How is one supposed to move data into and out of an iPhone, once one is using the iCloud system? I mean, getting photos into and out of the phone, or copying PDFs to PDF reader apps, or getting GPS tracks and waypoints out of the phone?
I was doing this, before setting up iCloud, with iTunes. When I would sync through iTunes, on the Apps page there is a section showing apps that support moving data through iTunes. I would select one, and a pane would populate with the files the app has on the iPhone, which I could copy to my computer. I could also add files to the pane by browsing to them.
Now I have iCloud backing up the phone, and iCloud.com has obvious support for moving data into or out of Pages, Keynote and Numbers. I see something called “Photo Stream” that I haven’t set up yet. But, nothing about the other apps.
Am I supposed to be seeing on iCloud.com some facility for moving data into and out of other apps?
When I try using iTunes it stops with an immediate error about being unable to find the right disk, which I think is because syncing is now set up to be through iCloud and not iTunes.
Am I misinterpreting the error message, and am I supposed to be able to do this operation through iTunes still? If that’s the case, does it mean iCloud only supports part of the syncing I need to do?
If it matters, this is iOS 5.0.1 on an iPhone 4S, and newly installed OS X Lion and iTunes on an iMac.
You should still be able to sync with iTunes. It will just skip the “backing up” part, but will still transfer music, movies, application files, etc.
If you are getting an error when syncing with iTunes, something is wrong. If it were any other company I would say to Google for the message, but I would just call Apple’s support line. They are usually quick about getting to the bottom of things, and you have free support with the 4S for 90 days (I think).
Separately, Apple has added the ability to store iWork (Pages, Numbers, and Keynote) documents in iCloud, and access them from both your Mac and iDevices. I haven’t tried this out yet, but it is supposedly up and running.
Thanks. It started working. I have been tinkering and gradually things that didn’t work have started to, often for reasons I don’t know, and this was one.
Photo Stream is pretty great for photos, BTW. I take photos, and they’re on my computer (in Aperture, but it also works with iPhoto) almost immediately, without me having to do anything at all. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, I still have to plug in to sync videos if I want to avoid sending them somewhere one by one from the phone. But at this point with iCloud, iTunes Match, Photo Stream and over the air OS updates, the only time I ever need to plug the phone into the computer is when I need to transfer videos off.