s article is about the cloud service operated by Apple Inc.

For the service previously named icloud by

Xcerion, see CloudMe.
iCloud

Original author(s) Apple Inc.
Developer(s) Apple Inc.
Initial release Developers release
June 6, 2011
Public release
October 12, 2011
[1]

Stable release 3.1 / January 24, 2014; 7 months ago
Development status Active
Operating system OS X (10.7 Lion & Later)
Microsoft Windows
iOS 5 or later
Available in Multilingual
Type Online backup service
License Freeware
Alexa rank 969 (April 2014)
[2]

Website www.icloud.com

iCloud control panel on Windows 7

iCloud.com in Safari 4.1.3 on an iMac G5 running 10.4.11
iCloud is a cloud storage and cloud computing service
[3][4][5]
from Apple Inc. launched on October 12,
2011. As of July 2013, the service has 320 million users.
[6]

The service allows users to store data such as music and iOS applications on remote computer
servers for download to multiple devices such as iOS-based devices running iOS 5 or later,
[7]
and
personal computers running OS X 10.7.2 "Lion" or later, or Microsoft Windows (Windows
Vista service pack 2 or later). It also replaces Apple's MobileMeservice,
[5]
acting as a data syncing
center for email, contacts, calendars, bookmarks, notes, reminders (to-do lists), iWork documents,
photos and other data. The service also allows users to wirelessly back up their iOS devices to
iCloud instead of manually doing so using iTunes.
One of Apple's iCloud data centers is located in Maiden, North Carolina, U.S.
[8]

I Contents
[hide]
1 History
2 Announcement
3 Features
o 3.1 Backup and restore
o 3.2 Back to My Mac
o 3.3 Email, Contacts, and Calendars
o 3.4 Find My Friends
o 3.5 Find My iPhone
o 3.6 iCloud Keychain
o 3.7 iTunes Match
o 3.8 iWork for iCloud
o 3.9 iCloud Drive
o 3.10 iCloud Photos
o 3.11 Photo Stream
o 3.12 Storage
4 URL access points
5 System requirements
6 Name dispute
7 Privacy
8 Criticism
9 See also
10 References
11 External links
II History[edit]
iCloud is the latest branding of Apple's cloud computing services. It has previously been branded
as iTools in 2000, .Mac in 2002, and MobileMe in 2008.
[3][4][5]

iCloud was announced on June 6, 2011,
[9]
at the 2011 Apple Worldwide Developers
Conference (WWDC). Apple announced that MobileMe would be discontinued after June 30, 2012,
with anyone who had an account before the unveiling of iCloud having their MobileMe service
extended to that date, free of charge.
[10]

The official website, www.icloud.com, went live in early August for Apple Developers. On October
12, 2011, iCloud became available to use via an iTunes update.
[11]
iCloud had 20 million users in less
than a week after launch.
[12]
The iCloud.com domain and registered trademark were bought from a
Swedish company called Xcerion, who rebranded their service toCloudMe.
[13][14][15]
CloudMe still
controls major domains like iCloud.de, iCloud.fr and iCloud.es.
[16]

A class action lawsuit by customers unhappy over the transition from MobileMe to iCloud was filed in
early May 2012.
[17]

III Announcement[edit]
The first official mention of iCloud from Apple came on May 31, 2011, when a press
release
[18]
announced that it would demonstrate the service at the WWDC on June 6, 2011. A banner
hung at the Moscone Center for WWDC revealed the iCloud logo five days before the official
launch.
[19]

In the WWDC 2011 keynote speech, Apple announced iCloud will replace MobileMe services and
that the basic iCloud service will be free of charge.
[20]

IV Features[edit]
The cloud-based system allows users to store music, photos, applications, documents, bookmarks,
reminders, backups, notes, iBooks, and contacts, and provides a platform for Apple's email servers
and calendars. Third-party iOS and OS X app developers are able to implement iCloud functionality
in their apps through the iCloud API.
[21]

V Backup and restore[edit]
iCloud allows users to back up the settings and data on iOS devices running iOS 5 or later.
[22]
Data
backed up includes photos and videos in the Camera Roll, device settings, app data, messages
(iMessage, SMS, and MMS), ringtones, and Visual Voicemails. Backups occur daily when the device
is locked and connected to Wi-Fi and a power source. In case of a malfunction of any Apple device,
during the restoration process, iCloud offers to restore all data along with App data only if the device
was synced to iCloud and backed up.