iCloud Notes and iCloud for Linux, the best clients to access iCloud from Linux

iCloud Notes Linux Client

A few months ago we talked to you about twinux, a client for the social network Twitter that was almost perfect. Today we have to tell you about another almost perfect client, but for the Apple iCloud cloud service. In the beginning, this little snap package it was created for us to access iCloud notes from a Linux-based operating system, but it allows us to do more than that. Your name, iCloud Notes (LinuxClient).

Like twinux, iCloud Notes is a kind of browser window without navigation options and that only allows us to enter a web page. In this case, the chosen web page and where it goes directly is to the iCloud notes, but we also allows access to other services like Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Photos, iCloud Drive, Reminders, Pages, Numbers, Friends, and Search.

iCloud Notes allows us to access the entire iCloud package

With this explained, we have to talk about the good and bad of using a client like this:

The good

  • We will not depend on the browser. And it is that, sometimes, having an extra tab open in Firefox is not what interests us the most.
  • It consumes less resources than a browser window.
  • We can close the app and it is minimized in the system tray (tray).
  • We can do the same as from a browser like Firefox and Chrome.

The bad

  • It does not support notifications. It is a simple application and if, for example, we are working and we receive an email, we will not find out.
  • Open the links in a new window of the same app. iCloud Notes has zero configuration and one that allows us to open the links from the default browser is missing. If we want to open the links in Firefox, for example, a solution is to drag the link to the tab section of the browser

If you are interested in trying it, installing it is as simple as opening a terminal and typing the following command:

sudo snap install icloud-notes-linux-client

Once started, the program will ask us to log in in the same way as it would in a real web browser, including the two step verification if we have it activated. It will enter the notes section but, as you can see in the screenshot that heads this article, we can access the rest of the services by clicking on the upper left.

iCloud for Linux vs. iCloud Notes

iCloud for Linux

Another option with a different point of view is iCloud for Linux. The main difference between this second option and iCloud Notes is that the first one installs a general app from which we can access all the services and the second one installs all the options separately. More specifically, it installs shortcuts that open windows independent of the browser, something that looks great in the applications menu, but not so much in some lower panels such as Kubuntu, where no icon appears.

The good and the bad of iCloud for Linux is basically the same as in iCloud Notes: we will not depend on the browser, the apps weigh less than a Firefox tab and we can do the same as from the browser. An important difference is that iCloud Notes does allow us to minimize the app in the system tray, while the iCloud for Linux windows will close completely if we click the close button. As for the bad, iCloud for Linux doesn't support notifications either, but the links will open them in the default browser. Something to keep in mind is that, although there are many different applications in the applications menu, we will only have to log in once and it will be valid for all applications.

The command to install iCloud for Linux is as follows:

sudo snap install icloud-for-linux

As an iCloud user, I have to admit that I liked to see that there are Apple cloud clients available for Linux, but in my case, no notifications, I think I'll keep logging in from Firefox. Which option of the two do you think is better, or do you also prefer to enter from the browser?


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  1.   Lerans Gipe said

    I've been using this service making a web application with gnome-web and I don't really see a difference between this method and the one installed by snap.
    The article is appreciated for seeing another possibility.