages for Mac. So then you can access these documents by running Pages on your iOS device (not your Mac).
Kim H.
12 years ago
When on the road can I access my 3 email accounts with iCloud?
Are they iCloud (me.com) email accounts? You can access them from anywhere just like any email account.
Jerry
12 years ago
Hi Gary, video doesn't mention that (I think I'm right) you can only access mail on iCloud if you have a 'me' account. All I have is GMail so presume I can't use 'Mail' this way?
iCloud and Gmail are two different services. You wouldn't access Gmail through iCloud -- you access each separately. If you are talking about using an email client (like Mail on a Mac or Mail on an iPhone) then you can access each just as easily. Just add an iCloud account for @me.com email an add a Gmail account for Gmail email. If you are talking about on the web, you would go to icloud.com or gmail.com. But it doesn't make sense to access Gmail through iCloud any more than accessing, say, one web site through another web site.
walter kirkwood
12 years ago
I use yahoo mail how do I get rid of my mobile me account and only use yahoo in iCloud?
Get rid of it from what? From either a Mac or an iOS device, you can simply remove that account from your Mail app and then you won't see it anymore.
Rob Jenkins
12 years ago
Hi Gary - great as always. One thing that I'd love you to cover is with the demise of Mobile Me and the galleries - it seems Photostream is more just for casual photos - not a gallery like I use to use as a photographer. I don't want everything I take on my iPhone on the Stream, but I'd love to have a gallery I can link to from my website or emails... is this totally gone now?
Photo Stream is a very different thing from galleries. Galleries were added in iPhoto for iOS just recently. That's very much the same thing we had with MobileMe. Everyone expects those new galleries to be in iPhoto for Mac soon. (http://macmost.com/journals-in-iphoto-for-ios.html)
E.Ellis
12 years ago
Hi Gary , first and foremost i want to say thank you for all of these great videos and information you put out for people that are new to the Apple "ecosystem" like my self.
My question is : i got an imac couple of ipod's for the kids and now with the release of iphone 5 my wife and I are ditching our blackberries for something more up to par with what im trying to do (one ecosystem in the house and mobile) i've been looking and looking but i cant find no answer on whats the best way to either sync our our phones to the same icloud acct or just use individual accounts and just invite one another to reminders and i cal .. what works best if we want to keep individuality but be able to certain things, my other issue is with HOTMAIL for some odd reason hotmail in "mountain lion" sends me and error when im trying to send o respond to an email i have tried just about all i can , and nothing works , how can i fix this problem or its best to use another EMAIL provider ?? thanks once more and Keep the good work
Definitely the best way to do it is to have separate iCloud accounts. They are meant to be individual. You can share a calendar and even a reminders list.
Hotmail should work fine. Maybe try removing the account and added it again?
One big thing that bothers me about iCloud.com is that I'm not allowed to access it from my iOS devices, particularly the iPad, no matter what browser I use. It just directs you to activate iCloud on the iOS device itself, which it already is.
I often have problems with the calendar not syncing reliably between my iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad--usually producing duplicate entries indistinguishable from the synced entries, so I end up removing the wrong one--unless I make the changes to iCloud.com directly. I can't set events at custom intervals (Monday-Thursday, 3rd Tuesday, etc.) or at times at other than 5 minute increments on the iOS devices, and attempts to edit them on the iOS device can lose the custom nature of those I did set up via iCloud on a computer.
Also, my iCal application on my Snow Leopard Mac Pro appears to have become completely disassociated to the other devices ever since Lion came out.
FYI -- having duplicate events and contacts often happens when someone upgrades to iCloud, but leaves the old MobileMe account active on the device. Check in your Settings and in the apps for that possibility.
I was getting the message that G. James cites, on my MBP. I ended up calling AppleCare and getting some help. It seems that it's common, as Gary suggests, for some confusion to happen during migration from MobileMe. The problem is that there are multiple accounts, and the iCloud account is not the same as the Apple ID account on your device, so the error is reported. The cure was to log out of iCloud and then log back in with the same account that you use for other Apple ID requirements on your device.
Jerry
I never signed up for a MobileMe account and all three iOS devices' iCloud settings are to the same Apple ID. I'll have to try tagging each calendar event with the device name that created it and observing how it propagates to the others. I suspect that I'll have to turn iCloud completely off on all the devices and then back on again. But I can't see how that could resolve not being able to access iCloud.com's services from an iOS device's browser.
It won't resolve your issue with trying to access iCloud.com from your iOS device. You simply can't. I wish you could. I was addressing the duplicate entries problem.
Gary when you say you can "transfer documents" do you mean only keynote, pages, and numbers documents? I can,t get anything else to transfer to other devices. Particularly I can,t get iawriter to sync to my ios devices. At this stage I have given up on icloud, and I will not be buying any more apps that advertise that they work with icloud. The fact is icloud is broken (in the wider context) except for apples own software apps.
Do you know of an app that will allow access to google docs / drive?
Regards
John Fitzpatrick
Right. Only from those three apps now. Apple has already announced "Documents In the Cloud" coming in Mountain Lion that will allow more -- any app developer can add their app, so soon many will be using this system.
Google Drive is too new for apps to be using it yet.
Gary: when i go to iCloud via safari...and click iWork's it says I need pages for iOS? i am accessing from iMac...and have pages installed....when i go to the store...the download button is grayed out...and says "downloaded"....what gives? thanks
Right. The primary use for that right now is Pages, Numbers and Keynote on iOS (not Mac). But that will change with Mountain Lion. Pages for iOS is Pages for your iPad or iPhone -- it is different than Pages for Mac. So then you can access these documents by running Pages on your iOS device (not your Mac).
When on the road can I access my 3 email accounts with iCloud?
Are they iCloud (me.com) email accounts? You can access them from anywhere just like any email account.
Hi Gary, video doesn't mention that (I think I'm right) you can only access mail on iCloud if you have a 'me' account. All I have is GMail so presume I can't use 'Mail' this way?
Thanks!
iCloud and Gmail are two different services. You wouldn't access Gmail through iCloud -- you access each separately. If you are talking about using an email client (like Mail on a Mac or Mail on an iPhone) then you can access each just as easily. Just add an iCloud account for @me.com email an add a Gmail account for Gmail email. If you are talking about on the web, you would go to icloud.com or gmail.com. But it doesn't make sense to access Gmail through iCloud any more than accessing, say, one web site through another web site.
I use yahoo mail how do I get rid of my mobile me account and only use yahoo in iCloud?
Get rid of it from what? From either a Mac or an iOS device, you can simply remove that account from your Mail app and then you won't see it anymore.
Hi Gary - great as always. One thing that I'd love you to cover is with the demise of Mobile Me and the galleries - it seems Photostream is more just for casual photos - not a gallery like I use to use as a photographer. I don't want everything I take on my iPhone on the Stream, but I'd love to have a gallery I can link to from my website or emails... is this totally gone now?
regards
Rob
Photo Stream is a very different thing from galleries. Galleries were added in iPhoto for iOS just recently. That's very much the same thing we had with MobileMe. Everyone expects those new galleries to be in iPhoto for Mac soon. (http://macmost.com/journals-in-iphoto-for-ios.html)
Hi Gary , first and foremost i want to say thank you for all of these great videos and information you put out for people that are new to the Apple "ecosystem" like my self.
My question is : i got an imac couple of ipod's for the kids and now with the release of iphone 5 my wife and I are ditching our blackberries for something more up to par with what im trying to do (one ecosystem in the house and mobile) i've been looking and looking but i cant find no answer on whats the best way to either sync our our phones to the same icloud acct or just use individual accounts and just invite one another to reminders and i cal .. what works best if we want to keep individuality but be able to certain things, my other issue is with HOTMAIL for some odd reason hotmail in "mountain lion" sends me and error when im trying to send o respond to an email i have tried just about all i can , and nothing works , how can i fix this problem or its best to use another EMAIL provider ?? thanks once more and Keep the good work
Definitely the best way to do it is to have separate iCloud accounts. They are meant to be individual. You can share a calendar and even a reminders list.
Hotmail should work fine. Maybe try removing the account and added it again?