Apple's Merger of 'iCloud Documents and Data' Into iCloud Drive Now Complete

Last May, Apple Apple announced that it would be merging its iCloud Documents and Data service into iCloud Drive in May of 2022, and that transition has now been completed.

icloud drive mac ipad iphone
As noted in a support document updated today, users who previously relied on ‌iCloud‌ Documents and Data for syncing files across devices will need to turn ‌iCloud Drive‌ on in order to see their files.

iCloud Documents and Data, our legacy document syncing service, has been discontinued and replaced by iCloud Drive. If you used iCloud Documents and Data, your account has been migrated to iCloud Drive.

If you used the iCloud Documents and Data service, you need to turn on iCloud Drive to see your files. When you switch to iCloud Drive, the amount of storage space your saved files use in iCloud doesn't change.

Apple's support document provides instructions and minimum system requirements for ‌iCloud Drive‌ on iOS devices, Macs, and on the web at iCloud.com.

The vast majority of ‌iCloud‌ users already have ‌iCloud Drive‌ enabled, so they won't see any changes. But for users who had ‌iCloud‌ accounts prior to the introduction of ‌iCloud Drive‌ in 2014 and never enabled it, perhaps to maintain compatibility with pre-iOS 8 and pre-OS X Yosemite devices that couldn't support ‌iCloud Drive‌, they will now need to turn it on in order to regain access to their files.

The older ‌iCloud‌ Documents and Data service kept cloud-synced data stored in folders specific to a given app, only allowing access to the data from that app. With ‌iCloud Drive‌ being a more full-featured syncing service, all of those files can now be accessed from a single location: the Files app on iOS and iPadOS, the ‌iCloud Drive‌ section of Finder on macOS, or the ‌iCloud Drive‌ section of iCloud.com.

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro 3 4ths Perspective Aluminum Camera Module 1

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Sunday April 13, 2025 7:52 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of April 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
Apple 2025 Thumb 1

10 Products Still Coming From Apple in 2025

Friday April 11, 2025 4:14 pm PDT by
Apple may have updated several iPads and Macs late last year and early this year, but there are still multiple new devices that we're looking forward to seeing in 2025. Most will come in September or October, but there could be a few surprises before then. We've rounded up a list of everything that we're still waiting to see from Apple in 2025. iPhone 17, 17 Air, and 17 Pro - We get...
iOS 18 Siri Personal Context

Report Reveals Internal Chaos Behind Apple's Siri Failure

Thursday April 10, 2025 7:15 am PDT by
A new report from The Information today reveals much of the internal turmoil behind Apple Intelligence's revamped version of Siri. Apple apparently weighed up multiple options for the backend of Apple Intelligence. One initial idea was to build both small and large language models, dubbed "Mini Mouse" and "Mighty Mouse," to run locally on iPhones and in the cloud, respectively. Siri's...
M6 MacBook Pro Feature 1

Waiting for the Perfect MacBook Pro? 2026 Might Be the Year

Thursday April 10, 2025 4:19 am PDT by
Apple in October 2024 overhauled its 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, adding M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max chips, Thunderbolt 5 ports on higher-end models, display changes, and more. That's quite a lot of updates in one go, but if you think this means a further major refresh for the MacBook Pro is now several years away, think again. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has said he expects only a small...
maxresdefault

The MacRumors Show: New iOS 19, iPhone 17, and Apple Watch Ultra 3 Leaks

Friday April 11, 2025 7:13 am PDT by
On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we catch up on the latest iOS 19 and watchOS 12 rumors, upcoming devices, and more. Subscribe to The MacRumors Show YouTube channel for more videos Detailed new renders from leaker Jon Prosser claim to provide the best look yet at the complete redesign rumored to arrive in iOS 19, showing more rounded elements, lighting effects, translucency, and...
iPad Pro iPadOS

iPadOS 19 Will Be 'More Like macOS' in Three Ways

Sunday April 13, 2025 6:43 am PDT by
A common complaint about the iPad Pro is that the iPadOS software platform fails to fully take advantage of the device's powerful hardware. That could soon change. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today said that iPadOS 19 will be "more like macOS." Gurman said that iPadOS 19 will be "more like a Mac" in three ways:Improved productivity Improved multitasking Improved app window management...
apple intelligence black

NYT: Apple's AI Struggles Began with 2023 Chip Budget Dispute

Friday April 11, 2025 4:33 am PDT by
Apple's current struggles with Apple Intelligence and Siri began in early 2023 when AI head John Giannandrea sought approval from CEO Tim Cook to purchase more AI chips for development, according to a new report from The New York Times. Cook initially approved doubling the team's chip budget, but CFO Luca Maestri reportedly reduced the increase to less than half that amount, and instead...
iOS 18 Siri Personal Context

Apple Plans to Release Delayed Apple Intelligence ‌Siri‌ Features This Fall

Friday April 11, 2025 4:53 am PDT by
Apple plans to release its delayed Apple Intelligence Siri features in the fall, according to a new report by The New York Times. In early March, Apple said that it was going to take longer than expected to roll out the more personalized ‌Siri‌ experience, and that these features would be rolled out "in the coming year." Subsequently, Reuters reported that the ‌Apple Intelligence‌...
top stories 2025 04 12

Top Stories: iOS 19 and iPhone 17 Pro Rumors, Siri Revamp Turmoil, and More

Saturday April 12, 2025 6:00 am PDT by
It was a big week for leaks and rumors in the Apple world, with fresh claims about iOS 19, the iPhone 17 Pro, and even the 20th anniversary iPhone coming a couple of years from now. Sources also spilled the tea on the inner turmoil at Apple around the Apple Intelligence-driven Siri revamp that has seen significant delays, so read on below for all the details on these stories and more! iOS ...

Top Rated Comments

eicca Avatar
38 months ago

Or you know, UPGRADE YOUR DEVICE!!!!!

If you are not upgrading, perhaps because you think your device works fine, why are you still using Apple device. Also it’s 2022. That device you own is too obsolete and really should upgrade…..
1) It's running the latest iOS so it's not the device's problem, genius.
2) You pay for the upgrade and I'll happily do it. Otherwise I have to spend my hard-earned money on other things.
Score: 36 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Jim Lahey Avatar
38 months ago
iCloud is a mess. With each passing day I ask myself again if anyone of influence at Apple actually uses their devices and services. They are probably connected to their own in-house system and are blissfully unaware that iCloud sync actually sucks for the plebeians. An option to force a refresh would be nice, but that would mean acknowledging that it doesn't "just work".
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tgwaste Avatar
38 months ago
Maybe the piece of absolutely complete garbage crap they call iCloud Drive should be fixed first before doing anything else. It has NEVER worked properly.


Computer 1 (this space usage is correct)

$ du -hd1 Documents/ | tail -n 1
408G Documents/

Computer 2 (and here we are at almost double used for the SAME files)

$ du -hd1 Documents | tail -n 1
740G Documents


2.5 TRILLION dollar company.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
eicca Avatar
38 months ago
Now can they make it so sync actually works and stops erasing my Pages docs on iPad?
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ratspg Avatar
38 months ago
About time! Now we can hope for restoring deleted files and file history like Dropbox :)
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
telo123 Avatar
38 months ago
The whole iCloud Drive needs a redesign. It isn’t as fluid as Google Drive or OneDrive.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)