General I don't understand iCloud & iCloud Drive? It's confusing the heck out of me!

[budmonster]

Coming over from Android, all these Apple features are foreign to me, especially this iCloud/Drive aspect.

I'll start with my Contacts. All my Contacts are through Gmail. I went to [iCloud Contacts](https://www.icloud.com/#contacts) & I see like 12 contacts there, I'm assuming these are the contacts I added through my iPhone and they where saved to the iCloud? How do I add all my Gmail contacts over to iCloud/iPhone so I don't have keep Gmail on my iPhone and have Contacts button switched on. I don't want 2 places where my contacts are stored.

http://i.imgur.com/zTKi2rw.png
I see all these buttons turned on, what is all being saved to iCloud? Example; HBO GO says 6.3KB. I have no clue what this means.

http://i.imgur.com/ZMrHTf9.png
I don't have Ski Safari even installed on my iPhone anymore, what is this data stuff about? Same with Scanner Mini, I don't have the app installed.

I'm just really confused about iCloud/Drive. I'm jailbreaking my phone tomight, so why would I need to backup HBO GO, Alien Blue or even Plex to iCloud? It's not actually backing the app itself, right?

 

[Armen]

I don't understand iCloud & iCloud Drive? It's confusing the heck out of me!

Coming over from Android, all these Apple features are foreign to me, especially this iCloud/Drive aspect.

I'll start with my Contacts. All my Contacts are through Gmail. I went to [iCloud Contacts](https://www.icloud.com/#contacts) & I see like 12 contacts there, I'm assuming these are the contacts I added through my iPhone and they where saved to the iCloud? How do I add all my Gmail contacts over to iCloud/iPhone so I don't have keep Gmail on my iPhone and have Contacts button switched on. I don't want 2 places where my contacts are stored.

http://i.imgur.com/zTKi2rw.png
I see all these buttons turned on, what is all being saved to iCloud? Example; HBO GO says 6.3KB. I have no clue what this means.

http://i.imgur.com/ZMrHTf9.png
I don't have Ski Safari even installed on my iPhone anymore, what is this data stuff about? Same with Scanner Mini, I don't have the app installed.

I'm just really confused about iCloud/Drive. I'm jailbreaking my phone tomight, so why would I need to backup HBO GO, Alien Blue or even Plex to iCloud? It's not actually backing the app itself, right?

iCloud backs up your contacts, notes, Safari bookmarks and other items.. Go to setting > iCloud on your device and you will see what is set to be backed up.

You need to get your gmail contacts into your device before iCloud backup will pick it up. Google "how to import gmail contacts into iPhone"

Certain games like ski safari keep their save game and other data in iCloud so you can continue your games from multiple devices.

iCloud Drive is something new. It's kind of like Dropbox but the files to be stored there get saved there directly from some apps. It's limited to what it can do.

 

[budmonster]

iCloud backs up your contacts, notes, Safari bookmarks and other items.. Go to setting > iCloud on your device and you will see what is set to be backed up.

You need to get your gmail contacts into your device before iCloud backup will pick it up. Google "how to import gmail contacts into iPhone"

Certain games like ski safari keep their save game and other data in iCloud so you can continue your games from multiple devices.

iCloud Drive is something new. It's kind of like Dropbox but the files to be stored there get saved there directly from some apps. It's limited to what it can do.

You need to get your gmail contacts into your device before iCloud backup will pick it up. Google "how to import gmail contacts into iPhone

I know about this. Download Gmail and then turn on the Contacts tab. My Gmail contacts will now be in my iPhones contact list on my phone. I wanted to move all my Gmail contacts over to my iPhone without having to download Gmail, etc. I want all my Gmail contacts to permanently be stored on the iPhone.

Say I import my Gmail contacts use the Gmail app on my iPhone, there not really stored on iCloud. If I do a an iCloud backup it wont save those Gmail contacts.

 

[Armen]

I know about this. Download Gmail and then turn on the Contacts tab. My Gmail contacts will now be in my iPhones contact list on my phone. I wanted to move all my Gmail contacts over to my iPhone without having to download Gmail, etc. I want all my Gmail contacts to permanently be stored on the iPhone.

Say I import my Gmail contacts use the Gmail app on my iPhone, there not really stored on iCloud. If I do a an iCloud backup it wont save those Gmail contacts.

You have to import the contacts into your phone. There are several ways to do this. Once imported iCloud will back them up.

 

[budmonster]

You have to import the contacts into your phone. There are several ways to do this. Once imported iCloud will back them up.

This is what I found: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/3008051?hl=en

It says I have to download Gmail, the click the Contacts tab on and my Gmail contacts will show up on my iPhone. I've done that before. However, I can never figure out how to save the contacts to iCloud once all the numbers are on my phone.

 

[Armen]

I don't understand iCloud & iCloud Drive? It's confusing the heck out of me!

This is what I found: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/3008051?hl=en

It says I have to download Gmail, the click the Contacts tab on and my Gmail contacts will show up on my iPhone. I've done that before. However, I can never figure out how to save the contacts to iCloud once all the numbers are on my phone.

I don't think your gmail accounts are actually on your phone. I think you are viewing them as if they are. iCloud automatically picks up any new contacts that are added on the phone

In other words even if you remove gmail you should see the contacts still. If not then what I am saying is correct.

 

[SanjeevRana]

This is what I found: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/3008051?hl=en

It says I have to download Gmail, the click the Contacts tab on and my Gmail contacts will show up on my iPhone. I've done that before. However, I can never figure out how to save the contacts to iCloud once all the numbers are on my phone.

Simply use the web interfaces to get this done quickly ...

Goto gmail.com on PC/Mac and then to Contacts ... Select all contacts under "My Contacts" ... On top you will find option to export them using "More" menu .. Under format select "vCard Format" and then export.. It will package and download a single file containing all your contacts

Now proceed to iCloud.com on same PC/Mac ... and goto Contacts ... Click the gear wheel icon on bottom left and select Import ... choose the recently downloaded file from gmail and voila ... all your gmail contacts are now in iCloud

If you have the Contacts option switched to ON under iPhone settings->iCloud , then within a few seconds, all these contacts should start trickling down to your iPhone ... any Contacts changes or additions now done on your iPhone would back up seamlessly to the iCloud.

Hope it helps !