iPad, Foreflight, and iCloud back-up

First a confession. I am somewhat of Neo-Luddite.

Despite that, I very much like my iPad mini with Foreflight, though not quite as much as I use to. Since I down-loaded the last Apple OS upgrade, before I can use Foreflight I have to respond to a pop-up window prompting me to sign in to iCloud followed by a Photo Stream window warning me that my iCloud photos can't be accessed (I don't have any) and a warning that I haven't backed-up my iPad to iCloud.

I use my iPad strictly for aviation purposes. The only apps I have purchased are Foreflight and WnB Pro. About 20 or so app icons show up on my iPad but most of them I have never opened. Most were there when I bought the iPad, some are added every time I do an Apple upgrade. I am seeking advice on three questions:

1. Considering how I use my iPad, should I be backing-up to iCloud? What exactly would I be backing up, why would this help me, and how would I do it?

2. If backing up my iPad would not be worth the trouble, how do I turn off those annoying messages that show up every time I turn on my iPad?

3. Is it safe to throw away all of those icons for apps I never use or are some of these essential to the operation of the iPad?

1a. You can back up to your computer using iTunes. it will save the Foreflight app and any downloaded stuff. It gives you a fair bitof control over teh process but it's not obvious about how to control it.

1b. I'm pretty sure you can disable the iCloud service using the Settings app.

2. Again not sure, but I think turing off iCloud removes those messages - I did and don't get them, but I'm using an older iPad with an older OS.

3. More than likely those other apps are part of the OS and you can't remove them. But you can move them to back pages and ignore them forevermore.

Dave

Annoying iPad habits

iCloud can be turned off in settings fairly easily. Also, you can dump the apps you don't want to use into a group. If you put your finger on one until they all start to 'wiggle', you can move one on top of another. That will create a group that you name anything you wan to. I called mine 'unused'. You can continue to add unused apps as long as you like.

Just a little more information.

iCloud is not just for backup. Many apps use iCloud storage to store your settings and other information so that you can have the same experience across devices.

You can setup your iPad where your iCloud credentials are cached. For instance, I use iCloud, but I am never prompted for credentials.

I am not sure if Foreflight depends on iCloud or not. You might check with their website.