Great for Apple Ecosystem. Good Pricing options.
February 16, 2019
Great for Apple Ecosystem. Good Pricing options.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Apple iCloud
We have around forty Macintosh Servers and our IT staff uses company provided iPhones. We use Apple iCloud on all of these devices. Apple iCloud has a slick app and web interface. I like the fact that it is compatible with Windows, MacOS and iPhone devices, although it is not available on the Android platform. We use it for seamless file syncs across devices. We have bought the $9.99 per month plan for 2TB storage, which is enough for our current needs.
- File sync across devices is great and seamless.
- It works great for Apple's three platforms: iOS, Mac OS and Watch OS.
- Provides free 5GB cloud storage when you buy an Apple phone or computer.
- Ability to access your cloud files through a web interface. However, it lacks the ability to search through the web interface.
- It nags for upgrading the storage if you have free limited 5 GB storage.
- It is not available on the Android platform, which is a bummer if you want to access your files on an Android device.
- It is not truly cross-platform and is more suitable for the Apple ecosystem.
- Collaborative editing on iCloud is not good.
- Sharing files on iCloud with friends and co-workers is only possible through email attachments. This is a limitation as compared to some other popular vendors who provide sharing through links and having an expiration time on the shared permissions.
- Improved Productivity: We see improved productivity by letting iCloud handle file syncs seamlessly.
- Easy Administration: Cloud storage reports are very useful to clean up old files from the cloud and reclaim space.
- We find it very useful to share files within the organization for meetings and stand-ups. This saves time uploading it to a location and granting permissions to individuals.
- It is also reliable and secure. We don't have to worry much on the security front of our iCloud storage.
Google Drive is great and offers competitive pricing plans but we have an Apple ecosystem and Apple iCloud was the preferred choice for it.
Apple iCloud Feature Ratings
Evaluating Apple iCloud and Competitors
- Price
- Product Features
- Product Usability
- Product Reputation
- Prior Experience with the Product
- Vendor Reputation
- Existing Relationship with the Vendor
Apple iCloud has a very good reputation among our peers using cloud for business needs. Also, given that we are using it only within our Apple ecosystem, the features and usability are apt for our needs.
We are pleased with the product. However, some of our functional users had trouble understanding how iCloud works. I would like to setup some meetings with Apple Sales/Support and my team so there questions can be answered in the initial stage itself.
Apple iCloud Support
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed No escalation required Immediate help available Support understands my problem Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response | None |
No - We haven't foresee any business need where we might need more than a regular support. It is fairly a simple product to use and you don't need a premium support to use this product.
Using Apple iCloud
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using Familiar | None |
- Sharing large files through email attachment. This doesn't really gets attached to email but some sort of cloud location and permission is sent.
- Stores regular backups which you can use to restore your Apple device. You can turn off this feature if not required.
- Collaborative editing with Apple icloud is not great. This product was never designed for collaborative editing to start with.
Yes - Apple iCloud has a web interface, desktop interface and a mobile interface. The mobile interface works only on Apple iphone device. It's a pretty slick app and lets you organize your cloud files with the reach of your mobile device.