Our Verdict
If you useanyaspects of iCloud sync — Photo Stream , saving documents from iWork apps , or anything — I strongly recommend that you stop reading this review , go buy the $ 7Cloud Mate , and then come back here to read why you just purchase yourself a bully Mac app .
Cloud Mate offers features that Apple should provide on its own . But since Apple does n’t , we can triumph that Cloud Mate stepped into the breach . The app lark about a two - pane interface . On the left sit all your apps ( both Mac and iOS ) that use your iCloud account for syncing . Click any of those apps , and the large correct pane will list all the documents and information sync in iCloud for that app .
For illustration , when I sink in onPagesin the left loony toons , I see all of my iCloud - synced documents for the app . I can doubly - tap one of the files to at once spread out it in Pages . This feature is basically the Dropbox - ification of iCloud .
By default , Cloud Mate read you the iCloud - synceddocumentsfor a give app . For apps , such as games , that do n’t utilise iCloud for document synchronize at all , however , Cloud Mate will show nothing . developer might use iCloud behind the scenes to sync other kinds of datum , data that is n’t meant for normal world to peek into .
But if you ’re the prying type , you may poke into the other types of information that apps are storing in iCloud . Oddly , though , you ca n’t only dredge files out of Cloud Mate . Instead , you must check - click ( or justly - clink ) somewhere in the white distance of the file panelling ( that is , not on a specific file ) and chooseReveal In Finderto admittance the file directly on your Mac . ( you could do the same by Control - clicking or right - clicking on an app in the column on the leftfield . )
One feature article that by itself makes Cloud Mate closely deserving the price of admission is that it give you access to Photo Stream without requiring you to first launch iPhoto . Cloud Mate presents all the photos from your Photo Stream ; and — as with other file types that the app understands — you’re able to directly see the photos via Quick Look .
you could rename file , create folders , polish off files , and even drag files into the app — and into your iCloud warehousing . You ’ll need to tread carefully here , however — you could wreak havoc with such features . Though I successfully dragged a plain - school text file into the iCloud store space for iA Writer , I ’m not eager to see what would occur if I commence putting unsuited files there .
Cloud Mate has other features , too , including an iCloud Monitor window that shows a actual - time indicator of what files are going up to and syncing down from the swarm . Anda companion iOS app , also called Cloud Mate , can play in tandem with the Mac app to give you similar access code to your iCloud - synced file from your iOS gadget .
Cloud Mate ca n’t perfectly recreate the ease of Dropbox ’s ubiquitous synced file access , but it brings iCloud far closer to that ideal than Apple itself seems to be unforced to do . Cloud Mate tender gives you a very freeing elbow room to voyage your iCloud - synced files and Photo Stream picture .
