iCloud and iCloud Drive for my iMac, & my *new* iPhone

[Sooz]

Hi, Jim-with-an-iPhone-7 and everyone!

I'm being dragged into more complicated technology. My former little cell phone, which was one tiny step 'up' from my former little flip phone, went belly up and there is no resuscitation.  I got an iPhone 7, and am muddling my way through it.   YouTube has been helpful to an extent.  I know there are supposed to be classes at my local Verizon store, so I'll check that out, too.  Can you believe I (tech challenged!) have a fancy phone?! Oh goodness!!!!

Meanwhile, apparently backing up things to the Cloud is important with an iPhone, maybe?  
Apparently, people can also steal my data & credit card # and personal ID from my phone etc. if don't enable the correct whatevers (at this point, I'm not sure which way is North! LOLAM!).

Am I supposed to use/enable iCloud or iCloud Drive on my iPhone 7?  

Even with my External HD and my SuperDuper and my Time Machine and my pin-drive backups for my iMac computer, do I need to have anything on my iMac backed up to the Cloud...and if so, how do I do this?  I kinda don't think I need to have my iMac stuff on the Cloud because of the backups that I already have in place and I'm sure that storing all that iMac data would exceed the free limit.

Am I supposed to have my iPhone and my iMac synced or something, and if so, do I want to do that, and if so, how do I do that?

Can I trust iCloud or iCloud Drive to be impervious to hacking?  

At this point, I don't use my iPhone to play games or listen to music or watch TV shows/movies ...  I do have it in case of emergencies when traveling, I like the camera, access to the internet, notes and calendar and alarm reminders, using maps with directions in real time, texting to friends and family, and I just did some FaceTime with my sister yesterday.  

I'm sure there are other undiscovered components of this iPhone that I'll discover and perhaps use often.  Any suggestions for more in the area of wonderful undiscovered components are available that I shouldn't miss on my iPhone?

Thanks in advance for help and info about the iCloud stuff!
Smiles,
Sooz

[Xairbusdriver]

Well... there goes the weekend...

So many questions, so little time...

First, congratulations on the 'new' phone! You do know that you are already 'behind-the-times'; iPhone 8, iPhone X (that is the result of Apple's passion for using Latin instead of Arabic numerals, I guess). It appears that there will never be an iPhone 9!

Take the class at Verizon, it couldn't hurt. Just don't believe anything they say if they say I'm rong!

Your questions, as close as I can come to the order asked:
"...apparently backing up things to the Cloud is important..." Yes, in the sense that you always want at least two backups of important info and in two different locations. You've already paid for this backup at Apple (it's probably one of their smaller puffy bumps on that humongous iOne). It doesn't cost anything nor does it count against the meager iCloud space. The worst thing about it is that you have to use iTunes. Start up iTunes, now connect your iPhone to your Mac.

On your first connection, you'll get to go through some steps that will confirm you are a trusted user of the iPhone and the Mac. You'll probably need your Apple ID password and, of course, the passcode for the phone. Once you get past these steps, iTunes should start up just by plugging your phone into the Mac.

[attachment=3539:iTunes_iPhone.jpg]

Click the tiny iPhone icon and you should see a "Summary" of the phone. The important section is the "Backups" area. It is probably already set to Automatically Back Up to iCloud. That's fine. BTW, you won't waste space in the cloud by backing up your apps. Since they are already "in the cloud" and Apple already knows what apps you have, the backup will just include a list of them, not an actual copy of them. Any data an app creates will be backed up, however, and that will take up space on the cloud.

You will also see another option to make a backup to "This computer". I do this whenever I have iTunes open, which is extremely rarely.   Just remember to change this setting back to iCloud. Actually, iTunes is pretty good at reminding you that you've made a change if you try to Quit of use some other function of the app.

[attachment=3540:iTunes_Backups.jpg]

Let's stop here and maybe some one else will come along and corekt my comments and/or answer some more of your questions. I knead a break...

[Sooz]

(sigh) it's going to be a REALLY LONG weekend!Thanks, Jim, for the input steps and the pictures!  Yup, I am aware that there are newer latest greatest iPhones, and with your logic, I also agree there will never be an iPhone IX.My new iPhone 7 is the one that is sorta ok for my pocketbook.I still don't know if I'm backed up to iCloud as this showed I've never been backed up to the Cloud under "Manually Back Up and Restore"--but as you can see, I did have the "Automatically Back Up" filled in... but I have no idea how to confirm that this has happened. [attachment=3542:iPhone_n...acked_up.png]Also, somehow, my iTunes Icon (the musical note in blue/purple/red is no longer in the bottom part of my first page iPhone screen--that's the screen that has the icons for phone, Safari, and text) has disappeared.  However, due to my downloading it from the Apps link, the iTunes icon is on the next (swipe left) page with other apps... Why did it disappear? Did I make that happen?  

QUOTE

You've already paid for this backup at Apple (it's probably one of their smaller puffy bumps on that humongous iOne).

I don't know what a puffy bump is -- I googled it and got a lot of links for skin conditions--nothing to do with my iPhone.

QUOTE

It doesn't cost anything nor does it count against the meager iCloud space. The worst thing about it is that you have to use iTunes. Start up iTunes, now connect your iPhone to your Mac.

When I did this, it showed me all kinds of music on my iPhone, that is NOT in my iMac's iTunes.I'm going to stop now and lie down with a cool cloth over my eyes!Smiles, sort of,Sooz

P.S.I was going to log out and sign out and just be out (and thinking of that cool cloth to put over my eyes!) and I noticed this... so do I need to Update to iOS 11.2.6 or do I need to Restore iPhone???
[attachment=3543:update_o..._iPhone_.png]
Oh just spin me around and call me Dizzy!
Sooz

[Xairbusdriver]

Easy one first (they don't call me lazy for nothing!):

QUOTE

do I need to Update to iOS 11.2.6 or do I need to Restore iPhone?

Just do the update thing. You haven't corrupted your phone... yet. You usually get a Notification on your phone about an update, eventually.

I suggest you use the Backup to your Computer function any time you open iTunes. Just click the radio button next to that choice and then click the "Back up now" button. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes. Then change the setting back to iCloud.

Under "Otions":
If you check the "Sync ... over WiFi" you will keep your iPhone synced whenever you are home, assuming you have a WiFi network.
I turn OFF the "Automatically sync..." function as I want to control when it syncs, not Apple or anyone else. I also have "Sync only checked..." enabled so I can control what gets synced (mostly nothing).

I'll leave the "all kinds of music" question to the iTunes experts. Perhaps you were actually looking at the iTunes Store? It's been literally years since I used iTunes for anything other than updating my iDevices, but all the music on them was downloaded from Apple or my own CDs or files. However, I do have some that my Granddaughters downloaded at least a decade ago before they got their own accounts.

[Xairbusdriver]

QUOTE

my iTunes Icon (the musical note in blue/purple/red is no longer in the bottom part of my first page iPhone screen

I don't have that kind of icon anywhere on my phone. By "bottom part" of the screen, do you mean the bottom of the view of app icons and NOT the very bottom that has a grey background and is always visible, even when you swipe to another page? Perhaps a screen shot would help:

Press and hold the Side button.
Immediately click the Home button, then release the Top or Side buttons.

[Sooz]

Oh, Jim, you're so funny!  

QUOTE

Perhaps a screen shot would help: Press and hold the Side button. Immediately click the Home button, then release the Top or Side buttons.

...and *then* what do I do with the screen shot?

Okay, by the bottom part of the screen, it's the bottom part of my phone's screen that is always visible (mine has a blue-ish background), even when I swipe to another page. It used to have the icon for iTunes(?) but now it doesn't--now that icon only appears on the second page, which are apps.

Okaaaay, I'm gonna do one thing at a time...gonna plug my phone into my computer and do the update.  One teeny tiny baby step at a time.

I don't think I have wi-fi because my hi speed internet is through a cable.  

Enjoy the birthday photo--my little guy is 18 years old today!
[attachment=3544:My_boy_is_18_today.jpg]

[Xairbusdriver]

"*then* what do I do with the screen shot?" Uhmn... upload it here so we can all glory in its magnificence!

"I don't think I have wi-fi because my hi speed internet is through a cable." That's OK, you really don't need it, unless you want to have interweb access with different devices in different places without wires. Cables between devices is fine and often faster.

BTW, "puffy bu,ps" is a meterological term for the protrusions on cumulus clouds, a picture is worth 999.9 words:

[attachment=3545:puffy_bumps.jpg]

I think of iCloud as that type cloud since they are often associated with danger/damage...

BTW #2, I think that colorful, musical note is for "Music". I don't see it on my iPhone since I can't image listening to music on that kind of device. I turned it off in Settings(just another name for Preferences, but it has fewer letters...)->Music. If you want that icon on the 'first' page, you can move it there. First, how about that screen shot of your iPhone. U kan doit! Once you get it into your "Camera Roll" you can email it to yourself, open that while on your Mac, grab the image and drag it to your Mac Desktop. You can then come back to TS and upload it in a post like you already know how to do. Mean while, I'll learn up on the correct iDevice terms... on second thought, I'm too lazy and someone else has already done all the work for us:

Everything You Wanted to Know About the iPhone Home Screen and Much More
Another good info site

Take these two sites and call me in the morning!
Next!

[Sooz]

OH H3LLZ B3LLZ about my learning curve!  LOLAM
 
I got going on the wi-fi, so that's good to go, or turn off as I wish, and turn back on as I wish, depending on data usage I guess.

I took a ScreenShot and thought it would also be in Photos but found it only the Camera roll as you said.
FINALLY got it in place with getting my gmail linked somehow (magically, invisibly) on my phone... and sent it to myself. Thanks for how to do that.  I've been stress eating some from-scratch chocolate chip & chunk cookies.

Thanks for the links and for the puffy bumps! I turned off Music because I probably won't feel the need to listen to music by way of my phone.

Here is the screen that I see when I first access my phone... I dood it! I dood it gud--meeny tanks two yoooo!
[attachment=3546:IMG_0034.PNG]