OS X Mountain Lion Bible

Summary

iTunes can act as the central manager for iPhones', iPads', and iPod Touches' non-media content, such as contacts, appointments, Safari bookmarks, e-books and PDF files, and mobile apps. But iCloud is a better option for such syncing.

iTunes is useful for transferring documents between the Mac and an iOS device, especially when you want to use different applications on the Mac than in iOS, because iCloud syncing works only between the same applications.

You can sync and back up each iOS device you have to your Mac by connecting it via a USB cable or Wi-Fi connection, selecting the device in iTunes, and then clicking the iTunes Sync button. Automatic syncing also occurs over Wi-Fi connections.

iCloud's Automatic Updates capability allows Macs, Windows PCs, and iOS devices to keep iTunes-purchased music, books, magazine subscriptions, photos, and apps wirelessly synchronized across all devices that are tied to the same Apple ID or iTunes store account.

iCloud also lets you sync photos among iOS devices' Photos app, OS X's iPhoto and Aperture applications, and designated folders in Windows Vista and 7 (but not XP). iCloud can also sync bookmarks in Safari across OS X Mountain Lion and Lion, iOS 5 and 6, and Windows Vista and 7 (it also can sync bookmarks with Internet Explorer on Windows), as well as e-mail, calendars, and contacts across these three environments.

The iCloud service also enables automatic backup of iOS devices to Apple's servers, so the backups can be restored ...