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DramaLLama

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 6, 2011
291
0
Or is that almost completely pointless? It seems pointless to me... I want to use iCloud for my contacts but i use outlook.com for email and so it only makes sense to have my contacts in Outlook.com (website, not program/app).. am I missing a reason to use iCloud for contacts with my current setup?
 
It depends on how you use email. If you use the Outlook.com web interface, it's of course more convenient to store the contacts there as well. It also makes little difference on iOS.

However, if you are using a mail client on a computer, you might run into issues. If you have a Mac, there is currently no client for OS X that can sync contacts with Outlook.com (Mac Outlook does not support Exchange Activesync). Currently the only client that works is Outlook 2013 on Windows. iCloud supports CardDAV which is supported by several clients on both platforms.
 
On devices such as iOS or OS X macs, keeping contacts in one ecosystem and email in another is something you can get away with more easily than if you use web-based products.

For a while I used Gmail for email but iCloud for contacts. While I would duplicate them from time to time, and can use a Mac app to automatically sync contacts between systems, I ultimately decided it was easier to keep it all integrated.
 
See, I used to do that before I switched to iCloud completely. I have two accounts for iTunes and iCloud still even. And even if someone would hack into my "supposed" e-mail account, surprise! No e-mail in sight.

Lots of people have gotten their e-mail accounts hacked into. And every time, the idiots try and attack more accounts by doing a simple send to all in contacts blast.

Where do you usually check e-mail? On your phone, or on your computer. Rarely do most of us do this on gadgets that our not ours, and if you do, well think about the fact that anyone can get into your Facebook and bank account pretty easily with that login information.

A contact list these days is just much better to have in your phone, and with all the hacks happening now, even better to have it away from your main inbox. You can pull them up on the iCloud website anyway.
 
I keep my contacts in iCloud. I use a paid, hosted email provider that is NOT iCloud.

Since I use mail clients for email, it's not a problem. All my contacts are on my Mac and my iPhone. All my emails are in Mail.app on iPhone or my Mac. No problem.
 
See, I used to do that before I switched to iCloud completely. I have two accounts for iTunes and iCloud still even. And even if someone would hack into my "supposed" e-mail account, surprise! No e-mail in sight.

Lots of people have gotten their e-mail accounts hacked into. And every time, the idiots try and attack more accounts by doing a simple send to all in contacts blast.
If someone hacks your email account, the contacts are the smallest problem ...

Use Gmail or Outlook.com and enable 2-factor authentication. Makes it much harder to hack the accounts. Unfortunately Apple's 2-factor auth does not work on iCloud.com.
 
Where do you usually check e-mail?

For me, I usually check it either on iPhone or in Chrome on Windows at work (we don't have Macs at work, Windows 7 is my only option). At home, it's Mail on Mavericks or the iOS devices. Rarely do I check email in Safari on my Macs, when the client is right there.
 
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