Question :

I have a perfectly running ‘early’ Intel-Mac, that only has a Core Duo processor, not a Core 2 Duo (or newer), so I can’t upgrade to OSX 10.7 “Lion”. I’m ‘happily stuck’ with OSX 10.6 “Snow Leopard”. But… as MobileMe services are permanently stopping within a week, and I don’t have the budget to buy a new Mac I can’t upgrade to iCloud : What can I do ?

Answer :

————- UPDATE ————-

YES ! MacOSX 10.6 Snow Leopard can sync to iCloud

detailed instructions on how to set it up can be found in my other post here :

fixed : get iCloud on the officially unsupported OSX Snow Leopard – sync works !

————- ORIGINAL ANSWER ————-

For people like you, Apple was rumored to implement iCloud compatibility in OSX 10.6.9 about a year ago… but to this date, OSX 10.6.8 is still the newest version of OSX 10.6 “Snow Leopard”…

Based on my good experience with getting iCloud syncing running on the officially unsupported iPhone 3G, one would expect to be able to get a similar solution running on OSX 10.6 “Snow Leopard” also…

…that turns out to be a little more complicated though… OSX 10.6 “Snow Leopard” was the first version of OSX that had CalDAV and CardDAV syncing built in (both needed for iCloud syncing), but the implementation is not as smooth as in OSX 10.7 “Lion”… [ note : OSX 10.5 “Leopard” could only import CalDAV and CardDAV data, there was no syncing ]

But I’ve done som research and I think I’m very, very close to the solution now… [ the only problem is I don’t own a Core Duo Mac myself anymore, so I’m a little crippled regarding testing… ] Some people report being successful using the method outlined below, others – like me – are close, but don’t have things running yet…

Try this method, and please report back on your findings, so we can work out a solution that works for everybody :

–1– find your iCloud Server-number and your 9-digit iCloud Account-code :

How to find your iCloud server and 9-digit iCloud user code :

– on your Mac, go to http://www.icloud.com
– login using your AppleID e-mail address and AppleID password
– click on Calendar
– the online calendar layout now opens
– now go to Window (in the upper menu bar) –> Activity
– in Activity window that opens you’ll find the text “iCloud Calendar” in bold letters, just below it, you’ll find 3 lines that look like this :

http://icloud.com
https://p0X-contacts.icloud.com/123456789/wcs/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
https://p0X-contactws.icloud.com/co/mecard/?dsid=123456789&id=yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

– remember that p0X-prefix and the 123456789-code ! you are going to need those in the following steps !

(the p0X-prefix is your iCloud Server-number, and the 123456789-code is your 9-digit iCloud Account-code)

–2– Repair Disk Permissions

– open Programs –> Utilities –> Disk Utility

– select your internal hard drive’s main partition (the one you have MacOSX running on) form the list on the left

– select the ‘First Aid’-tab

– click on “Repair Disk Permissions”

…and wait for it to finish

–3– turn on iCloud Calendar syncing :

– open iCal on your Mac

– go to iCal –> Preferences

– in the window that opens, click on the ‘Accounts’-tab

– click on the ‘+’-button

– in the ‘Add Account’-window that opens, select “Account Type: CalDAV”

– at ‘E-mail address:’ type your AppleID-account’s login eMail address

– at ‘Password:’ type your AppleID password

– at ‘Server address:’ type “p0X-caldav.icloud.com”

(in which the p0X-prefix should correspond with the p0X-prefix you’ve found in step 1)

– then click the ‘Create’-button

– the iCloud CalDAV account you’ve just created will now be listed on the left

– in the ‘Account info’-tab, at ‘Description:’ type “iCloud Calendar sync”

– at ‘Calendar synchronization:’ select “Every minute” (or any other option, but do not select “Push”) [ I’m not certain on this one… but it’s my best guess for now… ]

– leave the rest as it is set automatically

– then select the ‘Server settings’-tab, make sure that ‘Use SSL’ is checked

– leave the ‘Port:’ setting empty (it will display “Automatic” in grey) ; if that doesn’t work you might try setting it to “443”

– put a check mark in front of “Use SSL”

– do NOT put a check mark in front of “Use Kerberos” [ I’m not certain on this one… but it’s my best guess for now… ]

– note : the 9-digit number from the Server Path is your 9-digit iCloud Account code ! 

– exit the iCal Preferences by clicking on the little red button in the upper left corner

–4– prepare Address Book and iCloud Contacts for syncing :

– open Address Book on your Mac

– IMPORTANT : now delete any profile pictures from ALL your contacts, as these will create unwanted duplicates when syncing [ that’s right… everything comes with a price… ] and remember to never use new profile pictures until you stop using MacOSX 10.6 ‘Snow Leopard’

– now drag the group (from the list on the left) called “All contacts” (might also be called “On My Mac”) to the desktop of your Mac to create a backup called “All contacts.vcf”

– go online to http://www.icloud.com

– login using your AppleID and password

– then select “Contacts”

– then select all contacts by selecting just one and then pressing the [CMD] + [A] keys on your keyboard at the same time

– then click on the ‘gearing wheel’-icon (a.k.a. ‘sprocket’-icon) in the lower left corner and choose “Delete” from the popup list

– in the ‘Are You sure?’-window that opens, click on “Delete”

– now your iCloud contacts list will be completely empty

– click on the ‘gearing wheel’-icon (a.k.a. ‘sprocket’-icon) in the lower left corner and choose “Import vCard…”

– in the pulldown window that opens, got to your Desktop folder to select the “All contacts.vcf” file you have previously created, and click “Select”

– then wait for all contacts to import…

– when it all imported, select the iCloud button in the upper left corner to return to the main iCloud page and click ‘Log out” in the upper right corner

– then on your Mac, go to Address Book

– select on of your contacts and then press the [CMD] + [A] keys on your keyboard at the same time to select them all

– then press the ‘backspace’-key (a.k.a. ‘backwards delete’) on your keyboard and click on “Delete” to confirm deletion of all your contact

– now your contacts list will be completely empty

REMEMBER : do not add any profile pictures ever again to any of your contacts !

–5– turn on iCloud Contacts syncing :

– then on your Mac, go to Address Book –> Preferences

– in the window that opens, click on the ‘Accounts’-tab

– click on the ‘+’-button

– in the ‘Add Account’-window that opens, select “Account Type: CardDAV”

– at ‘User Name:’ type your AppleID-account’s login eMail address

– at ‘Password:’ type your AppleID-account’s password

– at ‘Server address:’ type “p0X-contacts.icloud.com” (with p0X according to your previously found iCloud server prefix)

– click “Create”

– despite the warning that the account settings couldn’t be fetched, click on “Create” again

– then quit Address Book immediately, by pressing the small red button in the upper left corner, and clicking on Address Book –> Quit Address Book from the menu bar

[ Note : quitting Address Book is a very important step in the setup process ! ]

– now in the Finder go to Users –> [your user home folder] –> Library –> Application Support –> Address Book –> Sources –> [folder with an enormous alphanumeric name] –> Configuration.plist

– right-click ( a.k.a. [CTRL]+[mouse click] ) on this Configuration.plist file and select “Open using…” –> “Textedit” from the popup list

– then in Textedit, find the following line :

<string>http://:0(null)</string&gt;

– change it to this :

<string>http://:p0X-contacts.icloud.com/123456789/carddavhome/addressbook</string&gt;

(with p0X according to your previously found iCloud server prefix, and 123456789 according to your 9-digit number from the iCal-CalDAV Server Path)

– then two lines below you will find the following line :

<string>yourname@me.com</string>

(in which “your name@me.com” is the eMail address that you use as your AppleID iCloud login)

– change it to this :

<string>yourname%40me.com:password</string>

(with the “@”-sign being replaced by “%40” and “password” being your AppleID iCloud password)

– then select File –> Save and exit Textedit

– now open Configuration.plist again in Textedit to see if the changes were properly saved, and if so, exit Textedit

– then open Address Book and go to Address Book –> Preferences

– select the ‘Accounts’-tab

– select CardDAV from the list on the left

– select the ‘Account info’-tab

– at ‘Description:’ type “iCloud Contacts syncing”

– at ‘User Name:’ type “your name%40me.com:password” (exactly the way you’ve typed it in the Configuration.plist file previously)

– at ‘Password:’ type ” ” (just a single space)

– then select the ‘Server settings’-tab

– at ‘Server address:’ type “p0X-contacts.icloud.com”

(with p0X according to your previously found iCloud server prefix)

– at ‘Server path:’ you won’t be able to change anything, but it should be a “/”, then your 9-digit code, followed by “/carddavhome/addressbook” or “/principal/” or “/carddavhome/” [ I’m not certain on this one… but it’s my best guess for now… ]

– at ‘Port:’ type “443”

– and add a check mark next to “Use SSL” (try “don’t use SSL” also…) [ I’m not certain on this one… but it’s my best guess for now… ]