The Basics of iCloud Synchronization
Does iCloud automatically sync? Yes. iCloud operates in the background, constantly syncing your data across devices. It works by storing your data in the cloud and ensuring that changes made on one device are reflected on all other devices connected to the same iCloud account. This synchronization ensures that your information is up-to-date and readily accessible.
Why Make iCloud Automatically Sync?
Automatic synchronization via iCloud offers several benefits that enhance your digital experience and here lists the 4 main ones.
- Seamless Accessibility: With iCloud's automatic sync, your data is available across devices. Whether you're on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, you can access your files and information without manual transfers.
- Real-time Updates: As you make changes to documents, add new photos, or update contacts, iCloud ensures that these changes are reflected in real time across all linked devices.
- Data Backup and Recovery: In addition to synchronization, iCloud serves as a backup solution. For example, you can backup your precious photos to iCloud as adding additional protection to them. Your data is stored in the cloud, providing a safety net in case of device loss or damage.
- Collaboration Made Easy: iCloud's sync feature also promotes collaboration. Multiple users can work on the same document simultaneously, with changes automatically updated for all contributors.
How to Enable iCloud Sync on iPhone & Mac & PC
Now, you know the answer to “Does iCloud automatically sync” and must want to know how to run the sync process. The following parts will show the specific steps for enabling it on your iPhone, Mac, and Windows PC.
Enable iCloud Sync on iPhone
Step 1: Go to “Setting” on your iPhone and tap your profile.
Step 2: Open “iCloud” on your Apple ID page and then choose what app you want to sync with iCloud. For example, if you want to sync photos to iCloud, click “Photos” and switch on the button beside “iCloud Photos”.
Step 3: Scroll down the iCloud page, find “iCloud Backup”, and select it. Then turn on iCloud Backup and click “Back Up Now”. iCloud will automatically sync with your iPhone.
Enable iCloud Sync on Mac
Step 1: Click the Apple button in the upper-left corner and select “System Preferences…” in the dropdown menu.
Step 2: Tap on “Sign in” beside “Sign in to your Apple ID” if you didn’t sign in before.
Step 3: Select your profile and tick the services you would like to sync with iCloud. Then the service’s data will sync with your iCloud. Here you can select iCloud Drive to sync with your Mac and this may answer your question about “Does iCloud Drive Automatically Sync”.
Enable iCloud Sync on Windows PC
Step 1: Download and install iCloud for Windows if you didn’t install it on your PC.
Step 2: Launch iCloud for Windows and sign in to your iCloud account.
Step 3: Tick the boxes beside apps and click “Apply” to run the sync process.
Bonus Tip: How to Automatically Sync iCloud Photos to Another Cloud via MultCloud
There is another solution on how to sync iCloud Photos and this section will introduce it to you. That is using MultCloud Cloud Sync. Cloud Sync can also run constantly and keep updating files to another cloud. Besides, Cloud Sync supports 7 different sync modes like Incremental Sync, Cumulative Sync, Full Backup Sync, and Update Sync. You can make full use of these sync modes and make the sync process more suitable for your needs.
The following steps will show you how to automatically sync iCloud Photos to Google Photos.
Step 1: Sign up for a MultCloud account by clicking on the “Get started for free” button.
Step 2: Select “Add Cloud” and click the iCloud Photos icon. Then go through the two-factor authentication and log in to your iCloud account. Also, Add Google Photos with the same operations. But this time there is no authentication.
Step 3: Choose “Cloud Sync” in the left sidebar after adding the 2 clouds. Then select iCloud Photos in the FROM box and Google Photos in the TO box.
Step 4: Switch the “Normal Sync” mode to “Real Time Sync” and tap on the “Sync Now” button to start running the sync task. Then your iCloud Photos will continuously update to Google Photos unless you manually stop it or there is nothing that changes for 7 days.
Note:
- Since the sync process will run constantly, if you have many files to sync, you may run out of the free 5 GB of traffic quickly. Then you can upgrade your plan to get more traffic and sync without interruption.
- If you consider the Google Photos storage problem and only want to sync photos, not videos to it, you can use Filter to make it. To use Filter: Open “Options” > Choose “Filter” > Tick “Only include files with these extensions” > Enter the photos’ extensions in the box > Click “Add” and then “Save”.
Conclusion
The answer to the “Does iCloud automatically sync” question is yes and you can enable automatically sync on your iPhone, Mac, or Windows PC with the steps above. With benefits ranging from real-time updates to data backup and recovery, iCloud's automatic sync simplifies data management and enhances collaboration.
Besides, you can also automatically sync iCloud Photos with another cloud using MultCloud Cloud Sync. Or, if you don’t need the real-time sync but only want to transfer some photos from iCloud Photos to Google Photos, you can use MultCloud Cloud Transfer instead. It can make you abandon the traditional download & upload way to transfer files but automate the whole process.
FAQs
Yes, iCloud can automatically sync your photos across devices, ensuring that your entire photo library is accessible.
Yes, iCloud allows you to access certain files offline. Files that have been recently accessed are available without an internet connection.
iCloud provides different storage plans, ranging from free to paid options. The storage capacity determines how much data you can sync.
Yes, you have control over what data is synchronized through iCloud. You can choose to sync specific apps, documents, photos, and more.
MultCloud Supports Clouds
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Google Drive
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Google Workspace
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OneDrive
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OneDrive for Business
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SharePoint
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Dropbox
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Dropbox Business
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MEGA
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Google Photos
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iCloud Photos
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FTP
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box
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box for Business
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pCloud
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Baidu
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Flickr
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HiDrive
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Yandex
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NAS
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WebDAV
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MediaFire
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iCloud Drive
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WEB.DE
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Evernote
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Amazon S3
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Wasabi
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ownCloud
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MySQL
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Egnyte
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Putio
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ADrive
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SugarSync
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Backblaze
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CloudMe
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MyDrive
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Cubby
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After adding Gmail or Outlook to MultCloud, it can convert emails to PDF and save them on your device or cloud storage.
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