I’m wondering if anyone has any experience with this?

https://snapcraft.io/icloud-for-linux

I’m working on transitioning to Linux from Mac pretty casually and I’ll still be using this iPhone til it’s dead. So I’m figuring out solutions to my current computer-usage before I switch my main machine. I’d like to maintain some interoperability between my phone and desktop computer so this has me intrigued.

Is it well-maintained? Trustworthy? Easy to use?

I have an old Thinkpad T420 I’m testing stuff on before I take the plunge but I figured I’d ask before giving it my credentials.

Edit: thanks so much for all the advice. I’m going to try a couple different ways to do it and see what I like :)

Edit again a few weeks later: My tests on my experimental computers went so well that I took the plunge on installing Mint on my MacBook Pro (2015 I think).

I ended up using Syncthing to sync my iCloud Documents and desktop folders on my desktop Mac with what I’m now calling my Mintbook. That automatically syncs to iCloud, so I can get the important stuff on my phone easily.

Then I created a web wrapper of iCloud.com/calendar using Mint’s built-in web app creator. It works well enough; my only complaints are that I can’t copy and paste events by right-clicking like I can on the Mac app, and no notifications on Mint.

From there it’s easy enough to switch from calendar to notes, photos, FindMy, etc. so I’m happy with my iCloud “app” for my laptop usage.

I think the only things holding me back from switching my desktop now are photos syncing, and I haven’t tried DaVinci Resolve on Linux yet (I do some light video editing from time to time.) and I’ll need to buy another 5TB hard drive to transfer from my APFS formatted storage drive to a Linux-formatted drive. (I believe the transfer process will be easy once I get it thanks to SyncThing)

So, I’m a third of the way to abandoning apple on my most-used machines. Feeling pretty good about it.

    • data1701d (He/Him)@startrek.websiteEnglish
      3·
      9 days ago

      The difficult reality is many people, no matter how interested and technically skilled, aren’t going to have the time, money (yes, money, due to hardware), and energy to immediately go with fully self-hosted OSS paired with a LineageOS (or similar) phone.

      For one, you have to either acquire the hardware to run a server for self-hosting or get a VPS (admittedly not a huge financial hurdle, but still effort required). Additionally, you then have to take the time to migrate from iCloud to the alternatives. There’s also the fact that it’s a moderately expensive proposition to purchase a new phone capable of running something more libre like LineageOS. Until you switch operating systems, Apple makes using at least a little bit of iCloud difficult; for instance, you’ll probably need to use Find My at least once.

      These reasons largely explain why I’m still on iPhone for now. I usually don’t use iCloud for the storage, but I frequently have to use Photos, Mail, and Find My.

      I certainly plan to jump ship, but being stuck for now due to personal circumstances, I can’t blame OP.

      • Mongostein@lemmy.caOP
        3·
        9 days ago

        You pretty much said what I would’ve said, but probably better :)

        I have 3 Macs I want to switch to Linux, so I’m approaching this conversion piece by piece, using my thinkpads as placeholders. Figuring out new cloud software can wait until they’re all switched.

        • data1701d (He/Him)@startrek.websiteEnglish
          1·
          9 days ago

          Luckily, I’m down to just an iPhone.

          I used to use iPad Minis, but I was otherwise more of a Windows guy until 2022.

          The only other kind of Apple thing I have is a GPU-accelerated Hackintosh running under KVM, which mostly gets used for adding non-streaming songs to my Apple Music library these days. I do plan to quit Apple Music eventually - I’ve been collecting and ripping CDs by TMBG, which is mostly what I listen to anyway.

      • muusemuuse@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        2·
        9 days ago

        I’m planning a similar exodus. I like my apple stuff but considering its heavy reliance on the cloud, lower level system access I can’t control, and that it’s an American company operating under a Nazi regime, I really can’t trust it anymore.

        Moving to Linux isn’t so bad, but I’m really struggling with leaving iOS. Android has a lot of limitations if you try to break free from Gemini-surveilled stuff. Simple things I take for granted like tap to pay wouldn’t be practical on such a device anymore.

        It kills me there’s nothing I can do software-wise to make the Samsung z fold7 an acceptable option for me. Really impressed by that device and my carrier does have some compelling promos for it, but even under this regime, I don’t trust Samsungs software.