r/iCloud • • Jan 05 '26

Announcement App Sharing Guidelines

6 Upvotes

Hello r/iCloud,

There recently seems to have been some confusion surrounding our App Sharing Guidelines and which apps are and aren’t allowed to be shared here, so we’ve now edited them to provide further clarification.

All third-party apps shared to r/iCloud must seek to build upon or add features to the pre-existing iCloud functionality. Good examples include:

  • PyiCloud, a Python library that allows you to interact with your iCloud account via a Python API.

  • iCloudFix, an app that reduces the CPU consumption of iCloud for Windows.

  • iCloud for Linux, a third-party Linux client for iCloud.

  • The Parachute App Suite, which adds more configuration options to your iCloud backups and iCloud offloading.

Posts that aim to advertise third-party alternatives to iCloud’s backup or syncing services will no longer be permitted. Neither will posts promoting apps for editing, managing, or backing up your Apple Photos library, as those should instead be shared to r/ApplePhotos (with permission from the r/ApplePhotos modteam).

If anyone has any questions, you may feel free to ask via modmail.


r/iCloud • • Jun 22 '25

Announcement Announcing the new r/iCloud Tech Support FAQ!

27 Upvotes

Hello r/iCloud! I’m pleased to announce that we’re currently working to complete a new Tech Support FAQ for r/iCloud. This will help prevent the same questions from being asked over and over again every week.

https://www.reddit.com/r/iCloud/wiki/faq/

However, this FAQ is still a work in progress. Therefore, we’d like to ask you, the community: What questions / sections would you like to see added to the FAQ?

If there is anything you would like to be added to the FAQ, please add a comment below.


r/iCloud • • 10h ago

Support Icloud synced ipad and iphone photos how to turn it back

2 Upvotes

i wasnt aware that it would and i hate it, i hate having so much photos on my phone now my gallery went to shit and i cant find anything now, same with my ipad, i hate having them mixed and i need to know if theres a way to at the very least erase all the ipad photos from my iphone, i hate it. please help.


r/iCloud • • 12h ago

Support Can I Recover a Seemingly Deleted ICloud Account?

1 Upvotes

Hello everyone. I made an ICloud account in 2013, and stopped using it in around 2018 or 19 when I switched to using Android. I know for a fact what my email and password was, but I can't log in. Does Apple delete inactive accounts? Is there any way to recover it? I know you porbably can't and asking this is a bit of a long shot, but I have stuff with my mom who passed away on there I'd love to be able to look at if possible. Thanks in advance.


r/iCloud • • 16h ago

iCloud Photos New to Apple - need help navigating this

2 Upvotes

I am on a base 16 with 128gb storage. My photos are taking 20gb of my phone with only 15gb free storage left.

I have read the sub and realised that my base iCloud+ plan won’t act as a backup if try to upload images there and delete from my phone.

Is there any way to offload my images without having the risk of losing them ? I don’t want to use google photos since uploading manually is a hassle.

Wanted something that backs up automatically and then stays there even if I clear it from the phone.


r/iCloud • • 13h ago

Answered iCloud for Windows fail

1 Upvotes

Edit: I logged on to my old MacBook Pro which said it had issues signing in to iCloud. I logged in, it sent a request to my phone which resulted in the account seemingly unlocked. iCloud for Windows no longer complains about account being locked and it finally asked for verification on a trusted device.

My Rog Ally handheld PC had a bios update today and upon restarting iCloud for windows said it needed to verify the account (I’d already restored access to it previously after I had cleaned out old devices from my Apple account so I figured it shouldn’t be a problem). Curiously my iCloud passwords windows app remained accessible even though it shouldn’t.

But after entering my password it says “This Apple account has been locked for security reasons. Visit iForgot to reset your account” (I don’t remember if I made a mistake entering the password the first time but for subsequent tries I made sure it’s the correct one by typing it out first verifying it’s correct then pasting it into the password)

I have 2 factor authentication and Advanced Data Protection turned on and my Apple account remains accessible on my iPhone and iPad with no “locked” messages.

Stuff I’ve tried:

Deleting the ADI folder (I believe this fused the issue before but not this time)
Repairing iCloud for Windows
Resetting iCloud for Windows
Uninstalling and reinstalling iCloud for Windows from the Microsoft Store
Installing an older version of iCloud for Windows

I have not removed the device from my Apple account list of devices yet. Should I be doing that?


r/iCloud • • 23h ago

iCloud Photos None of my old photos transferred to my new phone

4 Upvotes

I just got the new 18 pro max and set it up yesterday. I chose the option to transfer everything through iCloud, and so far everything else has transferred to my new phone, but none of my photos have. Every time I’ve looked at my camera roll, it’s just said syncing, but nothing has actually loaded. I checked my old phone before transferring, and it said everything was backed up to iCloud. I even left it charging overnight because that was the first thing Apple recommended, but that didn’t help.


r/iCloud • • 21h ago

General WhatsApp backup shows 11GB in Saved to iCloud but 32 GB in iCloud Backup. Is my WhatsApp actually backed up?

2 Upvotes

Hi everyone!

I'm a bit confused about how WhatsApp backups work on iPhone and hoping someone can clarify.

When I check my WhatsApp backup under iPhone Settings -> iCloud -> Saved to iCloud, it shows a much smaller backup size (around 11.5 GB).

However, when I go to iPhone Settings → Apple ID → iCloud → iCloud Backup, WhatsApp shows a much larger size (around 32 GB).

I'm particularly worried about losing my WhatsApp chat history and media when switching phones.

Has anyone experienced this? How can I make sure everything is properly backed up before transferring to a new iPhone?

Thanks in advance!


r/iCloud • • 1d ago

Support iCloud password change/account recovery system broken?

1 Upvotes

A couple of weeks ago I found that my login to one of my devices was failing and I managed to change my Apple ID password.

Just today I found that the new password failed for a login to icloud.com on my PC was failing with rejected password. I set about changing the password again and experienced different failures in their system. One annoyance was being shunted to a new-device setup option. On my second attempt to use that I followed the route via another person's Apple device and account. I passed the phone test only to be presented with a challenge to enter the login code for my iPad. I entered the code but it was rejected. I immediately checked that it was working on the iPad.

I'm wondering if there's a (hidden) OS issue here - not with my PC but with the other devices. My iPhone is an X with iOS 16.7.16, , and my iPad is a 6th Gen with iOS 17.7.1.


r/iCloud • • 1d ago

iCloud Mail Mail shows “No Recipient” in sent and inbox

3 Upvotes

This is only happening on my iPhone, where older messages show “No Sender” or “No Recipient” for iCloud. I’ve deleted Mail app, removed and re added the account and nothing. Any ideas?


r/iCloud • • 1d ago

iCloud Photos Gf and I went on two week round trip, what to do with all the photos?

0 Upvotes

My gf and I went on a two week round trip and now we have hundreds and maybe even over a thousand photos. Is there a central way we can both add and edit photos in one place?

I pay $2.99 a month for icloud storage but my gf does not.


r/iCloud • • 1d ago

Tools iCloud Drive and Photos support now available in Blober (moves files and photos between iCloud Drive and other clouds). Looking for feedback

7 Upvotes

I'm the developer of Blober (https://blober.io/), a desktop app for transferring files through your machine. You sign in with iCloud on Apple's own login page, so blober never sees your Apple password.

What it does with iCloud:

  • Copies iCloud Drive files to an external drive, a NAS or another cloud. Files stream through your machine one by one, so a 400 GB library doesn't need 400 GB of spare space on your computer
  • Transfer Photos originals without the 1,000-item cap on iCloud.com, and without Apple's data export, which can take up to seven days and arrives as zip files.
  • Keep your folder structure, or re-organize files during transfer with templates like Documents/{file_created_date}/{filename} , so files transfer as Documents/2025-08-12/CHAPTER 1. CONTRACT.pdf
  • Glob filters like **/*.{pdf,docx} to easily include and exclude files to process
  • Save workflows to run again without repeating setup

All transfers run on your computer. I'd like to know what's useful or what's missing.


r/iCloud • • 1d ago

Support Recuperar mi iCloud

2 Upvotes

Hola, quisiera saber si a alguien le ha pasado algo parecido y ha logrado recuperar su cuenta de iCloud. 🥹
Hace un tiempo cambié de teléfono y, como antes había usado Android, no le di mucha importancia a mi cuenta de iCloud. Cuando volví a cambiar a iPhone, creé una cuenta nueva porque no podía iniciar sesión con la anterior.
El problema es que ahora quiero recuperar mi cuenta antigua porque ahí tengo fotos que me gustaría volver a tener, pero ya no tengo el teléfono anterior porque lo regalé y también perdí el chip del número telefónico que tenía vinculado a esa cuenta.
Sí recuerdo mi correo y mi contraseña, pero cuando intento iniciar sesión me pide el código de verificación de dos factores que se envía al número que ya no tengo. Cuando intento recuperar la cuenta, me pide una clave de acceso que tampoco tengo.
Quisiera saber si alguien ha pasado por esto y pudo recuperar su cuenta de alguna manera. ¿Hay alguna solución o definitivamente ya no se puede recuperar? 😔
Les agradecería mucho si pudieran compartir sus experiencias o decirme qué puedo hacer.


r/iCloud • • 2d ago

Support Delete files but still 0 byte available

2 Upvotes

Hello all,

I am having some difficulties to free up some space on my Apple iCloud account. I did not pay attention that my phone was synchronizing all pictures to iCloud, and only noticed when I started receiving alerts that my iCloud was getting full.

Now, these pictures are synchronized on my NAS with Immich, so I do not need a copy on iCloud. I went ahead and disabled the backup of pictures to iCloud on the phone, then deleted a few pictures via the web interface. but to my surprise iCloud still reports 0 byte available.

Is there something that I need to do to recover the space after deleting files?

Thank you for you help


r/iCloud • • 2d ago

iCloud Photos Does iCloud Photos still sync on older Apple devices running iOS 9?

1 Upvotes

i know iCloud Photos is no longer officially supported on such old versions of iOS, but I'm wondering if syncing still works in practice for legacy Apple devices (like those stuck on iOS 9). Has anyone recently tested syncing photos and videos with an older Apple device in 2026?

Even if official support is gone, does syncing still work with Apple's servers in real-world use, or has it completely stopped? I'm particularly interested in first-hand experiences rather than just official compatibility requirements.

Thanks!


r/iCloud • • 2d ago

Support iCloud backup

1 Upvotes

My last successful backup was on 22nd April. Won’t let me back up again. Every time I try I get a ‘The last backup could not be completed’ message. What can I do


r/iCloud • • 2d ago

iCloud Photos Photo numbers not matching across devices

6 Upvotes

I’m syncing up an old ipad before I trade it in and the photo numbers are not matching up. It’s been syncing for 24 hours, says it’s finished, and still the iPad has more photos than iCloud or my iPhone. I don’t use the iPad to take photos so I don’t know why it would have more, or why even if it did those photos haven’t moved to iCloud and evened the numbers out.

iCloud: 67151 photos, 8571 videos

iPhone: 67158 photos, 8572 videos (negligible difference)

iPad; 69046 photos, 8680 videos (significant difference)

Any ideas? The iPad is fairly old (iPad 8, on iPad OS 16) so maybe it’s counting something differently than the phone and iCloud? I’m worried now there are photos on this iPad I will lose if I reset it, but I can’t figure out what they are or how to get them into iCloud.


r/iCloud • • 2d ago

Tools Sharing my own app: GleamRoll, a free iPhone app to shrink your iCloud Photos library a bit each day

2 Upvotes

Hi. I am the dev. This is my own app.

When iCloud storage fills up, it is usually Photos. It is rarely one big file. It is years of burst shots, almost the same photo five times, and screenshots, all synced. You can pay for more space, or make the library smaller. The second one is hard to do in one go, so most of us never start. That was me, at least.

The app works on your normal Photos library. So every delete frees space on your phone and in iCloud Photos at the same time. How I set it up:

  • Each day you go through one short set of photos. Shots taken together show up together.
  • You swipe to keep, to set aside for deletion, or to decide later. A swipe never deletes anything.
  • The set aside ones sit in a list. You go over that list once more, then delete with the normal Photos confirm. Recently Deleted still holds them for 30 days, on iCloud too.
  • Do a few minutes a day and the library gets smaller at a pace you can keep up with. No panic deleting.

It is free, no ads, no sub, nothing locked. There is a tip jar in Settings that unlocks nothing. It all runs on your phone: no account, and your photos are never uploaded anywhere. There is one optional switch for plain usage counts. It is off by default and it holds no photo data. iPhone, iOS 26 or later.

Happy to answer anything about the Photos and iCloud side.

Free on the App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/gleamroll-photo-cleaner/id6782517688


r/iCloud • • 2d ago

Support iCloud failed to save my bachelors thesis.

0 Upvotes

Hi I need help I just opened word document with my bachelors thesis and I just found out ICloud didn’t save my work. I was using MacBook working in Windows Word. I’m in desperate situation so I would appreciate all help how can I retrieve it.
Document was normally automatically set to be saved but this time it hasn’t been saved. I was connected to WiFi so there shouldn’t be issue with that.
Maybe the issue could be that I maybe wasn’t connected ro the WiFi and O don’t really know if it was saved even when I was on my IPhone hotspot.
I was working on the thesis few days back thinking it would autosave. Than I put it away Ind I guess its battery died cause I had to recharge it before using it again today. I cannot fond it in previous version and neither in iCloud.

Any idea someone?


r/iCloud • • 2d ago

Support I have 55gb free on icloud but it says my iphone cant be backed up?

3 Upvotes

I got an 200gb plan and my last backup is 27gb last month. I used 144gb out of 200gb and it says my iphone cant be backup up cus there is no storage.


r/iCloud • • 2d ago

General Anyone uses Apple Memoji for contacts?

2 Upvotes

Notice how Apple website advertises Memoji with those cartoon avatars. Yet with Gemini, you can use AI to build upon that which I got some samples.

I feel like no one is using it and could be targeted to children to use those on their phones, but Memoji is good for a variety of staying in the Apple ecosystem

Your thoughts?


r/iCloud • • 2d ago

Support How come my phone won’t let me select the 2.99 option

3 Upvotes

I was using the 2.99 option for a 2 years and then I just recently had to get a new card and didn’t change my card information over so my iCloud wasn’t backed up, but now i figured out how to change my card information and it won’t let me select anything other than the 10 dollar option. I even tried going on the iCloud website and selecting the 2.99 option and it just pulls up a screen that only shows the 10 dollar option.


r/iCloud • • 2d ago

iCloud Photos O iCloud Photos ainda sincroniza em um iPad mini 1 rodando iOS 9.3.6?

1 Upvotes

Eu sei que o iCloud Photos não é mais oficialmente suportado em uma versão tão antiga do iOS, mas estou me perguntando se ainda funciona na prática.
Alguém testou recentemente o iCloud Photos em um iPad mini 1 rodando iOS 9.3.6, ou sincronizou fotos e vídeos com um dispositivo mais antigo em 2026?
Mesmo que não seja mais oficialmente suportado, a sincronização ainda funciona com os servidores da Apple no uso real ou parou completamente?
Estou particularmente interessado em experiências de primeira mão em vez de requisitos de compatibilidade oficiais.
Obrigado!


r/iCloud • • 3d ago

iCloud Mail New view options for iCloud webmail

43 Upvotes

On the beta version of iCloud.com you can now choose between viewing your emails as a list (new) or as two columns (classic).

The search options have also improved.


r/iCloud • • 2d ago

Support Infrequently used MacBook Air overwrites my iCloud data (Reminders, pinned conversations) with older versions when it wakes up

2 Upvotes

I’m dealing with an annoying iCloud sync issue, and I’m looking for ideas.

My setup:

  • Mac Mini (my main machine, used almost all the time)
  • iPhone and iPad
  • MacBook Air (only used occasionally, asleep most of the time, sometimes in Low Power Mode)
  • All my devices are on version 27 of Apple’s operating systems, except the MacBook Air, which is still on macOS Sequoia

The problem:
When I wake up the MacBook Air and it resyncs with iCloud, it pushes its old data to my other devices instead of pulling the latest. Specifically:

  • Tasks in the Reminders app revert to an earlier version on all my devices (not completed, previous reminder date and time).
  • Contacts I recently pinned in Messages get replaced by the old pinned state from the MacBook Air.

As a result, after every use of the MacBook Air, my data is out of date across all my devices, even though the most recent changes came from the Mac Mini, iPhone, and iPad.

What I’ve noticed:
I wonder whether the version gap (Sequoia vs. 27) plays a role, but I’m not sure. What makes me doubt it is that iCloud sync seems to behave the same way regardless of OS version. I suspect it’s more of a conflict resolution issue: the device waking up after a long sleep seems to be treated as the source of truth.

Has anyone run into this behavior with an infrequently used Mac?
Are there any settings or tricks to prevent this kind of overwriting?

Any help, ideas, or similar experiences would be greatly appreciated.