Message on iCloud: How it works, how it can be turned on or off

(Pocket-Lint) – Apple introduced iCloud support for iMessages in May 2018, known as Messages in iCloud. Before support, it was not possible to use iCloud for text messages.

Following the update – which was iOS 11.4 – iCloud feature messages enable you to treat your iMessages like photos. Messages sync across devices when turned on so you can keep up to date with all your messages, regardless of the Apple device you’re using.

Here’s what you need to know about messages on iCloud and how to turn the feature on or off.

What is the message in iCloud?

Note that “message” means iMessage, an Apple app that iOS device owners and Mac owners can use to send and receive text, photos, videos, animoji, memos, and more. ICloud, meanwhile, is built into every Apple device so you can keep your photos, files, notes and more, safe, up to date and available wherever you are.

ICloud Messages syncs your messages across all your Apple devices. If turned on, your full message history is up to date across all Apple devices signed in with your Apple ID. If you delete a message, attachment or conversation on one of your devices, it will be deleted from all your devices.

Before the iCloud feature is turned on, the messages you send or receive on your iPhone will sync to your Mac and iPad. However, if you set up a new device, you will not see your old messages or conversations on that device. Of course, there was a solution. For example, you can restore your new iPhone from an old backup to take it to your new iPhone, but it was not as easy as it is now.

Each of your devices backed up its entire message library, which wasted iCloud storage space. Messages in the iCloud feature see messages stored in a central location and are sent to any device you are connected to now or in the future. If you need to free up iCloud storage space, you can simply turn off messages in the iCloud feature.

How does messaging work in iCloud?

ICloud Messages basically enhances the syncing of your messages across all of your devices (old or new), allowing you to keep up with them from any device you’re using.

If you choose to turn on Messages in iCloud feature, all your messages will be displayed on a new device when you sign in with the same Apple ID account and get the same view everywhere you use iMessage. As mentioned, when you delete messages and conversations from one device, they are deleted from all your devices.

If you delete a message, you can’t get it back. If you don’t want to keep your conversations up to date across all your devices, you can turn off the iCloud feature. If you turn it off on iPhone or iPad, your message history is included in a separate iCloud backup.

How to turn messages on iCloud

To enable messaging on iCloud, make sure you have set up iCloud and signed in with the same Apple ID across all your devices. You will also use two-factor authentication with your Apple ID and have launched iCloud Keychain.

IPhone, iPad and iPod Touch users

To turn messages on iCloud on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, follow these steps:

1. Go to settings
2. Tap [your name] Upstairs
3. Tap iCloud
4. Turn on the message

Mac users

To launch Messages on iCloud on your Mac, follow these steps:

1. Open the message on your Mac
2. Select the Messages menu in the upper left corner
3. Tap Preferences from the menu
4. Click on iMessage
5. Select the box next to Enable Messages on iCloud

How to turn off messages on iCloud

If you turn off Messages in iCloud on an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, your message history will be included in a separate iCloud backup, as we mentioned above.

You can turn off Messages in iCloud for just one device or for all your devices. You will continue to store what you send and receive on iCloud from any device where messages are running on iCloud.

IPhone, iPad and iPod users

To turn off messages on iCloud on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, follow these steps: