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Apple’s all-new iCloud for Windows app, now available in the Microsoft Store
- pookeh 7y agoI think this may have been part of a deal where Microsoft agreed to put Office on the Apple store...
- jasonlotito 7y agoThis shouldn't be a surprise. If you want to be a services company, you need to be where the users are. And any place you are not, you limit your users.
- psadri 7y agoI wonder if this means iMessage will be coming to Android and other mobile OS?
- metildaa 7y agoDoubtful, Apple seems to want to keep iMessage as an iOS/MacOS exclusive as part of their moat to bring people into the full ecosystem. iCloud was accessible through the web browser before this app was available.
- helge5 7y agoThe "app" (aka iCloud Control Panel) was available at iCloud launch, that is alongside the web apps.
- inscionent 7y agoOne can hope
- MBCook 7y agoThat’s a HUGE strategic advantage they’d be giving up. This just lets you access your files. As others have said you could already do it via the web.
- TwoNineA 7y agoAs an iPhone user who has a Windows laptop at work, I would be more than happy to be able to use iMessage through the web.
- buboard 7y agoThey need to buy a social network now (twitter?)
- scarface74 7y agoWho would have thought that Apple would be releasing software for Windows in the Windows Store that from the looks of it is pretty good - better than iTunes? Also, who would have thought that the announcement would be on the official windows blog?
- RandallBrown 7y agoSafari for Windows was pretty good for a little while.
- scarface74 7y agoI downloaded it when it first came out. Like iTunes it still felt like a Mac app. That isn’t saying there is anything wrong with Mac apps - on a Mac.
- MBCook 7y agoIt also felt pokey as a result. I really wanted to like it (I switched to Safari on my Mac when it came out) but the Windows version wasn’t worth using outside of development. At least as I remember it.
- josteink 7y ago> Like iTunes it still felt like a Mac app. It had Mac font-rendering on a Windows-desktop. It was jarring. It really stood out, and not in a good way.
- sircastor 7y agoI'm wondering what my 17-year-old self would have thought... May you live in interesting times.
- scarface74 7y agoWell there was ClarisWorks for Windows in 1993....
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- madspindel 7y agoI hope they also can fix the Your Phone app also working with iOS, not just Android.
- zeusk 7y agoThat is more of a platform limitation from my understanding, sort of like complaining that the x button to close the window is not on the left in this app.
- derefr 7y agoNot just a platform limitation; an intentional one. The API surface that Your Phone takes advantage of on Android, has no equivalent on iOS, because those particular APIs would essentially be used by 1. sync frameworks like Your Phone; 2. spyware; and nothing else. (That's what happens on Android!) And, in Apple's opinion, allowing #1 isn't really worth allowing #2.
- zeusk 7y agoIntentional or not, it is just a platform limitation. If Apple really cared, it isn't impossible to have user verify what an app is requesting should be granted. Infact, Apple caught up with Android on having App permissions. Google's implementation isn't perfect, but they're not the role model for privacy anyway.
- MBCook 7y agoWhat is the Your Phone app?
- hprotagonist 7y agoI keep holding my breath for a linux client, but so far no dice.
- TwoNineA 7y agoI did a ghetto solution that syncs my iCloud Drive to my linux box: 1- Install SyncThing on both your Mac and Linux box. 2- Point Mac client to ~/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs 3- Optional, for extra privacy run your own discovery/relay server. 4- Enjoy iCloud Drive on Linux. You could push it much further by running the native app in a Windows VM and sync more than just your files.
- latexr 7y ago> Point Mac client to ~/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs I forgot where I saw this (a tweet?) but iCloud Drive may have moved in Catalina. It should only be a matter of pointing SyncThing to the new location, but it’s something to be aware of to keep your solution working.
- hprotagonist 7y agoSadly, i don't have a 24/7 mac; i'm an iOS/laptop-only user.
- SpikeDad 7y agoEven better than dealing with the Microsoft Store is to download it directly from Apple's servers: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204283 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204283
- philo23 7y agoThis iCloud app doesn't look new, unless I'm missing something, it just appears to be available in the Microsoft Store now?
- scarface74 7y agoiCloud Drive looks like it takes better advantage of MS’s syncing APIs and lets you download files on demand more like every other modern equivalent.
- furyg3 7y agoI wasn't totally paying attention to the last WWDC news: Is this part of a bigger strategy? Will there also be an Andriod version of Photos? I can't find anything and am not holding my breath, but it would be so compelling for many scenarios. As an apple fanboy I frequently am using third-party apps to share photos with relatives and colleagues who aren't on the platform.
- bad_good_guy 7y agoI would say its definitely part of a bigger strategy. Simply put, now that Apple is focused on being a Services company over a Hardware company, it doesn't make financial sense to limit its availability to only Apple device users. I don't doubt for a second that they will make the services behave in a way to drive users towards adopting their hardware too - such as gating certain functionalities.
- oneplane 7y agoIsn't this just because win32 apps are not hostable in the MS Store?
- Slippery_John 7y agoLooks like I'll be ending my dropbox subscription then. I only use like 18gb on dropbox so the $0.99 / month for 50gb iCloud plan is perfect for me.
- scarface74 7y agoWell, Jobs warned Dropbox years ago that they aren’t a product they are a feature. https://www.cultofmac.com/124556/dropbox-refused-nine-digit-offer-from-steve-jobs-and-apple-report/ https://www.cultofmac.com/124556/dropbox-refused-nine-digit-... I can pay $100 a year for Office 365 which includes all of the Office apps and 6TB of storage or pay the same price for just Dropbox. And like you said, I’m fine with 50GB of storage.
- MikusR 7y agoThis joins OneDrive in offering onDemand files as standard. While Dropbox and Google Drive keep them behind paywalls.
- minimaxir 7y agoThe iCloud for Windows app has been around for years: the earliest I can find an article on it is 2014. https://www.pcworld.com/article/2686017/apple-releases-icloud-drive-for-windows-pcs.html https://www.pcworld.com/article/2686017/apple-releases-iclou... This is likely an update for deeper compatibility.
- jchw 7y agoI think this is actually a major revision - I think before it was purely syncing, the on-demand stuff sounds new.
- scarface74 7y agoYes. I know. It pops up on my screen waiting for me to sign in and you can’t close it.... From the write up this actually looks good and like it ties in more tightly with Windows. I’m thinking about downloading it just so it will sync my pictures to my Windows PC. I can then back them up with Backblaze.
- morpheuskafka 7y agoBy "all-new" it means that this is a major rewrite, not that there has never been any support for Windows. I might just switch back to iCloud--I am about to get a Mac mini and it would greatly increase convenience with my iPhone, but I still need a decent client for my Windows laptop. It must be using a brand-new API, because I just installed v1903 and I still had to install an update to be able to install it.
- jasonhansel 7y agoDear Apple: please make an iMessage client for Windows/Linux/web users. I find it really inconvenient that, unlike other iCloud services, I can't get to my iMessages from my other devices.
- dgzl 7y agoIsn't there a running joke about iMessage users talking trash about messaging people with green text?
- ct0 7y agoIts not a joke, this is a "serious concern" of youth these days. I've received comments about anxiety just chatting with an android/other phone user.
- dgzl 7y agoI was being facetious. I know women who have real superiority disorders with iPhone vs. Android, and I know plenty of tech nerd guys with the same disorder.
- pronoiac 7y agoWould that be a spam vector, though?
- joenot443 7y agoMaybe. But I think if it required an iMessage account with an authenticated iPhone, it wouldn't be much of a problem. Still not a perfect solution, but AFAIK, it's also possible to pass iMessage authentication with a hackintosh. So the same spam vector is technically still open, albeit with a bit more work.
- Wowfunhappy 7y ago> Possible to pass iMessage authentication with a hackintosh Hackintosh user here, you can get iMessage working but it takes some effort. You have to choose a serial number that seems plausible to Apple given other information, and then also hope you get a bit lucky. I really don't think this would be a useful outlet for a spammer trying to set up iMessage accounts en messe.
- mark_l_watson 7y agoExcellent, I like that both platforms are working together doing the right thing for consumers. A little off topic, but I also wish that GCP, Azure, and AWS would cooperate by having a few data centers collocated with very low bandwidth costs to make multi-cloud easier and cheaper. That would really put the consumer first. And as long as I am wishing for things that probably won’t happen: I wish Apple would support custom email domains for a low cost (perhaps a few dollars a month).
- mikepurvis 7y agoCan someone with experience using iCloud for family photo management pitch me on it? My devices are two iPhones, one MacBook, a Windows 10 laptop, and two occasionally-used digital cameras. So I feel like this might be a good fit, but it's also a problem a lot of companies have tried to crack and failed at. I'm a little nervous about vendor lock-in, for example not having a good story for a future Android phone, but potentially willing to pay that price if the cost and features are otherwise right. If you use and like iCloud for photo management between multiple people, how is it?
- mav3rick 7y agoGoogle Photos?
- mikepurvis 7y agoDefinitely another option under consideration. It just creates one more giant thing to have to export if I ever divorce from Google.
- gabrielcsapo 7y agoI have my parents and siblings on my iCloud family with 1tb and we have yet to use 60% of the total space. This is with backups turned on and photos as well. I think it is worth the money.
- mikepurvis 7y agoI'm not super price sensitive though; I'm specifically interested in features that make managing multiple photo streams not be ridiculous.
- gabrielcsapo 7y agoThe ios 13 features and even ios 12 show that Apple has continually made sharing and photo streams better. I think it is worth it and you can even share photo streams via urls to people that don't have ios. _I know multiple platforms have this already, just pointing out that Apple is really interested in making this experience a good one_
- specialist 7y agoI love that my iOS devices backup to iCloud. I really wish iCloud would support macOS (Time Machine) too.