Tech

Apple updates iCloud mobile site so it's actually useful

You can access more services from a mobile browser.

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Apple has updated iCloud.com with a more comprehensive mobile site for iOS and Android. Among the improvements, users can now access Notes, Photos, and Find My without having to force the site into desktop mode, which is cumbersome and annoying on smaller screens.

Better late than never — It’s kind of surprising that Apple hasn’t offered a mobile-optimized iCloud site before now, as developing one is pretty straightforward. Apple doesn’t exactly have a great track record with its online services, though. Remember MobileMe?

The new iCloud.com should make it easier to locate your lost iPhone from another person’s smartphone, or at least access and save important photos and notes. The new web view of Photos seems to work pretty well from my quick test. If you’re an Android person who uses Notes on another Apple device, like a MacBook, you’ll be able to easily get to them now since Android doesn’t have a native Notes app.

The desktop and iPad versions of iCloud.com still offer access to many more services. iCloud Drive, Contacts, Pages, and several other apps are not available in the mobile version and you’ll still have to force it to the desktop version if you really need to access those.