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Tag: icloud

  • Google Photos to Apple iCloud Photos direct transfer tool rolling out next week

    Google Photos to Apple iCloud Photos direct transfer tool rolling out next week

    The users of Google’s Photos service will finally be able to send all of their media content collected there directly to Apple’s iCloud Photos. The Google Photos to iCloud Photos transfer tool is again provided thanks to the open-source Data Transfer Project (DTP) stack of the Data Transfer Initiative (DTI) that first made the reciprocal transfers from iCloud Photos to Google Photos a reality.
    The new tool will be available starting next week and, according to the new Apple and Google photo collection transfer guidelines, it will allow an easy and direct way to take your entire picture, album, and video collection with you by importing it into the competing service when getting a new device.
    If you got a new iPhone and want to bring your Google Photos content to iCloud, here’s what needs to be done:
    1. Go to Google Takeout and mark which albums you’d like to export
    2. Pick Apple – iCloud Photos as import service and sign in with your Apple ID.
    3. Tap Allow to share permission with Google to add photos and videos to iCloud.
    Alternatively, pick Photos under the Recently used Google services or Other Google services entries in your Google Account Dashboard, and tap the Transfer data button.
    Apple says that you will get a confirmation email when the Google Photos transfer is complete, while Google reminds that this can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days, depending on the size and complexity of the transfer.
    Your photos and videos will then appear in the Photos app, all tucked in a dedicated album, with the name Import from Google and the date of the actual transfer. Since not all photos and videos can be indexed along with their metadata, if some appear missing, they will most likely be in a folder with the same name in your iCloud Drive storage system.
    The Data Transfer Initiative’s open-source Data Transfer Project technology stack counts Apple, Google, and Meta as its founding partners and provides tools like the direct Google Photos to iCloud Photos transfer for billions of their users.
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  • Apple raises iCloud+ prices

    Apple raises iCloud+ prices

    Backing up your photos, videos, and important documents to the cloud is super handy. It keeps everything safe, even if your phone gets stolen or breaks. But, of course, this convenience comes at a price.For many Apple product users, iCloud+ is a familiar and widely used cloud storage service. Recently, Apple has raised the prices of its cloud storage in the UK and several other countries. The prices have increased by approximately 25%. iCloud+ offers additional features such as more storage space, a custom email domain, and HomeKit Secure Video, which are not available in the free version.

    When you create your Apple ID for the first time, Apple provides you with 5GB of free storage on iCloud. If you require more space, you can upgrade by choosing one of the iCloud+ subscription plans. Until recently, the prices in the UK were £0.79 per month for 50GB, £2.49 per month for 200GB, and £6.99 per month for 2TB.

    With the new pricing, these subscription plans have become slightly more expensive, now costing £0.99 per month, £2.99 per month, and £8.99 per month, respectively. The price increase affects not only iCloud+ users in the UK but also those in Poland, Romania, Turkey, Sweden, the Arab Emirates, and other countries. However, for now, the price for the service remains the same in the US.
    The higher prices without any additional storage upgrades may not be appealing to users, especially considering the availability of alternatives. There are numerous other cloud services to explore, such as Google Drive, which offers 15GB of free storage upon registering a Google account, as well as Dropbox and Microsoft’s OneDrive cloud storage.
    You can even make your own iCloud alternative using a network-attached storage (NAS) device – read our guide on how to make your cloud backup service for more details.
    Apple gave iCloud.com a fresh makeover last year, giving it a more modern and user-friendly look. However, redesigning the website might not be sufficient in a highly competitive market.
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  • iCloud.com is now looking sleek and modern after getting a design update

    iCloud.com is now looking sleek and modern after getting a design update

    iCloud.com is definitely not a solution that regular users would use on a daily basis, but that doesn’t mean that the user experience it offers isn’t important. And to highlight that fact, Apple has gone ahead and given it a fresh coat of paint.

    After weeks of beta testing, the redesign is now live and offers a more colorful and modern look. Not that the service has ever looked bad per se, but it sure felt outdated, with Apple revamping its devices’ styling over the years.

    The presentation speaks for itself: it is really reminiscent of an iPad home screen, and that simply makes sense. With such a modern and easy-to-understand design already being available, there would be no point to reinvent the wheel, right.

    As to the utilities – they haven’t changed much. In most cases, they act and feel just as they did before. While in some cases, the full apps can’t be replaced, in others it’s just an extra feature – like taking a quick note without taking your iPhone out of your pocket

    When you go a bit lower than the overview section, you will notice that there’s a single button, placed in the middle of the screen, labeled “Customize Home Screen”. Upon clicking it, all widgets will start their famous wiggle-jiggle dance.From that point onward, the process will be extremely familiar to any iPhone user and pretty simple for anyone else: you can move widgets around to suit your workflow, remove the ones that you won’t use, or create new ones that you need via a dedicated button.

    All widgets come in two form factors:

    • A smaller square format, which looks great on Reminders
    • A larger rectangle, allowing visibility over Calendar events on an Email inbox

    They automatically take one of the two shapes, depending on how your Home Screen is arranged.

    For example, it’s impossible to remove the square profile widget, so the one right of it will always be a rectangle. Each newly added widget will always first be placed to the right of your profile and push everything else to the row below.

    You are able to arrange them as you best see fit, but if you’d like to achieve a specific form factor for a given widget, you’ll have to take into account the pattern that they naturally take. Oh, and fun fact: you can have multiples of the same widget too.

    You can also bring up a cumulative widget aptly called Apps, which presents all apps as if in a folder, but if you’d like to have less clutter on your Home Screen, you can also access them from the navbar on top.

    Speaking of the navbar, it also grants quick access to other features too, like customization of the Home Screen and shortcuts to Storage, Plan, and a user guide. The latter can also be seen in an overview at the far end of the iCloud page itself.

    While probably not a priority, it’s great to see that the page is still important to Apple. This refresher brings the solution closer to the brand’s overall product line and makes it easier to use for newer users, who don’t remember how iOS looked back in the day.
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  • Apple services were down, some have been restored

    Apple services were down, some have been restored

    Bloomberg reports that Apple services outage was caused by domain name system (DNS) issues. These usually are caused by human errors and happen when a server is unable to connect to an internet protocol address.

    The problem unsurprisingly didn’t just impact at-home consumers, but also those who work from home and retail workers. As noted by the outlet, such massive outages are rare for Apple. Amazon, Google, and some wireless carriers also faced similar issues around the same time, but not of this magnitude.

    Update (1): All the services are now back up. It appears that the problem lasted more than 3 hours and it’s not known what led to it.

    The original story continues below:

    If you are having a problem accessing Apple services, it’s not just you, as many of the Cupertino giant’s services, including iCloud are down currently. A quick look at Apple’s System Status page shows multiple services, including App Store, Apple Arcade, Apple Fitness+, and Podcasts are experiencing outages.

    Apple is actively working to resolve the issues, and a number of services that were previously affected have been restored. These include, but are not limited to, Device Enrollment Program, Find My, iCloud Account & Sign In, and most Maps-related functions.

    Per site status tracking platform Downdetector, over 4,000 users have reported problems with Apple Music so far, and around 4,000 said they faced problems with iCloud.

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  • WhatsApp update will close vulnerability that leaves messages unencrypted

    WhatsApp update will close vulnerability that leaves messages unencrypted

    Apple iPhone users that rely on WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption might not realize that there is an opening that could allow a hacker to read their messages. According to the WhatsApp FAQ page, WhatsApp messages that are backed up in iCloud are not protected by the app’s end-to-end encryption. However, an update is coming to shut this vulnerability. A WhatsApp iOS beta includes a change that “enables the encryption of chat histories hosted on iCloud, including media” through the settings on the WhatsApp app.

    If WhatsApp decides to go ahead and include the feature in an upcoming update to its public iOS app, authorities, hackers, and even Apple will be shut out from reading your unencrypted text messages. Essentially, the update would extend the end-to-end encryption available from WhatsApp to messages being stored in iCloud. And at the same time, WhatsApp is working on the same protection for its chat backups on Android.

    Just as WhatsApp chats backed up in iCloud aren’t covered by end-to-end encryption, neither are the chats that Android users back up on Google Drive. The new feature could be available on the WhatsApp beta for Android version 2.20.73 and is called “Protect Backup,” which pretty much is self-explanatory. Until it becomes part of WhatsApp for Android and iOS, just keep in mind that despite the end-to-end encryption found on the app, if you back up your chats to iCloud or Drive, you are leaving them vulnerable to being read. There isn’t any evidence that this has been exploited, but it is something that every WhatsApp user should be aware of.

    It appears that WhatsApp’s iOS users are more excited by the coming addition of support for QR codes. This is a feature that will allow users to create personal QR codes to help others find them. QR code support will also be available for Android totin’ WhatsApp users soon.

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  • Apple drops iOS 13.4 and iPadOS 13.4 with some great features and bug fixes

    Apple drops iOS 13.4 and iPadOS 13.4 with some great features and bug fixes

    As expected, Apple today unveiled iOS 13.4 and iPadOS 13.4. Both updates are full of new features for compatible iPhone, iPod touch and iPad models. One of the new features for all three devices is a revamped toolbar for the Mail app. The revision moves the delete icon away from the reply icon to prevent users from accidentally deleting an email they wanted to reply to.

    Also part of the update is iCloud file sharing which allows users to share iCloud Drive folders with others. Any file changes will immediately be seen by those who have access to view it. You can set this feature so that people that you don’t explicitly invite to share the folders with or allow access to, are blocked from viewing what is inside them. You can give some users permission to make changes and upload files while others you can limit to viewing and downloading files.

    A small change to the URL bar in Safari will allow someone to type a new web address instantly in the bar even when another URL is highlighted. Previously, the user would have to tap outside of the highlighted URL to tap in a new website address. The update adds nine new Memoji stickers and makes changes to the TV app affecting how the streaming service is affected (via Wi-Fi or cellular). Those without a plan offering unlimited data can select a Data Saver option that throttles the streaming rate to 600MB/hour.

    With iOS 13.4, Apple is allowing developers to offer universal purchase support. This will allow those sporting an Apple device to purchase one app and have it work on multiple Apple platforms including the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV. The new update also includes a new Shortcuts Action for Shazam, and games recently played in Apple Arcade will now appear in the Arcade tab so that the user will be able to continue where he left off even when switching devices.

    CarPlay received a couple of changes including support for third-party navigation apps and in-call information will now appear on the CarPlay Dashboard. And while this will only be of interest to those who can read and write Arabic, the predictive keyboard on iOS devices will now support that language.

    In addition, the update exterminates several bugs including one in the Mail app that listed emails out of order. A bug that used excessive storage for Photos has been fixed as has a bug that showed cellular data as being off when in reality, it was on. And those whose camera viewfinder appeared as a black screen will be happy to know that Apple has taken care of this issue. A bug that prevented the Safari browser from inverting when Dark Mode and Smart Invert are enabled has been fixed, and there are several more issues that Apple has taken care of.

    The update to iPadOS 13.4 adds support for the Magic Keyboard Case on the 12.9-inch and 11-inch iPad Pro models (both the recently launched models and the 2018 versions). Installing the update will add iPad support for the Magic Mouse, Magic Mouse 2, Magic Trackpad, Magic Trackpad 2, and for third-party wireless Bluetooth and USB mouse accessories. The addition of trackpad support will allow those who own a compatible iPad Pro to use Multi-Touch gestures to scroll, zoom in or out, make a “right-click,” tap to click and more.

    The update adds the iCloud Drive folder sharing and the new Memoji stickers. And yes, iPadOS 13.4 also has a list of bugs that the update exterminates.

    To update your iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > General > Software Update.

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  • Outlook for iOS update finally brings iCloud support

    Outlook for iOS update finally brings iCloud support

    Besides the usual monthly Office mobile updates that Microsoft reveals at the beginning of each month, the company releases additional updates that usually include bug fixes or minor improvements to already existing features.

    However, the latest Outlook for iOS update brings a completely new feature that will work with other apps like SharePoint, Google Drive, and Dropbox. Support for iCloud is now being added to Outlook on iOS devices, a long-overdue feature that will allow users to find specific files.

    Working alongside OneDrive, SharePoint, Google Drive, Dropbox and Box, Outlook for iOS lets those who own account on any of those services to easily find, attach or preview files, a more than welcome improvement that many people have been asked for months.

    The latest update adds some bug fixes and improvements as well, in addition to iCloud support, so expect your Outlook app to perform slightly better after the update.