Files, Documents and iCloud Drive
Store and share your stuff with anyone from any device
iCloud is what iDisk became when it grew up: Apple’s original cloud storage service was discontinued in 2011 and replaced by iCloud Drive in 2012. It’s evolved into something very clever and powerful.
iCloud enables you to store files and data on Apple’s servers. There are very few limits to what you can store: provided it’s less than 50GB in size and you have sufficient iCloud space, you can upload pretty much anything – although Apple does advise against storing app folders, libraries or .tmp files. iCloud Drive enabled apps such as Pages and Numbers to use it to store documents, so you can use the Mac ones on iPhone or iPad and vice versa, and you can use it on Mac like you would a USB drive or other removable storage.
Using iCloud Drive depends on what device you’re using. On your Mac, it’s right there in your Finder. On your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, you access it via the Files app, or from inside an iCloud Drive enabled app such as Keynote or GarageBand. And on a Windows PC, once you’ve installed the iCloud for Windows app, your iCloud storage will appear in File Explorer where it works like any other PC storage.
More than just storage
If iCloud Drive were just a cloud storage service, it’d be a good one. But it can do more than just store stuff. You can use it to share files with family or co-workers and, where apps support it, collaborate on documents, and you can use it to recover files you’ve accidentally deleted. You can also get it to mirror your Desktop and Documents folders on multiple Macs.
iCloud Drive uses the same storage as other iCloud services, such as iCloud Photos, iCloud emails, iCloud backups and so on, so you’ll probably find that the 5GB of free storage becomes inadequate very quickly. At the time of writing, you can upgrade to 50GB of storage for £0.79 a month; 200GB for £2.49 a month; or 2TB for £6.99 per month. You can also get iCloud storage as part of an Apple One bundle, or buy additional storage if your Apple One bundle doesn’t have enough.