iCloud

The best place for all your photos, files, and more.

566 'iCloud' stories May 2011 - January 2019

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iCloud was launched in 2011 as the successor to MobileMe and is Apple’s current cloud service that allows iOS and Mac users to save and synchronize information. Apple includes 5GB of iCloud storage for free with all accounts and has paid options starting at $0.99/month for 50GB.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTrO2wUxh0Q

iCloud is built into every Apple device. That means all your stuff — photos, files, notes, and more — is safe, up to date, and available wherever you are. And it works automatically, so all you have to do is keep doing what you love. Everyone gets 5GB of free iCloud storage to start, and it’s easy to add more at any time.

What is iCloud?

iCloud solved a problem that we were facing in 2011. Originally, Apple pitched the Mac as the digital hub to our life. Our iPods (and then iPhones) would sync over a cable to transfer information. As we added iPads, it became a mess. Steve demoted the Mac back to just a device and made the “cloud” the center of our digital life. Using the service, users could sync all of their data over the air. As an example, a Keynote document edited on your Mac would automatically be up to date with the latest changes on your iPad or iPhone. iCloud also allowed you to back up your iOS device for an easy path to change devices without having to set everything up manually.

The problem with this original iCloud pitch is it didn’t cover all of our photos. We didn’t get that until iCloud Photos came in iOS 8. It didn’t cover iMessage, as that didn’t come until a few years ago with messages in the cloud. It didn’t cover all of our files, but only those in the iCloud folder stored inside of app folders. We didn’t get seamless syncing of files until Apple added Desktop and Document folder syncing a few years ago.

Over time, Apple has continued to add features to iCloud, and it’s turned out to be a really robust and reliable service. Users can sync files, photos, notes, reminders, and Safari bookmarks to their Mac, iPhone, iPad, and even Apple TV (photos).

iCloud Troubleshooting

If you’re having trouble using iCloud, you may want to make sure it isn’t affected by downtime. Check Apple’s iCloud Status page here.

How much does iCloud cost?

Pricing can change at anytime (view Apple’s latest pricing page), but here are the current rates for a few countries.

United States
50GB: $0.99
200GB: $2.99
2TB: $9.99

Canada
50GB: $1.29
200GB: $3.99
2TB: $12.99

United Kingdom
50GB: £0.79
200GB: £2.49
2TB: £6.99

European Union
50GB: 0.99 €
200GB: 2.99 €
2TB: 9.99 €

Read below for all of our coverage

iCloud

iCloud

Apple’s FoundationDB open sources the database layer behind CloudKit

Chance Miller Jan 14 2019 - 2:19 pm PT

Apple originally acquired FoundationDB in 2015, and last April it announced that it was making the cloud database open source. Now, things are being taken a step further as FoundationDB has announced it is open sourcing Foundation DB Record Layer, which powers CloudKit.

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upload iCloud Photos iPhone

How to upload photos into iCloud Photos from iPhone, iPad, Mac, and icloud․com

Michael Potuck Dec 31 2018 - 2:15 pm PT

iCloud Photos is a valuable feature built into iOS and macOS that allows you to save your photos and videos and keep them in sync across all of your Apple devices. Whether you just got a new device or want to start using the feature for the first time, follow along for how to upload photos into iCloud Photos from iPhone, iPad, Mac, and icloud․com.

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Microsoft and Apple working together to resolve iCloud for Windows compatibility issues

Chance Miller Nov 18 2018 - 9:49 am PT

Following the latest Windows 10 October 2018 update, users of iCloud for Windows are facing compatibility issues. As highlighted by Windows Latest, the latest version of Windows 10 is incompatible with the latest version of iCloud, but Microsoft and Apple are said to be working together to resolve those issues.

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Apple acknowledges iCloud issues across several of its services

Peter Cao Oct 23 2018 - 12:36 pm PT

Apple is experiencing some issues with some of its web based services as its system status page has now been updated to reflect multiple outages.

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Former high school teacher pleads guilty to accessing over 200 iCloud accounts as part of 2014 ‘Celebgate’

Chance Miller Oct 22 2018 - 5:42 pm PT

A fifth person has come forward to plead guilty to his role in gaining unauthorized access to celebrity iCloud accounts in 2014’s ‘Celebgate’. As reported by The Mercury News, Christopher Brannan today admitted that he accessed over 200 iCloud, Facebook, and Yahoo accounts, and downloaded personal pictures and videos from those accounts.

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Fourth person sentenced to prison for involvement in 2014 celebrity iCloud hack

Chance Miller Aug 29 2018 - 4:41 pm PT

Another hacker involved in the 2014 iCloud hack that exposed a number of intimate celebrity photos has been sentenced to prison. As reported by The Guardian, Connecticut resident George Garofano was sentenced to eight months in prison for his role in the hack…

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macOS Mojave drops Back to My Mac iCloud feature, Apple Remote Desktop recommended

Zac Hall Aug 21 2018 - 11:15 am PT

9to5Mac is brought to you by CleanMyMac X. Find hidden junk, large old folders, unused apps, and heavy memory consumers. You can also use CleanMyMac X to remove malware, unwanted pop-ups, and virus extensions.

When macOS Mojave is released later this fall, the operating system update will drop support for the Back to My Mac iCloud feature that lets you network with other Macs remotely. In place of Back to My Mac, Apple recommends iCloud Drive, screen sharing, and Apple Remote Desktop.

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Comment: Apple’s ambitious target for Services growth may have unintended consequences

Ben Lovejoy Aug 2 2018 - 6:58 am PT

Apple CEO Tim Cook set a goal last year for Apple to double its income from Services. He said in this week’s earnings call that the company was ahead of the game in this ambition.

But important as it is for Apple to boost its Services income at a time when hardware sales are relatively flat, the company’s enthusiasm for this target could well have some unintended consequences …

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Dropbox upgrading paid storage tiers at no extra cost, 3TB plan now offered

Zac Hall Jul 30 2018 - 10:00 am PT

Dropbox is making its cloud storage plans for paid customers more competitive today with major space upgrades. Dropbox now offers up to 3TB of cloud storage with existing plans being upgraded at no additional charge.

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Opinion: It’s long past time for Apple to fix its three biggest iCloud problems

Ben Lovejoy Jul 20 2018 - 6:22 am PT

My colleague Bradley Chambers recently wrote that his single biggest disappointment with WWDC was that Apple made no move to announce an upgrade to the 5GB free iCloud tier.

One of our readers, Sahil Malik, made a wry comment on the $6,699 maximum cost of the new MacBook Pro:

I hope it still includes the free 5gb iCloud thing.

As his comment implies, the 5GB free tier is now nothing less than an embarrassment …

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china

Report of iCloud data on servers belonging to state-owned China Telecom causes concern [U]

Ben Lovejoy Jul 18 2018 - 4:13 am PT

Update: It appears the TechCrunch report is based on a misunderstanding. Post updated to reflect our own understanding of the position, including a statement made by Apple to us.

A reported change to the way iCloud data is stored for Chinese iCloud accounts has raised further concerns about the ease with which the government could access sensitive information.

TechCrunch reported that data has been moved to servers owned by China Telecom, a state-owned company – but that report appears to be based on a misunderstanding …

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iCloud

My biggest WWDC disappointment: iCloud free tier is still 5GB

Bradley Chambers Jun 10 2018 - 9:00 am PT

icloud drive vs dropbox

The WWDC keynote has come and gone. Apple announced a lot of exciting changes to iOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS. I can’t wait to see what developers can do with all of the new APIs, and how these products are refined ahead of their fall releases. Be sure to stay on 9to5mac.com this summer to follow along with all of the changes.

There was one major disappointment for me, though. iCloud’s free storage tier remains unchanged at 5GB. When Apple debuted iCloud in 2011, they said this:

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Four features iCloud Drive desperately needs

Bradley Chambers May 27 2018 - 6:30 am PT

icloud drive vs dropbox

I’ve used all of the major “folders that sync” services over the years. Dropbox was the original solution, but I’ve also used OneDrive, Box, Google Drive, and iCloud. They all have good points and weak points.

I’ve personally settled on iCloud Drive because it’s built into macOS and iOS, but it’s not without room for improvement. Here are four things that Apple needs to add to iCloud Drive in the very near future.

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Apple now offering one free month of upgraded iCloud storage plans

Chance Miller May 24 2018 - 4:59 pm PT

icloud drive vs dropbox

Users have long complained about the lack of free iCloud storage that Apple offers, but now the company appears to be taking one step in the right direction. Now, when users choose to upgrade from the 5GB free tier, they will receive the first month of their new tier for free…

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Apple’s cloud database FoundationDB now open source

Guilherme Rambo Apr 19 2018 - 10:41 am PT

Apple has just released a new open source project on Github. FoundationDB is described as “a distributed database designed to handle large volumes of structured data across clusters of commodity servers”. The database system is focused on performance, scalability and fault-tolerance. Meaning projects that use the database for their backend are faster and less expensive to maintain.

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Apple shares new developer tools that will help users delete, restrict, and export iCloud data

Peter Cao Mar 30 2018 - 1:26 pm PT

Following other news where Apple is complying with the GDPR, today the company outlines tools to help developers manage user data that is stored in iCloud.

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Apple announces students to get 200GB of iCloud storage for free

Michael Potuck Mar 27 2018 - 8:43 am PT

Apple has shared during its education event in Chicago today that student accounts through schools will now get 200GB of iCloud storage for free.

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How to set up Family Sharing and create a child’s Apple ID on iPhone and iPad

Michael Potuck Mar 19 2018 - 2:30 pm PT

Family Sharing is a handy feature that Apple offers to let up to six people share things like iCloud Storage, Apple Music, iTunes purchases, apps, location data, and more. Whether you’ve never needed the feature before or just want to get it set up for the first time, follow along for how to start using Family Sharing.

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How to share one iCloud Storage plan with your whole family

Michael Potuck Mar 15 2018 - 1:45 pm PT

Apple’s Family Sharing iCloud feature was introduced back in 2014 with iOS 8, but for several years many users requested a way to share one iCloud storage plan with multiple accounts. Apple brought this option to users with iOS 11, but for many it’s not turned on by default. Follow along for how to share one iCloud Storage plan with your whole family.

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PSA: Today is when Apple switches over iCloud data of Chinese users to government-owned server

Ben Lovejoy Feb 28 2018 - 4:27 am PT

Starting today, Apple will be moving the iCloud data of Chinese customers to a server run by GCBD, a company owned by the provincial government …

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Apple confirms using Google servers for iCloud, but Google can’t access data

Ben Lovejoy Feb 26 2018 - 7:15 am PT

The iOS Security Guide was updated last month to indicate that Apple is now using the Google Cloud Platform for iCloud storage. The company has long used Amazon’s S3 alongside Microsoft Azure, but a reference to the latter service has been replaced by one to Google’s cloud storage service …

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Europe wants to force US tech giants like Apple to hand over electronic evidence across borders

Ben Lovejoy Feb 26 2018 - 5:04 am PT

The European Union wants to be able to force US tech giants like Apple, Google and Microsoft to hand over electronic evidence across borders when investigating serious crimes. The proposed law would apply to any company that does business within Europe, no matter where its data centers are based.

Tech firms argue that such cross-border arrangements would ‘undermine consumer trust in cloud services’ …

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iCloud

Apple’s China data migration includes iCloud keys, making data requests easier for authorities

Chance Miller Feb 24 2018 - 7:18 am PT

Apple announced last year that it was moving Chinese customer iCloud operations to China in an effort to comply with local laws, with the move officially taking place at the end of this month. Reuters today reports that among the information being are iCloud customer keys…

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How iCloud helped investigators track down one of the world’s worst spammers

Chance Miller Feb 5 2018 - 4:39 pm PT

Apple played a surprisingly big role in helping track down one the world’s worst spammers, according to an affidavit unsealed today and picked up by The Verge. According to the document, Russian spam king Peter Levashov was tracked down in large part due to his iCloud usage…

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