Apple, unlike the same Google, whose policy basis has been openness for many years, has always tried to close itself off from the outside world and not only not allow alien products into its ecosystem, but also not to release its own products outside. For this reason, users Android have never had access to either iTunes, or Apple TV +, much less iCloud. The only exception that Apple made was the music service Apple Music, which appeared on Google Play almost simultaneously with its release on iOS. But, given that Cupertino did not make such exceptions either before or after, one might think that this was done, if not by accident, then clearly under the influence of something or someone from the outside. But the exceptions did not end there.
iCloud allows you to download photos to Android. We bet we didn't know?
For a long time, users who combined the use of both iOS and Android found it almost impossible to sync their devices and clouds with each other. No, of course, there were methods of interaction between iCloud and Android, but they worked so specifically that they could hardly call them anything other than crutches. However, at some point Apple decided to slightly change the prevailing paradigm and introduced a mobile version of the iCloud web service, which can now be accessed not only at iOS, but also at Android.
Unfortunately, Apple chose not to make a separate iCloud application for Android, and not open all its capabilities to users of the hostile platform, however, too. However, now the owner of any smartphone based on the OS from Google has the opportunity to open the iCloud.com website and download from there all the photos that are already there, or upload those that are not there yet. I agree that it would be much easier and more convenient to use the native client, but the very fact that Apple softened a little in relation to Android and allowed outsiders to somehow interact with their cloud, already worth something.
How to download photos from iCloud
- Open a browser on your smartphone and go to iCloud.com;
- Log in with your account Apple ID and confirm the login with a two-factor authentication code;
- Go to the 'Photos' section and at the top of the screen, click 'Select';
iCloud has learned to work normally (conditionally) with Android
- Mark the photos and videos you want, press the circle key with three dots and confirm the download;
- Wait until the end of loading into the memory of your smartphone, and then transfer the pictures to the section where they should be stored.
Be careful: if you select multiple photos or videos, they will automatically be combined into a zip file and downloaded to the device exclusively in the folder. Therefore, if you do not have an archiver installed that will allow you to unpack photos from the cloud, it would be best to download them one by one. Otherwise, you simply won't be able to access them and you will have to either delete the folder, or after the fact install the archiver, of which there are just millions on Google Play, and only after that do the unzipping. However, since there is no problem in this, we will not attribute this feature to disadvantages either.
Why is there no iCloud for Android
Should I expect Apple to ever release an iCloud app for Android? In my opinion, no. The fact is that by default the company offers a rather small amount of storage, which most users iOS use only because it is a regular cloud service intended for backup. On Android, its role is played by the Google Drive service, which, firstly, is better integrated with the operating system, and, secondly, provides three times more free memory. Therefore, use the web version of iCloud if you have such a need, and rejoice, because most likely there will not be a better one.