As it’s now common to own two or more internet connected devices (a smartphone and a laptop, for example), we need a means of keeping them synchronised, rather than maintaining each device independently.
For example, we don’t want to maintain one address book on the phone, and another on the laptop.
With iCloud, any changes we make on one device are synced to our other devices.
For example, we can add an appointment to the Calendar app on the iPhone, and that appointment appear automatically, almost immediately, in the Calendar app on the MacBook.
By using, and storing data with iCloud, all your devices store a copy of that data, too, and will synchronise any changes made to it.
So, when an appointment is added to the Calendar on one device, it is relayed to iCloud and, in turn, to all other devices, almost instantly.
The result is, any changes are automatically applied to other devices.
This synchronisation occurs as long as an internet connection is present. When the internet is unavailable, synchronisation is paused until until an internet connection becomes available.
Why would you NOT want to use iCloud, or any other ‘cloud’ service?
With your data stored on the internet, privacy and security is a concern. Apple have a good track record for championing consumer privacy, and keeping our data secure.
But almost everyday we hear of a new data breach, leak or hacking. As such, concerns over security or privacy are well founded.
As Apple is such a huge company, and has so much at stake, we would expect them to be one step ahead of the hackers. But, never say never…!
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