Overview of iCloud Features
Before we get started I want to provide you with an overview of all the different features that I want to discuss in the following. Spoiler Alert: Many of those services can be replaced by Google products. If you’re not a big fan of
E-Mail, Contacts & Calendar
The best free alternative to sync your emails, contacts and calendar is hands-down Google Mail. Not only does it work perfectly fine with your iPhone or iPad, but it also integrates very well in Windows or Mac OS. When using Gmail on your iOS device, you don’t have to download or install a different app – all features work fine with the standard iOS apps. If you’re switching from Android to iOS this comes in especially handy, as all your contacts, emails and calendar entries are automatically synced to your new iOS device. To use Gmail on your iPhone, please follow these steps: That’s it already. You can now maintain your contacts using the Google web interface. Please note that you can also sync your Notes via Google Mail, although I personally would recommend using Keep for this (see below). Here are the most important links for your convenience:
E-Mails Calendar Contacts
Photos
There are multiple ways to sync and backup your pictures from your iPhone – it all depends on what’s most important for you. Do you just want to backup your photos and videos to the cloud? I would recommend going with Dropbox. Do you also want to share them with friends and family, edit them and have them all nicely accessible from the browser? Choose Google Photos.
Dropbox Photo Sync Setup
Syncing your photos and videos via Dropbox is quite easy and only requires a few steps. Please be aware that Dropbox only has 2 GB of cloud storage with its basic free tier – however, we’ve got you covered with a guide that will bring you to roughly 40 GB – for free. Follow the next steps after you signed-up for your Dropbox account. After the initial setup, Dropbox will upload all your pictures and videos automatically to the cloud. If you’ve installed a desktop client, the pictures will also be automatically downloaded to your computer.
Google Photos Sync Setup
Earlier this year Google introduced its new Photos app. It allows easy file sharing, image backup and some awesome features like auto-improvements and matching of faces. You again need a Google account, so make sure to create one if you haven’t done so yet. Google Photos offers two types of picture uploads: 15 GB for full-resolution files and unlimited storage for high-resolution pictures. In the second case Google will resize pictures to 16 Megapixels. If you want to have more storage, Google offers different plans starting from $1.99 / month for 100 GB of storage.
iCloud Drive
iCloud Drive is a special case as you’re usually not able to upload all types of files to it. However, I would still like to mention Dropbox here, as you’re able to store everything you want in your Dropbox. Using the iOS app, you’re then able to access those files on the go. I’ll not go into too many details here about Dropbox, but make sure to have a look at Daniel’s guide including all sorts of information about Dropbox.
Notes & Reminders
For notes & reminders I can highly recommend Google Keep. It includes many helpful features and is the perfect tool to keep notes. In fact, it’s not limited to notes and reminders, but can also do more some advanced things. You can, for instance, take pictures with text and the app will transcribe the text on the picture. Next to the usual time and date-based reminders, you can also add a certain location to your note. Let’s say that you’re writing your shopping list – you can ask Google Keep to remind you of the list the next time you’re close to a supermarket. To use Google Keep you (again) need a Google account. You can download the app from the App Store and access your notes via your browser on keep.google.com. [appbox appstore id1029207872]
Pages, Numbers & Documents
Pages, Numbers and Documents are apps that come with Mac OS and basically offer a great alternative to Office. While I personally prefer Microsoft Office, I have to suggest (yet another) Google app as a free alternative here: Google Apps. Google’s alternative automatically saves your files on your Google Drive, making them accessible from anywhere. You can, obviously, also download the related app on the App Store.
Google Docs Google Spreadsheets Google Slides
Find iPhone
In my opinion, there is no real alternative to Find iPhone from iCloud. Given that the service does not require any space, I would highly recommend keeping using Apple’s service in this case. However, if you’re interested in tracking your iPhone, make sure to have a look at Marc’s guide on this topic.
