MobileMe (formerly .Mac and originally iTools) is a discontinued subscription-based collection of online services and software offered by Apple. All services were gradually transitioned to and eventually replaced by the free iCloud, and MobileMe ceased on June 30, 2012, with transfers to iCloud being available until July 31, 2012, or data being available for download until that date, when the site finally closed completely. On that date all data was deleted, and email addresses of accounts not transferred to iCloud were marked as unused.
Originally launched on January 5, 2000, as iTools, a free collection of Internet-based services for Mac OS 9 users, Apple relaunched it as .Mac on July 17, 2002, when it became a paid subscription service primarily designed for Mac OS X users. Apple relaunched the service again as MobileMe on July 9, 2008, now targeting Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, iPhone, and iPod Touch users.
On February 24, 2011, Apple discontinued offering MobileMe at its retail stores, and later from resellers. New subscriptions were also stopped. On October 12, 2011, Apple launched iCloud to replace MobileMe for new users, with current users having access until June 30, 2012, when the service was to cease.
Services iTools and .Mac were designed primarily to provide Internet services for Mac owners. All members of iTools and .Mac received a @mac.com email address, showing the services tied to the Mac hardware. However, with the release of the iPhone 3G in 2008, the renamed service, MobileMe, began providing Internet services for OS X, iOS, and Windows. Members of MobileMe were given a @me.com email address (though users of the current @mac.com email address could also continue to use those, with both domains being interchangeable with the same email account), were also no longer restricted to OS X software such as Mail and iCal, and they could access personal data from any computer connected to the Internet using the web interface at me.com or a number of supported applications, including Microsoft Outlook, as long as the user used version 2003 or later. Apple support for MobileMe was available via chat and telephone (the latter restricted to US/Canada users only).
Backup Backup was a backup utility made by Apple for Mac OS X. It was available through Apple's MobileMe (formerly .Mac) collection of Internet services. Backup can be used in connection with either a user's online MobileMe iDisk or the Macintosh's CD-RW or DVD-R drive to make safe, archival copies of critical files and folders. With the release of iCloud, Backup is no longer available, and, with the release of macOS Sierra, it no longer works.
The initial versions of Backup were regarded as feature-sparse and frequently unstable. However, on November 5, 2003, Apple released Backup 2.0, which added new features and offered greater reliability than its predecessors.
While Backup 2 allowed for the creation of archive copies of important data, overall it only had a basic feature set for backup software.
Apple introduced Backup 3 at the Paris Expo on September 20, 2005, along with other upgrades to .Mac. This version offered more backup settings, such as the ability to back up mail databases.How to Set Up Backup 3 at O'Reilly MacDevCenter
At the 2006 Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple announced the development of Time Machine, a new backup application which is included in Mac OS X v10.5 "Leopard". Time Machine is a complete backup solution, thus it has the ability to completely replace Backup as a general backup solution for most Mac users.
Find My iPhone
MobileMe allowed users to track the location of their iOS devices via the web portal at me.com. A user could see the device's approximate location on a map (along with a circle showing the radius of inaccuracy), display a message and/or play a sound on the device (even if it is set to silent), change the password on the device, and remotely erase its contents. An app was also released by Apple which allowed users to locate their iPhone from another device running iOS 4. The feature was first announced on June 10, 2009, and was included in iOS 3.0 as a feature for MobileMe users. Find My iPhone was made free of charge with the release of iOS 4.2.1 software update on November 22, 2010, for devices introduced in 2010.
Storage MobileMe had two different plans. The Individual plan included 20 GB of email and file storage and 200 GB of monthly data transfer. The Family Pack plan included 40 GB of storage split among one 20 GB individual (primary) and four 5 GB sub-accounts, each sub-account having its own email address, online storage, and being able to use all the MobileMe features. Family members also had a Shared folder in their iDisk with which they could share access to data among themselves. Both the primary account and sub-accounts had read/write access to this folder and were limited to the free space available in the primary user's iDisk.
Individual plan was priced at $99 annually, Family Pack—at $149.
Members could buy additional storage in 20 GB or 40 GB allocations, however, sub-account storage could not be upgraded. In a family account, the amount of storage is designated per account.
Notes (from the Mail app on a Mac computer, and the Notes app on the iPhone) were synced via the MobileMe service, however were unable to be viewed or edited online. To Do lists (controlled from the Mail app and the iCal app on a Mac computer) were viewable and editable through the MobileMe website (under the Calendar tab), but were not viewable or editable on an iPhone. With the announcement of iOS 4 the sync for Notes over IMAP (including MobileMe) was implemented.
Address book and calendar MobileMe maintained a synchronized address book and calendar feature using Push functions. When a user made a change to a contact or event on one device, it was automatically synced to the MobileMe servers and, by extension, all the user's other devices. Supported devices included the iPhone, Address Book and iCal on OS X, or Microsoft Outlook 2003 or later on Microsoft Windows. Subscription calendars in iCal on a Mac computer were not viewable on the online MobileMe service (although "Birthdays" was viewable online; as it gathered its information from Address Book, rather than CalDAV or iCalendar (.ics) subscription calendars). Conversely, on the iPhone "Birthdays" from Contacts on the iPhone were not viewable on the Calendar app (nor any other method; except looking them up individually in Contacts. Birthdays Calendar was added on iOS 4.3), but subscription calendars were available to view in Calendar by adding them through Settings>Mail, Contacts, Calendar>Add Account.Copying Calendar subscriptions from iCal to your iPhone or iPod Touch, Apple Knowledge Base article HT3634, dated August 3, 2009[MobileMe: Syncing calendar subscriptions and CalDAV calendars], Apple Knowledge Base article TS1213, dated June 17, 2009.iPhone User Guide pdf , page 93 "Subscribing to Calendars", dated July 10, 2009.
MobileMe Gallery MobileMe had a public photo and video gallery feature. Photos and videos could be uploaded in the web browser at me.com, synced by iPhoto or Aperture on OS X, or uploaded from the iPhone and iPod Touch. Users could also upload movies from within applications available on the Mac, including iPhoto and iMovie. MobileMe also provided the user with an email address that is used only for uploading photos and videos. All uploads by viewers of the Gallery (either by the iPhone or iPod Touch, me.com, or sent by the dedicated email address), were synced back to iPhoto or Aperture. Galleries could be made public or private, or could be password protected (but only through iPhoto or iMovie on OS X).
iDisk
MobileMe featured iDisk, an online storage repository accessible via a web browser at me.com, Finder on OS X, various apps for iOS devices, or as a remote disk in Microsoft Windows. It also allowed sharing of files by selecting a given file using me.com/iDisk or the iDisk iPhone app, and then clicking a Share button that generated a unique link to this file, protected by password, that could then be shared by email. Another way to use iDisk to share several files easily was by placing them in the iDisk Public Folder, which could also be password protected.Using your iDisk to share files Apple.com. Retrieved July 22, 2008. The iDisk can be used as a hosting server for your MobileMe website. Backups from Backup can be stored onto your iDisk, making it easier backing up settings and more.
iWeb Publish Users of Mac OS X v10.5 or later could use the iLife '08, iLife '09, or iLife '11 application iWeb to publish websites hosted on their MobileMe account, either to a domain name that they controlled or to a page on the me.com website. Users without iWeb could also publish websites by placing files to the Web/Sites folder in iDisk. However, the web host didn't support any server-side language such as PHP.
Web applications MobileMe used Ajax and Dynamic HTML to simulate the look and feel of desktop applications within the user's web browser. Applications on me.com included Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Gallery, Find My iPhone, and iDisk access, plus an Account section. Most of the me.com web applications were built on top of the open source SproutCore JavaScript framework. Users could also configure features such as email aliases or domain names for the iWeb Publish feature.
Supported browsers for me.com on both Mac and Windows were Safari 3.1 or later, and Firefox 3.5 or later, while Internet Explorer 8 and Internet Explorer 7 were Windows-only. Safari 3.0, and Firefox 3.0 would run the web applications, but were not fully supported.
MobileMe was accessible from Linux using Firefox 3 despite a warning that would be presented to the user upon entry. Success was also reported using the Konqueror browser on Linux, however this was not confirmed by Apple.
iChat/AIM MobileMe users could connect to the AIM service with their @mac.com or @me.com accounts. MobileMe connections were secured by SSL encryption. In addition, iChat users using a MobileMe account could encrypt their chats with other MobileMe members using iChat. Users could also access the MobileMe Chat account on iOS devices using the free or paid-for versions of the AIM app provided by AOL, or any other iOS app that supported the AIM protocol.
PC syncing Users who wished to sync their MobileMe data with a PC had to download and install Apple's MobileMe Control Panel. To install, the user first had to download and install the latest version of iTunes, and then install MobileMe Control Panel. After installation, the user signed into the control panel using their username and password, and could control sync settings for contacts, calendars, bookmarks, and iDisk settings such as public folder access, in a similar manner to the MobileMe preference panel built into .
MobileMe Mail Beta
The MobileMe Mail Beta was released on May 13, 2010. It included many new features such as photo inserting, font changing, wide screen views and much more. It was released as a final version on June 18, 2010.
MobileMe Calendar Beta