The transition to iCloud Drive from 'iCloud Documents and Data' is complete

By Oliver Haslam
published

iCloud on Mac
iCloud on Mac (Image credit: IMore)

What you need to know

  • Apple has announced the transition from the 'iCloud Documents and data' feature into iCloud Drive is complete.
  • iCloud Drive was announced in 2014.
  • Those who don't already have iCloud Drive enabled will need to do so in order to see their files and data.

Apple has confirmed that the process of merging the previous 'iCloud Documents and data' feature into iCloud Drive has now been completed. The transition was announced a year ago.

The move to iCloud Drive was previously announced to take place in May 2022 and sure enough, here we are. Apple confirmed the completion of the migration via an updated support document (opens in new tab) that was first spotted by MacRumors.

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.

Apple notes that those who previously used 'iCloud Documents and data' will now need to enable iCloud Drive if they want to be able to access their files.

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.

The iCloud Drive storage system is among the best iPhone options for storing data in the cloud while having it automatically sync between devices. It's also where a ton of apps keep their information including settings and saved documents.

Apple announced iCloud Drive in 2014 alongside iOS 8 and Mac OSX Yosemite. The full transition away from the previous 'iCloud Documents and data' feature has taken almost eight years to complete.

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.