I recently wrote about how I had to resort to applied geekery to recover data that iCloud lost, and how I really, seriously think that Apple should make Time Machine for iOS.
Because of this incident, and others, I’ve realized that I simply don’t trust iCloud any more. I know lots of people who have lost data and don’t trust it either.
Today, I was browsing an RSS feed of new iOS apps, one of which touted “Syncs via iCloud.” And, for the first time, I just passed it by, because iCloud is no longer a selling point, but rather a reason to avoid an app. It’s entirely possible that the app can also sync its data via Dropbox, but I didn’t see that in the capsule description.
For people who have been burned by iCloud, this is now a reason to avoid apps. App developers should think about this; they’ll be losing sales as more people distrust Apple’s cloud. Granted, those who have lost data may still be in the minority, but as long as there’s no way to get it back – without some substantial hoop-jumping – I won’t trust any of my data there. And I won’t buy any apps that sync to iCloud.