iCloud: Almost useless for me

[sportsfrk214]

After being psyched for iCloud, I now find that I am hardly using it at all. I understand that my complaints are likely not held by many others, and I'm sure for many its a great service, but so far I've found it to be horrible. Let's do a run down of the iCloud services as listed on the iPhone settings screen.

1. Mail - OFF
I have mail off because why do I need another email address? All my email (Yahoo, Google) stays in sync across devices without iCloud.

2. Contacts - OFF
As I mentioned in another thread, when I'm calling someone, the background image behind the phone functions (speaker mute etc) is a blown up super scary zoomed in image of the person's face. The only way to get their face into a neat little thumbnail on the call screen is to sync with a service such as Google. So my contacts stay on Google.

3. Calendars - OFF
I already synced my calendars through Yahoo. Not sure how to transfer that info over to iCloud. I'm sure it can be done but I expect the only benefit is that instead of taking thirty seconds for a calendar event to appear on my devices, it'll take 3.

4. Reminders - ON
I have this one on FOR NOW but I anticipate I might be turning it off soon because I'm not sure yet if I want the same reminders on my iPad that I get on my iPhone. Time will tell how I end up using this feature.

5. Bookmarks - OFF
I use different bookmarks for my iPhone and iPad.

6. Notes - OFF
I have different notes on my iPhone and iPad, and the notes that are the same are formatted differently.

7. Photo Stream - OFF
Photo Stream is a huge disappointment. First, it's crazy that every single image in your camera roll gets set to Photo Stream, including images you save from Safari, Twitter, etc. You should be able to choose only photos taken with the camera. Second, you can't delete photos from the Stream simply from the device. I know you can reset it but thats not exactly an ideal solution. Third, the process of having to choose photos to save from the Stream is clunky. For example, say I go out and take 10 photos on my iPhone, then save them from the stream to my iPad. Then I take another 5. I go back to my iPad and accidentally select some of those original 10 because I forgot I saved them already. Guess what? The iPad saves a second copy of the photo, instead of realizing that it already has one. The whole thing is just clunky and messy and needs a lot of work before I can ever use it.

8. Documents & Data - ON
I left this one on simply because I feel like if its off then I should just forget iCloud completely and turn it off. I suppose its nice that it constantly backs up my information. But personally, I plug in my phone to my computer every night while I surf the web to charge it. So that would back it up anyway.

9. Find My iPhone - ON
This is nice to have if I ever lose the device. But I had it before iCloud.

So of the 9 services I'm using 3. Of those 3, 1 I might turn off, and the other 2 I had working just fine before iCloud ever existed. Sorry for the long post but I just needed to vent on how disappointed I've been in the early going with iCloud. It went from being something I was really looking forward to, to something that I can live without. I really hope Apple updates it heavily in the future to improve it, especially the Photo Stream.

 

[ipoddin]

I'm pretty much in the same boat. Most of the icloud services I already use through Google and prefer it that way because I rely so heavily on Gmail and Google Calendar on my computer, iphone and ipad. And Dropbox is my online documents and photo storage of choice. And i too use my iPad differently than my iPhone. I don't want or need the same bookmarks or apps to stay in sync on both.

 

[scottish]

Agree with everything you say. iCloud is basically no use to me. Contacts, mail, notes and calendars all sync perfectly with gmail. Don't have another device to sync reminders to. Dropbox for docs. Photostream is no good as it doesn't transfer video. Bookmarks sync when I sync my iPhone (I guess this could be something I use so they are constantly up to date). Find my iPhone existed already.

But as you say, great product for some. Indeed I'll be setting it up for my parents who own a mac and iPhone's so they can finally sync calendars/contacts between all devices easily.

 

[viperGTS]

I use iCloud only for the backup feature. I have nothing else to sync with except my netbook. But that has proven to be unreliable.

 

[g35]

Agree completely. Only thing I can see benefit from is cloud backup. Other than that, my notes, mail, contacts, calendars all sync from Google.

Why would I want to use icloud when Google is cross-platform and I can take my info to an Android device whenever I want?

And apparently you can't delete photos once they're in your photo stream, or have I misunderstood this?

 

[Matthew Yohe]

Bad news about Google Syncing though, Siri will not be able to know who your related people are. "Call Mom" won't work because exchange is so limited in the types of related people you can add. On iCloud this works as expected.

 

[scottish]

Bad news about Google Syncing though, Siri will not be able to know who your related people are. "Call Mom" won't work because exchange is so limited in the types of related people you can add. On iCloud this works as expected.

Google Sync itself I actually don't find very good for some tasks. No editable drafts in Mail and as you said Contacts is extremely limited. After realising this I opted for syncing to Google via iTunes for contacts (works perfect.. apart from birthdays ) and manually set up email. Calendars works well for me with Google Sync.

 

[NorfolkMustard]

It's not for everyone, and there are alternatives. Choice is a good thing.

 

[ipoddin]

Bad news about Google Syncing though, Siri will not be able to know who your related people are. "Call Mom" won't work because exchange is so limited in the types of related people you can add. On iCloud this works as expected.

Very easy solution there. Create one contact for yourself in iCloud and make sure contacts are selected in icloud settings (it's okay to sync icloud contacts and google sync contacts. They're kept separate. Add your relationships to that contact and chose the person from within your google contacts. Works.

 

[mas90guru]

Very disappointed in iCloud. I find the promise was largely hype. Have received repeated prompts for entry of password, photstream randomly stops syncing. Probably just going to disconnect the whole iCloud unless Apple pretty quickly gets this together.

 

[MythicFrost]

I use all of the features, I really like them. Especially bookmarks, I like to keep them in-sync across all my devices.

 

[boltjames]

Contacts - Major win for me as I used Yahoo for contacts which could not sync OTA. Hit one button and 500+ Yahoo contacts moved right over to iCloud contacts flawlessly.

Calendar - I use my work calendar on Exchange. iCloud allows for calendar sharing, so the wife and I can use one common iCloud Calendar between two devices. Good for soccer practice, ballet, etc with the kids.

Bookmarks - Not critical but very useful and convenient.

Reminders - Much faster than creating a calendar appointment.

Data - Nice. Hoping that I can ultimately get Angry Birds in sync on iPhone and iPad.

For free, I'm not complaining. Would have spent $10 a month for these features, in fact.

BJ

 

[Matthew Yohe]

Very easy solution there. Create one contact for yourself in iCloud and make sure contacts are selected in icloud settings (it's okay to sync icloud contacts and google sync contacts. They're kept separate. Add your relationships to that contact and chose the person from within your google contacts. Works.

Yeah, I thought that would work as well but you cannot link across to contacts that iCloud does not itself manage. So, yeah, that does not work.

 

[MBHockey]

k, great.

 

[Razeus]

I've come to the conclusion that Apple can't make a good working online service. If the product isn't tangible, they can't make it. Apple has proven this time and again (.Mac, MobileMe, now iCloud).

 

[mbhforum]

I use about 3 or 4 of the iCloud services also, but remember iCloud also includes the backup feature (which is GOLD), iTunes Match(coming soon), and the ability to re-download music and apps purchased (which we have had for awhile). Can iCloud be better? Absolutely, Apple can add streaming music/tv and make it simpler to set things up, but there are some iCloud features you failed to mention because Apple hasn't listed them under it's settings. I think it's just confusion in the way they marketed iCloud as opposed to what you are seeing in our settings.

 

[vitzr]

Apples wildly successful iPhone & other products depend on Apples expertise in hyping them. The general public loves hype and when it comes from Apple it's taken as fact. In turn that translates to sales of incredible proportions. This was the magic of Steve Jobs. Once the customers perception is set, the rest hardly matters since Americans in general are very materialistic and value their stuff above all but money.

The picture that was painted led many to believe that iCloud is so perfect, so magical, so easy to use that it's a miracle we ever lived without it.

The new Apple devoid of the ringmaster, is going to be a very different cat.

 

[ipoddin]

Yeah, I thought that would work as well but you cannot link across to contacts that iCloud does not itself manage. So, yeah, that does not work.

In your contacts app on your phone, select icloud contacts and chose yourself. Add a relationship field. When you go to navigate where the person's contact info is stored, navigate to your google contacts and select that person. So, yeah, that does work. It's how mine is set up.

 

[MythicFrost]

I use about 3 or 4 of the iCloud services also, but remember iCloud also includes the backup feature (which is GOLD), iTunes Match(coming soon), and the ability to re-download music and apps purchased (which we have had for awhile). Can iCloud be better? Absolutely, Apple can add streaming music/tv and make it simpler to set things up, but there are some iCloud features you failed to mention because Apple hasn't listed them under it's settings. I think it's just confusion in the way they marketed iCloud as opposed to what you are seeing in our settings.

Actually, I believe the ability to re-download music and TV shows, etc., is a part of iTunes in the Cloud, not iCloud.