iCloud

While the ability to take quality photos has clearly become one of the most important features to smartphone users, the ease with which those photos are shared with friends, uploaded to the web and distributed across other devices has become a crucial ingredient as well. Apple sought to improve this aspect when it introduced iCloud Photo Library with iOS 8. At the time, rumor had it that Apple would do away with its existing service, My Photo Stream. The fact that this never happened and My Photo Stream is still alive and well has been the source of much confusion ever since.

One of the first things most people want to do when they get a new Apple device is make sure their mail, contacts and calendars are setup. The most popular services many people use to sync this information comes from Google and Microsoft. However, Apple has continued to push iCloud forward and it is arguably the best option for those who use multiple Apple devices.

If you just purchased your 5th iPhone or you are new to the platform, this guide will help you use iCloud to get some of your most important information setup on your new device.

If you just got your hands on Apple's most recent iPhone, the 4-inch iPhone SE, you're no doubt eager to get started. This guide covers all the basics you need to know so you can hit the ground running with your new iPhone.

Though it has been around for several years now (since iOS 7.0.3), the iCloud Keychain is still new to some, and remains a source of confusion for others. If you are new to iPhone, or just haven't ever bothered with iCloud Keychain, it serves as a basic manager for your web logins (via Safari), your credit card information, and Wi-Fi network login information, and it keeps your Mail, Contacts, Messages and Calendar up to date across your devices as well. It will keep this information safely encrypted and allow access to it from your other iOS and OS X devices.

iCloud is Apple's subscription service that provides cloud storage, data synchronization and an email address. It allows your iTunes and App Store purchases to be shared across all of your devices and with family members, synchs your photo library and other app data across devices, gives you access to Find My iPhone and allows you to backup and restore your iOS devices, among other features.