Free iCloud Storage Plans

[lke]

Why Apple with all the money they have don't give all iPhone, Mac, iPad, or MacBook FREE UNLIMITED storage for all their photos and videos, and also offer GB for emails and documents exactly like Google is doing with Pixel.

Why limit their customers and don't offer them to be more happy with more storage. Nobody likes to pay if other companies are offering the same for free.

It is time that Apple start offering unlimited FREE space for their customers.

 

[Mlrollin91]

Apple has to build data centers to handle storage that is given to customers. That costs.

 

[Phil A.]

Storage isn't free so why do you think Apple should give it away?

Google have done it to try and create a USP for the pixel (plus they mine your photos and other data for advertising purposes so it's monetized)

 

[avtella]

Microsoft did that (unlimited) for Office 365 subscribers and some guy used 75 or so TB and some others also did similar things. MS learned their lesson and gimped OneDrive shortly thereafter for new users. Servers aren't cheap.

 

[Mlrollin91]

Microsoft did that (unlimited) for Office 365 subscribers and some guy used 75 or so TB and some others all did similar things. MS learned their lesson and gimped OneDrive shortly thereafter for new users.

Exactly. People abuse the system and it costs the company a lot of money. Apple is smart. They aren't going to give away something that costs them.

 

[CTHarrryH]

Can't see unlimited for free but more that 5 GB would be nice - even if it was only 10 GB for free

 

[C DM]

Can't see unlimited for free but more that 5 GB would be nice - even if it was only 10 GB for free

And certainly per device would also make some good sense, rather than per Apple ID (given that a person could have a few devices).

 

[ardchoille50]

Can't see unlimited for free but more that 5 GB would be nice - even if it was only 10 GB for free

And if the free option were 10 GB, someone would demand 20.. and then 30. A line must be drawn somewhere.
[doublepost=1482269390][/doublepost]

And certainly per device would also make some good sense, rather than per Apple ID (given that a person could have a few devices).

You make a very good point. I own 3 iOS devices and per device storage could be a nice selling point.

I am on the 200GB plan for $2.99/month and it seems like a good value to me.

 

[deany]

I find if I get the warning 'you are approaching the 5GB limit' I delete my iPhone backup and I 'regain' about 400mb
Not sure why this is.
I'm back to 677mb available now after the delete > and instant backup.
But I agree 5GB should now be 10GB at least or more per device.
I also use amazon Prime Photo backup for photos and video
ps
maybe worth doing an iTunes backup before deleting iCloud backup to be safe.

 

[Phil A.]

And certainly per device would also make some good sense, rather than per Apple ID (given that a person could have a few devices).

Even though the 50GB option is very cheap, I agree that would definitely make sense for people who only want to use iCloud to backup their devices: I'd guess that quite a few people own more than one device and it would be a good gesture from Apple without opening the door to mass abuse

 

[Mlrollin91]

I find if I get the warning 'you are approaching the 5GB limit' I delete my iPhone backup and I 'regain' about 400mb
Not sure why this is.
I'm back to 677mb available now after the delete > and instant backup.
But I agree 5GB should now be 10GB at least or more per device.

iCloud backups stack. They grow as you back more stuff up but they don't remove the old data. If you have 1GB of photos in your camera roll then delete it, your iCloud backup will still hold that 1GB of photos. I delete my backup once a week and create a fresh one. Usually drops from 1GB to 300MB.

Health data also stacks. It doesn't just add the new health data but with every backup it adds the entire health data to the old one. It's kind of like Time Machine. It creates multiple backups on top of each other.

 

[ardchoille50]

iCloud backups stack. They grow as you back more stuff up but they don't remove the old data. If you have 1GB of photos in your camera roll then delete it, your iCloud backup will still hold that 1GB of photos. I delete my backup once a week and create a fresh one. Usually drops from 1GB to 300MB.

Health data also stacks. It doesn't just add the new health data but with every backup it adds the entire health data to the old one. It's kind of like Time Machine. It creates multiple backups on top of each other.

Good to know. I have also seen this behavior and I'll try to incorporate your advice into my practices. Thank you.

 

[deany]

iCloud backups stack. They grow as you back more stuff up but they don't remove the old data. If you have 1GB of photos in your camera roll then delete it, your iCloud backup will still hold that 1GB of photos. I delete my backup once a week and create a fresh one. Usually drops from 1GB to 300MB.

Health data also stacks. It doesn't just add the new health data but with every backup it adds the entire health data to the old one. It's kind of like Time Machine. It creates multiple backups on top of each other.

Thanks I thought health data was only backed up via iTunes but this as you say has changed https://www.macobserver.com/tips/quick-tip/quick-tip-icloud-can-now-backup-and-restore-health-data/
Can I confirm that only an iTunes backup will - save account passwords, Wi-Fi settings, and browsing history.

Or am I out of touch on this too?
thanks

 

[Mlrollin91]

Thanks I thought health data was only backed up via iTunes but this as you say has changed https://www.macobserver.com/tips/quick-tip/quick-tip-icloud-can-now-backup-and-restore-health-data/
Can I confirm that only an iTunes backup will - save account passwords, Wi-Fi settings, and browsing history.

Or am I out of touch on this too?
thanks

iTunes backups only save app and user data. iTunes encrypted saves passwords and health in addition. iCloud backups have saved health since day 1.

 

[ardchoille50]

iTunes backups only save app and user data. iTunes encrypted saves passwords and health in addition. iCloud backups have saved health since day 1.

Passwords should never be saved in an unencrypted state. Apple realizes this, so it follows that iTunes encrypted backups would save passwords. I'm very happy that Apple thinks so highly of user security.

 

[deany]

iTunes backups only save app and user data. iTunes encrypted saves passwords and health in addition. iCloud backups have saved health since day 1.

Thanks for the reply
Yep I should have used the word 'encrypted' iTunes backup (I only ever use encrypted in iTunes)

The macobserver link https://www.macobserver.com/tips/quick-tip/quick-tip-icloud-can-now-backup-and-restore-health-data/ Sept 12 '16 implies its new - I was wrong so are they.

So to confirm:
only encrypted iTunes backups will backup

• account passwords
• Wi-Fi settings
• Browsing history

iCloud via iPhone backups wont backup these three?

thanks

 

[Mlrollin91]

Thanks for the reply
Yep I should have used the word 'encrypted' iTunes backup (I only ever use encrypted in iTunes)

The macobserver link https://www.macobserver.com/tips/quick-tip/quick-tip-icloud-can-now-backup-and-restore-health-data/ Sept 12 '16 implies its new - I was wrong so are they.

So to confirm:
only encrypted iTunes backups will backup

• account passwords
• Wi-Fi settings
• Browsing history

iCloud via iPhone backups wont backup these three?

thanks

iCloud backup is the same exact thing as an iTunes encrypted. The above things are included in an iCloud backup. Maybe then "only" referred to iTunes encrypted vs unencrypted.

Yes the article is wrong. From day one that we got the health app in iOS 8, iCloud backup restored health data. It was mentioned in the keynote and support articles that came out immediately afterwards. I've been backing up health data since then to iCloud and have restored from it. The difference is that starting in iOS 10 there is an actual category for health listed now. Before it was in the block backup but was not mentioned with a toggle. Now they added a toggle to disable the backup of health data but it was always included.

 

[AidenShaw]

Health data also stacks. It doesn't just add the new health data but with every backup it adds the entire health data to the old one. It's kind of like Time Machine. It creates multiple backups on top of each other.

If that's true (and I actually doubt that Apple is that stupid), someone should point out the 70's technology called "deduplication" to Apple.

My Windows Home Server backups do deduplication. If I launch a "full" backup of a system with around TB of storage (like my laptops), Windows Backup only saves the delta from what's already backed up. The "full TB backup" might only add a few GB to the backup storage - or maybe just a few dozen MB depending on what's changed.

Of course, when you use the GUI to look at the backups, you see different snapshots of the filesystem at different times - so it seems like that are multiple copies of the data. In fact, the system is synthesizing the snapshots from what is on disk, and most of the actual data is on disk one time, but seems to show up in every timeshot.

My lab at work has about 300 TB backed up to a 40 TB NetBackup appliance. The appliance is about 15% utilized. It does both deduplication and compression. Our researchers will often clone a 50GB to 100GB directory, make a few kilobytes of changes, and rerun with the new parameters.

The backups only save the few kilobytes that changed since the clone.

When I do a manual "full" backup, typically I'll see that it is 98% to 99% deduplicated, and a "full" backup saves 1% to 2% of the data. (NetBackup reports the delta, it doesn't separate the space savings from deduplication from the savings due to compression.)

 

[Mlrollin91]

If that's true (and I actually doubt that Apple is that stupid), someone should point out the 70's technology called "deduplication" to Apple.

My Windows Home Server backups do deduplication. If I launch a "full" backup of a system with around TB of storage (like my laptops), Windows Backup only saves the delta from what's already backed up. The "full TB backup" might only add a few GB to the backup storage - or maybe just a few dozen MB depending on what's changed.

Of course, when you use the GUI to look at the backups, you see different snapshots of the filesystem at different times - so it seems like that are multiple copies of the data. In fact, the system is synthesizing the snapshots from what is on disk, and most of the actual data is on disk one time, but seems to show up in every timeshot.

My lab at work has about 300 TB backed up to a 40 TB NetBackup appliance. The appliance is about 15% utilized. It does both deduplication and compression. Our researchers will often clone a 50GB to 100GB directory, make a few kilobytes of changes, and rerun with the new parameters.

The backups only save the few kilobytes that changed since the clone.

When I do a manual "full" backup, typically I'll see that it is 98% to 99% deduplicated, and a "full" backup saves 1% to 2% of the data. (NetBackup reports the delta, it doesn't separate the space savings from deduplication from the savings due to compression.)

The multiple iCloud health backup is a bug. I have submitted bug reports and they have confirmed it's a bug. It's just obviously not a top priority. Prior to iOS 10 this was not an issue. I'm assuming it has something to do with them adding the health backup toggle in iCloud.

Time machine does use delta updates for backups. It writes only what has been changed in the past but it allows you to access all of the information. iOS backups use delta backup updates too. But some have bugs. Such as health. I believe camera roll is intentional incase you delete the photos you can still restore from the backup incase of emergencies.

 

[mildocjr]

My 2 cents:

I think they should up the minimum to 10 GB free storage, this allows free coverage for icloud backups with both iPhone and iPad and a few documents considering the average iCloud backup is around 4.5 GB for me. Probably for most as my wife's and daughter's backups are around the same size.

You can't just offer free storage either. Datacenters cost a lot of money, think about the utility bills, a typical server costs around $30 a month to run. Now imagine 100,000 servers in a datacenter and then imagine 10 datacenters. It scales pretty quickly. I'm sure their network to each datacenter is at least 5 digits each. Now lets include the payroll for those employees managing those servers. Oh and now we need running water for the employees, and toilet paper, and paper towels, and.... see where this is going. I wouldn't be surprised if each datacenter costs 10 million to run each year, and that's after the initial 100 million investment in the datacenter. Now Apple did save money with the solar panels, but think about the upkeep of those servers, not every server makes it past the first year, with as much as they work, they may not make it past 5 years, which means they've been replacing $50,000 servers while users are complaining about the $2 price to upgrade. Google and Microsoft are cheap because they sell aggregate data to 3rd parties. They assist companies in marketing especially for you. Apple doesn't do that which is why you pay the premium. I'll gladly pay them the $3 a month for 200 GB.

 

[Mlrollin91]

My 2 cents:

I think they should up the minimum to 10 GB free storage, this allows free coverage for icloud backups with both iPhone and iPad and a few documents considering the average iCloud backup is around 4.5 GB for me. Probably for most as my wife's and daughter's backups are around the same size.

My average backups are 300MB each for my 3 iOS devices. The problem is everyone's use is going to be different. 10GB might be an acceptable number for you, but the next guy could have an average of 25GB per backup, so they think 30GB is an acceptable minimum.

 

[deany]

iCloud backup is the same exact thing as an iTunes encrypted. The above things are included in an iCloud backup. Maybe then "only" referred to iTunes encrypted vs unencrypted.

Yes the article is wrong. From day one that we got the health app in iOS 8, iCloud backup restored health data. It was mentioned in the keynote and support articles that came out immediately afterwards. I've been backing up health data since then to iCloud and have restored from it. The difference is that starting in iOS 10 there is an actual category for health listed now. Before it was in the block backup but was not mentioned with a toggle. Now they added a toggle to disable the backup of health data but it was always included.

Thanks for clarifying, appreciate it. Good to learn something new.
Last year my iPhone didn't backup for a month to iCloud - I put on charge every night.
I understand there are warnings that 'backup was not completed' but from memory I only got one warning of this.
Since then I do a monthly 'encrypted' iTunes backup to be safe as recommended here -
http://www.iphonelatest.com/icloud-vs-itunes-backups-iphone-different-backup-options/

Its good to know ALL data (sans apps books music etc) is going to iCloud but I really think there should be an app - apple - or 3rd party showing a time stamp of all iCloud backups that simply and clearly shows your precious data has been backed up.

One last question please- when you get a new iPhone what do you recommend as being the best way of restoring data from your previous iPhone?
thanks again.

 

[Mlrollin91]

Thanks for clarifying, appreciate it. Good to learn something new.
Last year my iPhone didn't backup for a month to iCloud.
I understand there are warnings that 'backup was not completed' but from memory I only got one warning of this.
Since then I do a monthly 'encrypted' iTunes backup to be safe as recommended here -
http://www.iphonelatest.com/icloud-vs-itunes-backups-iphone-different-backup-options/

Its good to know ALL data (sans apps books music etc) is going to iCloud but I really think there should be an app - apple - or 3rd party showing a time stamp of all iCloud backups that simply and clearly shows your precious data has been backed up.

One last question please- when you get a new iPhone what do you recommend as being the best way of restoring data from your previous iPhone?
thanks again.

I restore from iTunes encrypted. Much faster. My 128GB phone takes about 45 minutes via iTunes. 4 hours via iCloud and that's with a 200Mbps connection. I create both backups weekly for a failsafe but only use iCloud incase iTunes is corrupted. Which unfortunately does happen. Right now iTunes is having issue with 10.2.

 

[deany]

I restore from iTunes encrypted. Much faster. My 128GB phone takes about 45 minutes via iTunes. 4 hours via iCloud and that's with a 200Mbps connection. I create both backups weekly for a failsafe but only use iCloud incase iTunes is corrupted. Which unfortunately does happen. Right now iTunes is having issue with 10.2.

Appreciate your advice, will do the same in future.

 

[AidenShaw]

The multiple iCloud health backup is a bug. I have submitted bug reports and they have confirmed it's a bug. It's just obviously not a top priority. Prior to iOS 10 this was not an issue. I'm assuming it has something to do with them adding the health backup toggle in iCloud.

Time machine does use delta updates for backups. It writes only what has been changed in the past but it allows you to access all of the information. iOS backups use delta backup updates too. But some have bugs. Such as health. I believe camera roll is intentional incase you delete the photos you can still restore from the backup incase of emergencies.

What is "camera roll"? And what is the issue about deleting photos?

If you had the photos on the first of November, and accidentally deleted everything on the first of December - you should be able to go back to any snapshot in November and restore the photos.

Does Time Machine not work like this?