Keep your info to hand
Discover the important data that iCloud can remember for you
Much of what iCloud does happens in the background. As well as keeping your work – such as photos and iWork documents –in sync across multiple devices, it keeps your contacts, calendars, notes and reminders consistent on your Macs and iOS devices, and your bookmarks and browsing history in Safari, too.
The majority of these features can be turned on or off through the iCloud pane in System Preferences on your Mac. On an iOS device, it’s done in Settings > [your name] > iCloud.
After turning on iCloud’s Safari option on two or more of your devices, click the Show All Tabs button at the end of the address bar in Safari for Mac, or tap the overlapping squares in Safari for iPhone or iPad.
On the Mac, you’ll now see thumbnails of pages open on that computer, below which will be your iCloud Tabs – lists of pages open on your other devices. To see these lists on iOS, scroll down past the previews of pages you have open on the device. Clicking/ tapping a remote page opens it on the device you’re using, while swiping left on one in Safari for iOS or clicking the ‘X’ that appears when the pointer is over it in Safari for Mac closes it on the remote device.
Messages in iCloud
iOS 11.4 and macOS 10.13.5 introduced Messages in iCloud, which uses iCloud to keep your message and attachment history in sync across all your devices. You need to turn it on manually on every device on which you want this benefit. In iOS, turn on the switch for Messages in Settings > [your name] > iCloud.
On a Mac, open the Messages app, press Cmd+, to open its preferences, and click the Accounts tab. In the sidebar, select the iMessage account you want to keep in sync, check ‘Enable Messages in iCloud’, then click Sync Now. Messages will download your conversation history, which may take several minutes. Once done across all your devices, you should see the same conversations, messages and attachments in all of them.
This feature makes conversations available on any new device on which you turn it on, such as a new iPhone, but beware: deleting a message/ attachment on one device removes it from all others at the same time, or when next online.