How to Use iCloud Storage | What You Can Do with iCloud

• User Case: How to Use iCloud Storage?
• What is iCloud?
• How to Use iCloud Storage Efficiently
  ► How to Use iCloud Storage for Photos and Videos
  ► How to Use iCloud Storage for Files
  ► How to Use iCloud Storage Rather Than iPhone Storage
• How to Free up iCloud Storage
• Conclusion

User Case: How to Use iCloud Storage?

In this post, we will take you to explore what iCloud is, how much iCloud costs, and how to use iCloud storage for photos, videos, files, and instead of iPhone storage. Besides, you can learn 8 quick solutions to free up iCloud storage.

What is iCloud?

Apple offers a cloud computing and storage service called iCloud. You can store your data online and access it from a variety of devices, including Windows PC, Mac, iPhone, and iPad. iCloud provides a number of features, such as:

If your Apple device is about to run out of storage space, you may consider using iCloud to save your important data. When the free 5 GB of storage is not enough, you may upgrade your plan to iCloud+. iCloud+ includes plans with 50GB, 200GB, 2TB, 6TB, or 12TB. Except for the differences between storage, the plans also vary from the number of cameras that are supported by HomeKit Secure Video: one camera to five to unlimited. The prices are different in districts and here are the references for the United States:

Storage	Price
50GB	$0.99
200GB	$2.99
2TB	$9.99
6TB	$29.99
12TB	$59.99

How to Use iCloud Storage Efficiently

After purchasing an iCloud plan, you must be eager to know how to make full use of iCloud storage. In this part, you can learn to use iCloud storage for your device’s photos, videos, and files. Besides, it will also tell you the way to use iCloud storage instead of your iPhone storage.

How to Use iCloud Storage for Photos and Videos

iCloud Photos helps automatically store and sync your photos and videos across all of your Apple devices. It has functions like photo organization, automatic backup, and editing tools. By storing full-resolution versions in the cloud and providing simple sharing options with loved ones, iCloud Photos helps free up device storage.

To enable iCloud Photos on your iPhone or iPad:

1. Go to Settings on your iPhone and click on your profile picture.

2. Choose iCloud and then Photos.

3. Toggle the button next to Sync this iPhone.

4. Choose how to manage your iPhone photos on iCloud. Then, your iPhone photos will be synced with iCloud.

• Optimize iPhone Storage: Save the full-resolution photos on iCloud and lower-resolution photos on your iPhone. You can download the full-resolution versions at any time. When you open the Photos app on your iPhone, you will also see the full-resolution ones.
• Download and Keep Originals: Both iCloud and your iPhone will save the full-resolution photos.

To enable iCloud Photos on your Mac:

1. Click the Apple icon in your taskbar and choose System Settings….

2. Tap on your Apple ID profile picture and select iCloud.

3. Choose Photos and toggle the button next to Sync this Mac. Then, click Done to sync your Mac photos with iCloud.

How to Use iCloud Storage for Files

iCloud Drive is Apple's cloud-based file storage solution. It lets you safely store, retrieve, and arrange files on all of your Apple devices as well as on iCloud.com. It enables you to maintain current and accessible documents, presentations, and other files from any location. iCloud Drive facilitates features like automatic syncing, folder collaboration, and file sharing.

To enable iCloud Drive on your iPhone or iPad:

1. Go to Settings on your iPhone and click on your profile picture.

2. Choose iCloud and then Drive.

3. Toggle the button next to Sync this iPhone.

4. Choose apps syncing to iCloud Drive, including Pages, Numbers, GarageBand, iMovie, and Clips.

When you need to check the files on iCloud, open the Files app on your iPhone > choose Browse > select iCloud Drive.

To enable iCloud Drive on your Mac:

1. Click the Apple icon in your taskbar and choose System Settings….

2. Tap on your Apple ID profile picture and select iCloud.

3. Choose Drive and toggle the button next to Sync this Mac.

4. Decide whether to sync your Desktop & Documents Folders with iCloud and whether to optimize your Mac storage. Also, you can choose apps syncing to iCloud Drive.

How to Use iCloud Storage Rather Than iPhone Storage

Except for photos and files, there is more data you can save to iCloud instead of phone storage.

1. Go to Settings on your iPhone and click on your profile picture.

2. Choose iCloud and choose open the Save to iCloud menu. There you can see a bunch of apps.

3. If you want to save the app’s data to iCloud, toggle the button next to it. Then, the data created by this app will not be stored on your device, but iCloud.

How to Free up iCloud Storage

If you find your iCloud also runs out of storage, you can consider deleting some data from iCloud Backup, iCloud Photos, iCloud Drive, iMessage, Mail, or Notes. However, deleting can be challenging sometimes because the data may be useful in the future. In this regard, you can consider backup some important data like photos and documents to another place. Since using cloud storage is trendy, you can backup your iCloud files and photos to another cloud like Google Drive, Google Photos, OneDrive, Dropbox, MEGA, Flickr, etc.

MultCloud is a service that can play a role in iCloud Photos/Drive backup and restore. It supports 30+ cloud drives so that you can choose a preferred cloud as the backup destination. Besides, the backup and restore processes are automatic without downloading and re-uploading. Here is an example for backing up iCloud Photos to OneDrive.

Step 1. Sign up for a MultCloud account.

Step 2. Add iCloud Photos to MultCloud by clicking Add Cloud and the iCloud Photos logo. Then, enter your login credentials and go through two-factor authentication.

Step 3. Add OneDrive to MultCloud by clicking Add Cloud and the OneDrive logo.

Step 4. Select the Cloud Backup function and choose iCloud Photos as the source while OneDrive as the target. Then, click Backup Now to start backing up photos from iCloud Photos to OneDrive.

Step 5. When you want to restore photos to iCloud Photos, choose the backup task in Task List > click the 3-line button > choose Restore. Then, you can choose your desired backup version and restore photos from OneDrive to iCloud Photos.

Conclusion

This post gives you information about what iCloud is, how to use iCloud storage for photos, videos, and files, and how to free iCloud storage. After reading this post, you must have a further understanding the iCloud storage. Therefore, practice the solutions above and utilize your iCloud storage at most.