Throwback to early days of iClouds, when you had to plug in your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch into iTunes to set up for the first time, to update a software or the other and to back up files. Fast forwarding to recent times, well, that is no longer necessary.
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Now you can do all that and more, faster and easier over-the-air (OTA) on your Wi-Fi network.
How to set up your new iPad, iPod touch or iPhone for the first time
- Turn on your device to the home screen
- Swipe the lock to be able to set it up
- choose your preferred language. You will have a wide range of options to choose from.
- Choose your Country or region. In case you region isn't listed, click on show more to show all the available regions
- Choose your preferred GPS. Decide whether you want a globally enabled or disabled location services
- Choose your Wi-Fi network
- For for a few minutes while Apple activates your device
- Choose if you want to activate your device as new or restore iCloud back up
- You have completely set up your device.
How to create Apple ID
To use iCloud, you need an Apple ID. An Apple ID can be an iTunes Store/App Store account, me.com email account, Apple developer account, FaceTime or iMessage account, etc.
- Select create free Apple ID
- Input your Date of birth and location
- Input an existing email address or open a new one
- Accept iCloud terms and conditions
- New you have an Apple iCloud account
How to set up a new device with iCloud
- Sign in with your Apple ID
- Agree to terms and conditions
- Confirm your agreement
- Click on iCloud- this is very important
- Choose your iCloud back up. That way, you won't have to duplicate your files on other gadgets
- Choose Find My iPhone, iPad or iPod, that way if it gets missing, you can track it down
- Decide to either allow Apple to send you updates or not by either accepting or rejecting automatic diagnostics
- Now you phone is fully set up with iCloud
How to restore your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch from an iCloud backup
If you have an old iCloud account and you want to it back on your new device, instead of starting afresh, simply restore.
- Select restore from iCloud backup
- Enter your Apple ID to log-in
- Agree to terms and conditions
- Confirm your agreement
- Choose your backup
- select your new phone ID and wait will your backup files downloads
- Your device automatically restarts when download is complete
How to back up your phone on iCloud
As long as you have battery charged and Wi-Fi network, your iPad, iPod touch or iPhone automatically backs up your files.
How to delete an iCloud backup
- Launch the
- Tap on iCloud
- Tap storage, and then backup
- Tap on manage backup
- Select the back up you want to remove from iCloud
- Select Delete back up
- Tap Turn off and Delete
How to update your device over-the-air
Be it a new iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad and an update is already available, or one comes along months later, applying them over-the-air (OTA) via iCloud is faster and more efficient than the old-school iTunes method.
If a software update is available for your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, a popup notification will let you know, and a red badge will appear at the top righthand corner of your Settings app.
- Launch the
- Tap General
- Tap software update
- Download and install
- Agree to terms and conditions
How to get more help on iCloud
- Write your questions to us.