Mobile Device Synchronization

One of the factors that makes mobile devices so useful is their ability to synchronize data with desktops so that both types of devices are working on the same data. The major methods used for mobile device synchronization include cloud-based and desktop-connected.

Cloud-Based Synchronization With cloud-based

synchronization, data is sent from one device to cloud storage and retrieved by the other device.  Cloud-based synchronization can be configured to run automatically or manually, and data can be retrieved from a web browser or a local folder configured to work with the service. The following are some examples of cloud-based synchronization:
▶Apple iCloud (www.apple.com/icloud)
▶Dropbox (www.dropbox.com)
▶Google Drive (www.google.com)
▶Microsoft OneDrive (onedrive.live.com)
To protect data, it is encrypted and secured by usernames and passwords.

Desktop-Connected Synchronization

With desktop-connected synchronization, a USB cable is used to connect the mobile and desktop devices, and files can be transferred with drag and drop. On Windows, a mobile  device can be accessed with File Explorer. With macOS Catalina (macOS 10.15 and later), Finder can be used for file transfer. With earlier versions of macOS, use iTunes.