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 This article will provide information on the use of iCloud.
 Open the Settings app and find the menu for iCloud. Mac users, for you it would be System Preferences, then iCloud. If you do not see this, your device's operating system probably does not meet the requirements for iCloud. iCloud on the Mac requires Mac OS X 10.7.2 (Lion) or later, and iOS devices need iOS 5.0 or later. Use the following information to check, and update if necessary:
Mac: Apple menu (upper left) > About this Mac. Updating Mac OS
iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch): Settings > General > About > Version. Updating iOS
If you do see iCloud in your settings, just sign in with your Apple ID.
To set up iCloud with other email clients, see http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4864.
 Passbook requires iOS 6
iCloud's purpose is to keep all of your Macs and iOS devices in sync. Create a contact on your iPod touch, and it is waiting for you when you walk over to your Mac. Take a photo with your iPhone while on a trip, and it is already on your iPad when you arrive at home. Photos in iCloud has two functions. One is Photo Stream, which pushes photos that you take to all of your devices. The other is Shared Photo Streams (iOS 6), which allows you to share photos with others, and you have the option of letting users view the photo stream on a website (photos.icloud.com/xxx, where "xxx" represents the unique ID for your photo stream). Those former MobileMe users who used MobileMe Gallery may appreciate this feature. Those who you choose to share it with can also like and comment on photos. Shared Photo Streams is a simplistic way to share photos without texting or emailing them.
For Documents in the Cloud, Apple's iWork suite (Keynote, Numbers and Pages), available for iOS and Mac OS X, is the best to use. Not many other applications can use Documents in the Cloud. Both new documents as well as edits to your existing documents are pushed to all of your devices.
Mail and certain other features require an @icloud.com email address. To set one up, go to Settings (or System Preferences) > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Add Account > iCloud to set one up. If you have previously set up an @me/.mac email, this will work, too.
A very important feature is Find my iPhone (or Find my iPod, Find my iPad, Find my Mac). This allows you to locate a lost iPhone, iPad, iPod touch or Mac, and take other actions as well. Find my [device] is an iCloud service, which is why it is crucial for users to set up iCloud. Go to Settings > iCloud > Find my iPhone ON to enable it. Everything else can be turned off if desired, but Find my [device] is a must. In the event that a device gets lost, you can take action at http://icloud.com, or using the free Find my iPhone app on another iOS device. These services allow you to locate the device on a map, play a sound (if you think it is in the house, or if you want to get someone's attention) or message, remote lock (set a passcode) or remote wipe (erase data) to protect your sensitive data. If your device is powered off or not connected to the Internet, and Find my iPhone cannot locate it, you can choose to be emailed when the device is found. You will also receive an email if any other action (i.e. sound, remote lock) is taken. Find my iPhone v2.0 (iOS 6) introduces Lost Mode, which will allow you to have a phone number pop up on the screen, and your number will be called when someone slides to unlock the device. The new Find my iPhone will also show the battery levels of all your devices. If you are away from your device and see that it has 5% battery left, there is no need to panic later on when your device cannot be located, as it is probably out of battery. The percentage is shown for 20% and under (including iPod touch), otherwise just the gauge is shown.
 If (and only if) your device cannot be located, there will be a check box that reads "Notify me when found." If this is checked, you will receive an email when you device is located, and this email will include a miniature map showing the device's location at the time of the email.
 After signing up for iCloud, you get 5GB (gigabytes) of iCloud storage for free, but you may not know what that storage is used for. The answer is, it is used for backing up your device to iCloud. Backing up allows you to restore your device's data in the event that your device needs to be replaced and you get a new one, or you need to restore to factory settings for troubleshooting purposes and now want your data back. You may be familiar with backing up if you use iTunes, but iCloud allows you to perform the same wirelessly, in the cloud. Photos sent to iCloud via Photo Stream will not take up space in your backup or use up your storage, however iCloud will back up your Camera Roll, which would be the Photos taken on or downloaded to your device. iTunes content is also not backed up. iTunes content would include music, movies, apps, TV shows, etc. The layout of your apps is saved, so even though apps are not included, they will all start to download automatically in the arrangement and folders you had them in. Media can be reloaded either by connecting to iTunes and syncing, or by redownloading from the iTunes and App Stores. The data within those apps, however, does get backed up. Typical backups are around 1GB, but may be more if you have a large Camera Roll or have third party apps making use of iCloud. If a device backs up, the older backup of the same device is removed to make room.
If you have an iCloud mail account, or use Documents in the Cloud, those will also count against your 5GB. Files uploaded to iCloud Drive also use storage. You can go to Settings > iCloud > Storage & Backup > Manage Storage > Change Storage Plan, where you can upgrade to 20GB, 200GB, 500GB, or 1TB for a monthly fee.
One seemingly common misconception is that purchasing additional iCloud storage will add to the storage capacity of the device. Most of the latest devices come in 16GB, 32GB, 64GB or 128GB sizes. Buying iCloud storage will not increase this capacity, cloud storage is entirely separate. iCloud creates a backup copy of your data. More details in: What is Stored in iCloud and What is Not?
 Backups are done when your device is connected to Wi-Fi, plugged in, and in sleep mode (display is off). If you want to do it manually, you just need Wi-Fi. You can go to Settings > iCloud > Storage & Backup > Back Up Now. Macs do not have the option to back up to iCloud. Mac users should use Time Machine instead.
You can also control what gets backed up. Go to Settings > iCloud > Storage & Backup > Manage Storage, and tap on your device. Under Backup options, you can turn individual apps' data on or off.
 iCloud will give you a friendly reminder if you haven't backed up in a while.If you need to restore a device from a backup that you made, see iOS: Backing Up and Restoring Data to a New Device.
 iCloud.com is the perfect resource for accessing iCloud data. Maybe your Mac does not have Lion (10.7.2), or maybe you have a PC. You can still access data via iCloud.com. On a Mac that supports iCloud, the iCal app should automatically sync your calendar and reminders in iCloud. Same for Address Book. In Mountain Lion, Calendar and Reminders are two different apps and will both sync with iCloud. Mountain Lion also has its own Notes app which syncs with iCloud. However, in order to locate devices with Find my iPhone, there is no built-in app for this, so to locate these on a computer it needs to be done at iCloud.com. Overall, iCloud.com is a great resource if your computer cannot support iCloud.
To access iCloud.com, you need a:
 You can view Photo Stream photos either in iPhoto or Aperture. First, make sure that Photo Stream is on under System Preferences > iCloud > Photo Stream. Also run Software Update to make sure iPhoto/Aperture is up to date. If it is, your sidebar should include something like this:
 The Apple TV with the latest software will have a Photo Stream option as well on the home screen.
 The best way to manage iCloud from your PC is with the iCloud Control Panel for Windows, which you can download instructions for here: http://apple.com/icloud/setup/pc.html. iCloud can sync with Windows services like Outlook, and if you download Apple software like the Safari browser, iCloud can sync with that as well. Now, as for Photo Stream, it is quite different on Windows than on a Mac, as there is no designated program to handle it.
After you have downloaded iCloud Control Panel, it should appear as a menu in your Control Panel in Windows. Open the iCloud menu, go to Photo Stream and click Options.
 You will need to specify a download folder and upload folder. The download folder is the folder which you will go to in order to view pictures taken on other devices that got sent to Photo Stream. Place a photo in the designated upload folder if you want to send it to Photo Stream and have it pushed to your other devices. Folders are created for you by default, but you can specify a different location to use instead.
 More About Photo Stream As long as you are signed in to iCloud and have Photo Stream turned on, any photo you take or save from another app will also go to Photo Stream, and should be waiting for you in the Photo Stream tab on other devices signed in with the same ID for iCloud. The Photo Stream tab is in Albums, below Camera Roll. In iOS 6, Photo Stream has its own tab between Albums and Places. Photo Stream will save photos for 30 days. iOS devices will display the 1,000 most recent photos and Macs and PCs will display all photos. This will give you plenty of time to save those photos to your Camera Roll or import them to iPhoto on the Mac. If you download a photo from Photo Stream to your device, it will stay there permanently; it will not delete after 30 days. iOS 6 introduced Shared Photo Streams. This allows you to select any photo(s) and share them with select other people, which will have it sent directly to the Photo Stream tab in their Photos app. In iOS 7 or later, you can also share videos. To share multiple photos, go to the album which contains the photos you want to share, then tap Edit in the upper right. Tap each photo you want and tap Share in the lower left. If you just want to share a single photo (you can add more to an existing Shared Photo Stream later), you do not tap the Edit button. Instead, just tap the photo to view it. Then tap the Share icon  .Select Photo Stream out of the sharing options.  You can then either create a new Shared Stream or add to an existing one. If you add it to an existing one, it will be sent only to the people you have invited to view that particular stream, so only the people that you want to see the photos will see them. If you create a new one, you can specify who you want to see it. You can also invite or remove people from an existing stream.  When choosing who to send it to, be sure to choose the recipients' email addresses that they have associated with their Apple ID. The name is the title of the stream, in other words, the album name. If you choose Public Website, this will allow users who do not use Photo Stream to view the pictures on iCloud.com, for example: https://www.icloud.com/photostream/#A3GI9HKKKOQu4   The recipients should receive a notification similar to this:  Sharing a primary account with another person is usually not recommended. iCloud is designed to keep one person's multiple Apple mobile devices and computers in sync. Sharing an account with someone else can cause their data, such as contacts and photos, to appear on your device, and yours on theirs. Any changes they make to iCloud data, such as deleting a contact, will also take effect on your device. Even for families, this is not recommended. By enabling iCloud, if you have children, they now have the power to remote wipe or set a passcode on devices on the same account, as the Find my iPhone 2.0 features one-time sign-in. It is recommended everyone have their own Apple ID to use for iCloud. If you share an ID for other services like iTunes, changing the ID for iCloud will not affect this. If you want to be able to manage and locate family members, Find my iPhone may not be the best. Apple's Find my Friends, available as a free download from the App Store, may serve this purpose better. You can create a new Apple ID at http://appleid.apple.com.
If you are already sharing an account, it is easy to remove.
 More information on the best way to stop sharing an Apple ID can be found at: How to Stop Sharing an Apple ID.
"I enabled iCloud... but there are no photos in Photo Stream."
Only new photos will go to Photo Stream. Photos taken prior to enabling Photo Stream will not be sent to iCloud.
"Can I have more than one iCloud account on a device?"
iCloud is designed to keep all of one person's devices in sync. For this, you should use the same Apple ID. You cannot use multiple IDs on the same device.
Hopefully you now understand how iCloud works, and if you have any questions, please ask below.
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