Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

rising4air

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 9, 2021
3
1
Apple makes much of being able to work across devices, and I've had some very limited experience in working with files between my iPhone 8+ and MBA (2013); in the last 2-3 years, the devices have occasionally become asynchronous with each other, and I'll perform all of the "usual suspects" routines to reestablish the synchronous status across iCloud... which has contributed to me being less willing to work with files across devices using iCloud. To my question:

Who can point me to good-to-great tutorial(s) that will empower sustaining the sync of files across iCloud?

I mention this request, knowing I will replace both devices later this year, and likely add an iPad. Like so many, my work won't always make toting my MBA around something desirable: so working off of my iPhone (or iPad) would be a great boost. My reading and writing will require being able to keep this sync working, and I sense I'm missing something that could keep the connection between devices healthy and sustained. Sorry if this question is in the wrong topic area of the forum. Thanks, in advance.
 

ian87w

macrumors G3
Feb 22, 2020
8,704
12,638
Indonesia
I'm not sure you need a tutorial. After using an iPhone and a mac for a short time, I do kinda get that the concept of iCloud is a bit different than the typical cloud storage like Google Drive or OneDrive.

First of all, make sure all your Apple devices are using the latest or semi-recent OS (eg. iOS14 and catalina). This is imo the downside of iCloud, as it is tightly integrated with the features of macOS and iOS. So if you have an iPhone with iOS14 but a mac with a much older version of macOS, there are likely issues. There was already articles about how Notes from iOS15/Monterey may not be viewable on older iOS/macOS.

Other than that caveat, using iCloud imo is actually quite easy as it's just a matter of flipping the toggles on macOS/iOS. The only major issue I have experienced was my iPhone failing to backup to iCloud, and requiring reseting the network settings.

You can maybe explain your issues a bit more specific.
 
  • Like
Reactions: rising4air

rising4air

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 9, 2021
3
1
I'm not sure you need a tutorial. After using an iPhone and a mac for a short time, I do kinda get that the concept of iCloud is a bit different than the typical cloud storage like Google Drive or OneDrive.

First of all, make sure all your Apple devices are using the latest or semi-recent OS (eg. iOS14 and catalina). This is imo the downside of iCloud, as it is tightly integrated with the features of macOS and iOS. So if you have an iPhone with iOS14 but a mac with a much older version of macOS, there are likely issues. There was already articles about how Notes from iOS15/Monterey may not be viewable on older iOS/macOS.

Other than that caveat, using iCloud imo is actually quite easy as it's just a matter of flipping the toggles on macOS/iOS. The only major issue I have experienced was my iPhone failing to backup to iCloud, and requiring reseting the network settings.

You can maybe explain your issues a bit more specific.
Hey: thank you. I had to make sure that the iOS and macOS were, indeed, all current. What I have discovered is that, with some rare exceptions, that iCloud isn't nearly as fast—if that makes sense— as I expected.

The more important and helpful discovery was that I could indeed retrieve my files from my mac on my iPhone, edit the same, and then return to my mac and find the same edited file: Which is exactly what I needed. Why I couldn't get that to work previously, or at least with some regularity, remains a mystery. It could be that the iPhone had failed to backup to iCloud: and I confirmed there is room to spare on storage.

Thanks again for your guidance!
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.