iCloud

Jody has a Mac and a Samsung Galaxy Android Phone. He used to be able to sync the calendar on both with no problem. But lately, he's been having issues with the built-in Mac calendar and the Android Calendar program. Leo says it's possible that Jody's Calendar hasn't been syncing to iCloud, which is what Apple does before syncing to other devices. Apple may have logged him out before an update. Also, make sure it's not requiring 2-factor authentication now. Look into the iCloud settings and make sure that the Calendar is syncing. 

Joe has 16GB of messages on his iPhone, and he wants to back them up before he gets a new one. Leo says you have to turn on cloud sync in the settings, and you'll need more than your free iCloud allocation to do it. There are third-party backups that let you save to your computer. iMazing does a great job. It's $50, but worth it.

Doug is a singing voice teacher who recently upgraded his Macbook Air with the new Apple M1 design. Leo says that Doug is the ideal candidate for the M1. But what Doug is experiencing is issues with his backups being restored. What Leo recommends is to use the old computer to upload all photos and videos to iCloud. Use the most recent version. The way the old iPhoto used to store them is in a big blob. Go to the Pictures folder and R/C on the library. Select "open contents." There he will see the original photos folder. Copy that over.

Deborah is thinking of buying a thumbdrive called PhotoVault. Leo says that you don't really need them. They are overpriced. It's just a thumdrive with special software. You don't need that when you can go in the Cloud with Google Photos, Amazon Prime Photos, and even iCloud.

Alex's iCloud account nearly got hacked, but fortunately, his 2 Factor Authentication feature stopped it cold. Leo says that more companies are going to require authentication as a security measure. Everyone should use it. 

Charles is noticing several of his recent photo files aren't as large as they should be on his Mac Mini. Leo says that if Charles is using Apple Photos for an App to store his photos, to r/c on the photos library, and then select Show Package Contents, he'll see photo folders, including the "originals" photo folder. That'll verify his originals are there.

Al and his wife have decided to move everything up to the cloud and use a smaller Mac Air instead of his huge 27" iMac. He's uploaded everything up to Amazon. Will that be safe? Leo says it will, but it's a smart idea to have more than one backup option. Make a local backup copy and a second service in the cloud. Leo recommends Google Photos because it's free. If Al has iCloud, then he can turn on Cloud syncing and then sync them all. He can then optimize storage in Apple Photos and it'll eliminate the high res versions until he needs them, but he can still see them in Photos.