iCloud (at least some of it) on Android
So I have been playing with accounts and syncing contacts, mail, and calendars accross multiple devices lately and found some cool things. I discovered an app for Android that will combine several of my calendars into one. From there I can share just my busy and free time with others automatically to make finding times to do things easier.
The one account I thought would be impossible to access from my Android devices was Apple's iCloud service. Apple has always been a walled garden when it came to their services, so I just assumed there would be no way to sync them. I think I even told a few of my coworkers the same. Turns out that Apple uses the IMAP (for mail), CalDAV (for calendars), and CardDAV (for contacts) to sync data. This isn't surprising, as these services work very well and are free for anyone to use. What surprised me was that Apple didn't restrict where you access that data from. I assumed it would be iOS or MacOS devices only. Turns out I was wrong.
There is a precedent for assuming this. Apple has advertised their FaceTime feature a lot and, after some investigation, it turns out to be based on standard protocols that other similar services use. What Apple did was apply cryptographic authentication for not only the account used by also the software, so only software published by Apple can access the system.
Anyway, great news that iCloud contacts, calendar, and email services are available from any device that supports the protocols.
Now Android devices only support CardDAV and CalDAV as part of another account, they don't support it as a standalone protocol. I recommend CardDAV - Sync beta and CalDAV - Sync beta by Marten Gajda. They add support for these protocols natively to Android so these accounts will integrate directly into your Android device. Awesome!
For email use the following settings.
IMAP (Incoming Mail Server) information:
Server name: imap.mail.me.com
SSL Required: Yes
Port: 993
Username: example@me.com (use your @me.com address from your iCloud account)
Password: Your iCloud password
SMTP (outgoing mail server) information:
Server name: smtp.mail.me.com
SSL Required: Yes
Port: 587
SMTP Authentication Required: Yes
Username: example@me.com (use your @me.com address from your iCloud account)
Password: Your iCloud password
For calendar use the following settings.
CalDAV information:
Server name: caldav.icloud.com
SSL Required: Yes
Username: example@me.com (use your @me.com address from your iCloud account)
Password: Your iCloud password
For contacts use the following settings.
CardDAV information:
Server name: contacts.icloud.com
SSL Required: Yes
Username: example@me.com (use your @me.com address from your iCloud account)
Password: Your iCloud password
The one account I thought would be impossible to access from my Android devices was Apple's iCloud service. Apple has always been a walled garden when it came to their services, so I just assumed there would be no way to sync them. I think I even told a few of my coworkers the same. Turns out that Apple uses the IMAP (for mail), CalDAV (for calendars), and CardDAV (for contacts) to sync data. This isn't surprising, as these services work very well and are free for anyone to use. What surprised me was that Apple didn't restrict where you access that data from. I assumed it would be iOS or MacOS devices only. Turns out I was wrong.
There is a precedent for assuming this. Apple has advertised their FaceTime feature a lot and, after some investigation, it turns out to be based on standard protocols that other similar services use. What Apple did was apply cryptographic authentication for not only the account used by also the software, so only software published by Apple can access the system.
Anyway, great news that iCloud contacts, calendar, and email services are available from any device that supports the protocols.
Now Android devices only support CardDAV and CalDAV as part of another account, they don't support it as a standalone protocol. I recommend CardDAV - Sync beta and CalDAV - Sync beta by Marten Gajda. They add support for these protocols natively to Android so these accounts will integrate directly into your Android device. Awesome!
For email use the following settings.
IMAP (Incoming Mail Server) information:
Server name: imap.mail.me.com
SSL Required: Yes
Port: 993
Username: example@me.com (use your @me.com address from your iCloud account)
Password: Your iCloud password
SMTP (outgoing mail server) information:
Server name: smtp.mail.me.com
SSL Required: Yes
Port: 587
SMTP Authentication Required: Yes
Username: example@me.com (use your @me.com address from your iCloud account)
Password: Your iCloud password
For calendar use the following settings.
CalDAV information:
Server name: caldav.icloud.com
SSL Required: Yes
Username: example@me.com (use your @me.com address from your iCloud account)
Password: Your iCloud password
For contacts use the following settings.
CardDAV information:
Server name: contacts.icloud.com
SSL Required: Yes
Username: example@me.com (use your @me.com address from your iCloud account)
Password: Your iCloud password
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