r/iCloud • • Jan 05 '26

Announcement App Sharing Guidelines

4 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!

29 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 • • 1h ago

General Possible Fix iCloud for Windows Sign-In Error / Authentication Loop

• Upvotes

If you've been trying to sign into the iCloud app on Windows and nothing works, you are maybe running into a time-sync conflict like me, between Windows and Apple's servers. Changing your time server to a public NTP pool ( pool.ntp.org ) combined with a specific app reset sequence fixed it for me and 2 of my friends, hope this helps anyone here.

Step 1: Fix the Time Server

  1. Open Windows Settings.
  2. Go to Time & Language > Date & Time.
  3. Click the drop-down menu for Sync Now.
  4. Change the time server from the default to pool.ntp.org
  5. Save and exit (do not hit sync yet).

Step 2: Terminate and Repair iCloud

  1. Go to Windows Settings > Apps > Installed Apps.
  2. Locate the iCloud app, click the three dots, and select Advanced options.
  3. Click Terminate first.
  4. Click Repair.
  5. Do not open the iCloud app yet.

Step 3: Sync Time and Sign In

  1. Go back to Date & Time settings.
  2. Click Sync Now and wait for it to synchronize.
  3. Launch the iCloud app and sign in.

I hope this helps anyone! I was stuck on this issue for over a week now.


r/iCloud • • 10h ago

Support iCloud syncing

1 Upvotes

So i was trying to sync my messages with iCloud but it kept pausing no matter what i did. Restart my phone plug in my phone nothing helped. I’m home on very stable WiFi nothing has fixed it.


r/iCloud • • 6h ago

General Is my data in iCloud safe if I log in on the iCloud Windows app?

0 Upvotes

I usually don’t store anything sensitive on my PC because of how Windows is when it comes to privacy. My PC is mainly for gaming. And when you have games on your computer, some of these games have very invasive anti-cheats that have access to your PC on a system level. For example, the Riot Vanguard anti-cheat. By that, I mean these programs can supposedly see anything that’s running on your PC.

This got me wondering - if I install iCloud on my PC and log in there, how safe are my photos, videos, files etc? Is it possible that someone other than me can see my stuff? I have ADP and everything turned on on my iPhone. Still not sure though .

Apologies if this comes off as silly. Just wanna clarify.


r/iCloud • • 13h ago

General ICloud down?

0 Upvotes

was icloud down for a couple of minutes? i was just checking my profile via settings and the trusted device is not loading?? and i changed the password just in case... anyone experienced it?


r/iCloud • • 16h ago

General I need help canceling my icloud subscription

0 Upvotes

So I wanted to try out icloud and apple tv but i want to cancel it now. I dont have apple devices and subscribed via browser on my pc.

Apple is making it very difficult to unsubscribe. Can someone please advise on how to deal with this. Thank you.


r/iCloud • • 1d ago

Support iCloud confusion

2 Upvotes

Hi! I am not tech savvy, at all. My 17 year old son has recently started on a pathway of criminal behavior (stealing, drugs, etc.). He stole my infrequently used iPad for 4 months and it mirrored my iPhone. Somehow he has it set up so that all messages for my iCloud account go to his phone or iCloud, instead of me. My iCloud’s username is also my email address to my everyday email account. I don’t know how many of my emails are being diverted to him. Can someone help me undo this?


r/iCloud • • 1d ago

Support iCloud App on Windows issues

5 Upvotes

I have issues installing and logging into iCloud on my Windows. It's either the store variant telling me to update or, if I get the correct one, I get the "iCloud for windows hasn't been fully initialised. Wait a moment and try again"


r/iCloud • • 1d ago

Support iCloud for Windows has not fully initialized. Please wait a moment and sign in again

8 Upvotes

Has anyone figured it out? or are we just waiting for apple to fix this? can't use apple passwords on pc because clicking verify account just leads to the title


r/iCloud • • 1d ago

Support I am experiencing sporadic and unreliable synchronization of iMessages between my iPhone and MacBook, anyone have a solution?

1 Upvotes

I have had off and on issues with a message appearing in one device and not the other, and then doing all the steps I read online about re-logging into iCloud, hitting "Sync Now" on both devices, etc, all with no luck.

An example is today I received a message a bit ago with the pop up preview on my iPhone, yet when I opened iMessage it strangely wasn't there (even though I had read part of the preview) Then, when I opened my Macbook, I could see the message, but I couldn't see the voice note I had sent the same person hours ago (it seems like it syncs sent voice notes between devices maybe ~50% of the time).

In general, it sporadically makes it so I get a message on my Macbook only or on my iPhone only and doesn't fill in that history in the other device if I do a resync in iCloud settings.

Has anyone experienced this behavior and found an actual solution or is this something people just live with, it is annoying that I can be out somewhere without my laptop and get a message from someone that won't actually get to me until I open my laptop later.


r/iCloud • • 2d ago

General How do I transfer all photos to an external hard drive?

13 Upvotes

How do I save 70,000 or so photos to an external hard drive?


r/iCloud • • 3d ago

iCloud Photos Help with iCloud Photos Downloader

1 Upvotes

Hello,

I'm trying to download my entire iCloud photo library (~250GB) to my PC. I want the end result to be folders sorted by year.

I downloaded all my data from privacy.apple.com, but it came out a mess. In my research I found iCloud Photos Downloader, but it seems quite complex and I'm not really understanding the Github for it.

Does anyone have a step by step tutorial to achieve what I'm looking for, even with another tool? Thank you! :)


r/iCloud • • 3d ago

Support Can’t remove sync this Mac on photos

2 Upvotes

I cannot unsync my MacBook the photos just casually catch 100g of storage because of it anyone know how to fix it🙏
What I’ve done is setting -> click my name -> iCloud -> photos -> the button for stop syncing
But it always stayed blue also did a restart still didn’t work🙏


r/iCloud • • 3d ago

Answered Iphone password reset

0 Upvotes

Hi guys!!!! Question lang po huhuhu dalawa kasi phone ko, yung ip11 ko nakalimutan ko password tas nag 1 hr unavailable na siya.

Same kasi sya ng icloud sa ip16 ko. Ang concern ko pag ba nireset ko ip11 ko mawawala din ba mga apps or photos na nasa 16 ko? Alam ko ksi di na ssync lately yung ip16 ko sa icloud pero ayun palagi ginagamit ko kumbaga backup lang si 11 Huhu sorry di ko po alam. Thank you sa mga sasagot. 🤍🫶🏻


r/iCloud • • 3d ago

iCloud Mail Feature request: an 'All Mail' view in iCloud Mail (like Gmail's). Anyone else want this?

2 Upvotes

I use rules to file my email into a bunch of folders, and I love that part. The problem is there's no single place on iPhone or iCloud.com to see everything that came in, across every folder, newest first. Gmail's "All Mail" does exactly that.

Smart Mailboxes come close, but they only work on the Mac. So on my phone I end up tapping through folder after folder to find one email.

I already sent this to Apple at apple.com/feedback. If you want it too, sending your own feedback probably helps. Has anyone found a good workaround in the meantime?


r/iCloud • • 3d ago

Support Upgrading icloud+ on PC/Windows, Help appreciated

1 Upvotes

I've followed countless tutorials, but most of them seem to be outdated. When I open the iCloud app and navigate to Storage > Add Storage, I'm not given a list of available iCloud+ subscription plans as expected. Instead, I'm prompted to follow a link below to manage my iCloud subscriptions. However, the hyperlink doesn't work when I click it, leaving me unable to access the subscription options (Or whatever it was attempting to link me to).


r/iCloud • • 3d ago

iCloud Photos Unable to Recover Items - Items could not be

1 Upvotes

I ordered (and am receiving tomorrow) my Duo and am trying to free up some space on my phone (images/videos). I currently have a 1tb plan, but downgraded to 256g. I thought logging into iCloud.com would be a fast/easy fix, but as per their usual, Apple products hate to do their job correctly/consistently. This happens, btw, when I try to delete OR recover items. Anyone else run into this and know a fix? I’ve already tried refreshing the browser; using a different browser, clearing cache (and history).


r/iCloud • • 4d ago

Answered Extra contacts on MacBook

1 Upvotes

I have been using Google contacts, synched between my MacBook, iPhone, and iPad for years. I recently decided to prune my contact list and move it to iCloud. I have just under 200 contacts, and they all display correctly on iCloud, iPhone, and iPad.

On my MacBook, there are still loads of older contacts that I can't get rid of. If I disable iCloud sync on my MacBook, all the contacts disappear, but when I re-enable iCloud sync, all the contacts come back, even the ones that aren't in iCloud.

I have disabled Contacts > Settings > Show Siri Suggestions and System Settings > Siri > App Access > Contacts > Show Siri Suggestions for contacts, but the extra contacts still appear.

Is there any way of fixing this so that my Contacts app on my MacBook only shows the contacts in my iCloud account?


r/iCloud • • 4d ago

Support Google Photos to iCloud transfer — my original iPhone photos suddenly appeared in Recently Deleted

2 Upvotes

Hi everyone. I’m looking for advice from anyone who has experienced something similar while transferring Google Photos to iCloud Photos.

I’m switching completely from Google Photos to iCloud Photos and want to consolidate my entire photo library into Apple’s ecosystem. I have approximately 120 GB of photos and videos in Google Photos.

Here’s what happened:

  1. I upgraded to the 200 GB iCloud+ plan.

  2. I enabled iCloud Photos on my iPhone and successfully synced 1,100+ photos to iCloud.

  3. I verified that my photos were visible on iCloud.com/ipad/macbook

  4. I initiated Google’s direct Google Photos to iCloud Photos transfer. I followed the instructions, selected iCloud as the destination, and authorized the transfer using my Apple Account.

  5. Got confirmation both from google and apple through my email about the transfer

  6. Then this morning, I noticed an album called “Imported from Google” containing approximately 800 photos in my iPhone

  7. However, I also discovered that all my original 1,100+ iPhone photos had disappeared from my main library and were in Recently Deleted!!!

  8. The Google Photos transfer was still in progress when I discovered this, and I knew there were many more photos left to transfer.

  9. I recovered the deleted photos, and they returned to my main library.

  10. My iPhone currently shows “Optimizing Library” at 57%.

My questions:

Anyone got any idea what happened?
My goal is to move completely from Google Photos to iCloud Photos, so I’d appreciate advice from anyone who has completed a similar migration.

I expected this process to be a straightforward way to move my Google Photos library into iCloud. I never expected to wake up and find my entire original iPhone photo library in Recently Deleted when I hadn’t deleted anything myself.


r/iCloud • • 4d ago

Support How to actually download files from iCloud

2 Upvotes

I see the iCloud folder in my Finder sidebar and I don't have any of the files synched on my computer. Now I want to move these files to an external HDD, but I can't even copy a small file (2.3M) to my desktop. When I c/p it, it says `Preparing to copy to "Desktop"` and never finishes it.

So, what is going on with iCloud, am I doing something wrong? If I try to access this data on icloud.com it's fine. But I cannot download folders there - need to download files individually.

I know iCloud is different than regular storage service, it synchs data and keeps it on your computer, but it seems like I can't even click on that file to view it. It just cannot download it.


r/iCloud • • 5d ago

Tools Our family photo library hit 40,000 photos+videos, so I built an app to clean it up a little each day

38 Upvotes

Our family's shared iCloud crossed 40,000 photos and videos this year. It felt like my options were to keep increasing our cloud storage plan or pay for apps with short free trials that turn into subscriptions.

I haven't developed anything for iOS since the Objective-C days, so I decided to learn a new stack and solve a personal problem.

Goal: build a daily habit of cleaning up my photos and videos, reviewing each one to make sure I don't lose something valuable.

The app is Photo Syft and is currently available on iOS. The idea is to sift through a small batch of your camera roll every day.

Each day you review every photo or video captured on that same date across different years. So far it's been nice revisiting family moments… less nice: 10 photos of the car part I was replacing in 2022. In the past two weeks I've freed up 996MB of storage!

Free trial, no ads, pay once, no subscriptions, no account, no analytics, no uploads.

Would love honest feedback and thoughts.


r/iCloud • • 4d ago

Support iCloud not working properly

2 Upvotes

I have shortcuts turned on in iCloud and when I navigate to storage and click shortcuts I click “delete data stored in iCloud” and then there’s immediately a second pop up that asks if I want to permanently delete it but before I can even click it it goes away and then the bar is greyed out says “delete data from icloud” with a loading bar next to it it lasts minutes nothing happens I literally am unable to delete shortcut data in iCloud and turn off for future syncing what is going on IOS 27 sucks I’m having so many issues with stuff on my phone the indexing sucks and the spotlight search pulls up old deleted data somehow remaining the index!!!


r/iCloud • • 4d ago

Support 430 photos moved to recently deleted

3 Upvotes

As the title suggests. My phone last Saturday took 430 of my oldest photos and sent them to the recently deleted folder saying there’s only 7 days left until they are permanently gone. At first I thought my finger just slipped and selected a bunch when I didn’t mean to, so I recovered all
of them.

Well 2 hours ago it did the same thing; the same 430 photos were randomly moved to my recently deleted folder with 3 days until they are wiped.
I have 7 GB left in my iCloud storage. 43GB used out of 50

After doing some research, my main theory is that iCloud (or my regular storage) doesn’t have enough space for all of those photos so it’s throwing them into my recently deleted so it will be removed in those three days.

I was just wondering if there is any reason specifically as to why this is happening and to ensure it dosent happen to say; the next 400 photos. If there isn’t any simple fix, my last resort will be just putting those photos onto a flash drive.

Edit: this is an iPhone 13


r/iCloud • • 5d ago

Support Verification failed

3 Upvotes

Verification codes cannot be sent to this phone number at this time.
Please try again later. This is the message I get for the past few days, I can’t login to my iCloud I contacted support, I called them and nothing got fixed.