Apple Defeats Lawsuit Related to iCloud's Measly 5GB of Free Storage

[MacRumors]

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit this week upheld a lower court's dismissal of a lawsuit alleging that Apple illegally deceived customers into paying for iCloud storage, according to a court filing. The decision was reported by Law360.

The lawsuit alleged that Apple deceived customers into purchasing iCloud-enabled devices by misleading customers into believing that they can easily keep their iCloud storage usage below the free 5GB limit. In reality, the plaintiffs alleged that users quickly exceed this limit and then must pay for increasingly costly iCloud storage plans. In the U.S., these plans range from 50GB for $0.99 per month to 12TB for $59.99 per month.

In the ruling, three Ninth Circuit judges said the plaintiffs failed to establish that it is "virtually impossible" for them to reduce their storage, or that they will inevitably be forced to pay for iCloud storage. In fact, two named plaintiffs were still on the 5GB tier. The judges added that customers have the option to turn off iCloud at any time.

The case had been dismissed by a U.S. district court in Northern California back in May 2022, and now the appeal to the Ninth Circuit has been dismissed. Barring the extremely unlikely event that the plaintiffs are able to successfully petition the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case, the lawsuit is now over. However, Apple is still facing other iCloud-related lawsuits in both the U.S. and U.K., as complaints about the 5GB tier persist.

Apple launched iCloud in 2011, and the service has been available with 5GB of storage for free since then. By today's standards, 5GB is a low amount of storage, and Apple not increasing the free limit has long been a point of contention.

Article Link: Apple Defeats Lawsuit Related to iCloud's Measly 5GB of Free Storage

 

[chairguru22]

At 5GB you might as well not be using it for any sort of back up or file sharing.

 

[zorinlynx]

It's absolutely amazing how much whining and complaining (and apparently lawyering) people will do over $1 a month.

And really the only reason they charge that at all is so that people don't abandon accounts with tons of data that Apple has to store forever.

 

[FSMBP]

This is just how Tim Cook operates these days...Less on customer experience, more on bottom-line.

Either way, it's a bad look for the 5GB free iCloud storage. They obviously thought the 5GB was sufficient in 2012 - with everything growing over the past 12 years (file sizes and what we store), this should have at least increased.

And also, I don't care if it's one penny a month - why nickle & dime customers? Just a bad experience.

 

[neuropsychguy]

"In fact, two named plaintiffs were still on the 5GB tier."

Oops.

 

[GermanSuplex]

It is a measly amount, but I'm sure tons of people use their iPhones without subscribing to storage. In fact, I would guess its the vast majority.

Stupid is not always criminal.

 

[Lizzard899]

Oddly enough they didnt speak about how the icloud backup storage has been increasing in the ios 18. I am sure custumers can file a lawsuit for this no?

 

[AppleSOS]

This is just how Tim Cook operates these days...Less on customer experience, more on bottom-line.

Either way, it's a bad look for the 5GB free iCloud storage. They obviously thought the 5GB was sufficient in 2012 - with everything growing over the past 12 years (file sizes and what we store), this should have at least increased.

They are under no obligation to give out any storage for free. I don't understand this mindset.

 

[rickdollar]

The jump from 200GB to 2TB is unfortunate. Still nothing in between?

 

[PerfectChaos]

I’m still on the 5GB plan. It’s pretty easy to stay under the limit if you don’t store your photos there…

 

[Brenster]

Anyone else remember the measily amount of iDisk storage you used to get with a pricey .mac subscription?

I can understand objections. To Apple’s restriction on being able to backup iOS/iPadOS devices to third party cloud providers. Having to pay for online/cloud storage in principle though? Not so much.

 

[Remy149]

While I personally would prefer if Apple gave 5gb per device. Unless they block the ability to make local backups I can’t imagine what obligation they would have to offer more cloud storage legally. Most people I know do fine without upgrading their storage and the majority I know who do are served fine only paying $1 a month.

 

[relaxedpanda]

Apple has truly perfected gaslighting until federally mandated otherwise.

At this point, the days of Apple ever doing anything for the simple good of their customers are gone. Everything is an entire cash grab of services at this point as hardware sales slow and the lack of a truly innovative product from them since the iPhone remains unseen.

 

[CharlesShaw]

$0.99 monthly is worth it to me for Hide My Email and Private Relay. (I pay for 50GB but only need 4GB)

 

[Remy149]

This is just how Tim Cook operates these days...Less on customer experience, more on bottom-line.

Either way, it's a bad look for the 5GB free iCloud storage. They obviously thought the 5GB was sufficient in 2012 - with everything growing over the past 12 years (file sizes and what we store), this should have at least increased.

And also, I don't care if it's one penny a month - why nickle & dime customers? Just a bad experience.

More storage would be nice however they are under no obligation to provide more storage as long as they allow local backups.

 

[dannyyankou]

It's absolutely amazing how much whining and complaining (and apparently lawyering) people will do over $1 a month.

And really the only reason they charge that at all is so that people don't abandon accounts with tons of data that Apple has to store forever.

Yeah, I hope the legal fees were worth it.

 

[slomtbr]

I'm ok with paying for my 2TB plan, but I'd very much like to sync my Music folder without an Apple Music subscription.

 

[russell_314]

The problem is there’s no penalty for these frivolous lawsuits. We’re all paying as Apple customers for these scams. The plaintiffs should have to pay Apple‘s lawyer.

 

[stocklen]

How utterly ridiculous.
Even in these comments.

You don't *need* iCloud AT ALL to use the devices. The 5gb although seemingly 'tight' is no such thing - its more than enough for minimal usage and an iCloud backup of one device.

If you need more storage then buy the appropriate level of iPad / iPhone device in the first place. If you have thousands of photos then you have a choice - store them on the device and get one with enough memory... or pay for a cloud storage service such as iCloud.

Turn it all off - nobody's forcing you to use it.

Americans really will try their luck in the courts for literally anything - and there are lawyers willing to take their money for it.

 

[csalm87]

It's absolutely amazing how much whining and complaining (and apparently lawyering) people will do over $1 a month.

And really the only reason they charge that at all is so that people don't abandon accounts with tons of data that Apple has to store forever.

I agree, but 5GB is obscenely low by 2024 standards. It should be at least 20GB to start, especially since many more things are turned on my default syncing to the cloud. The amount of times people have come to me saying they're out of storage and what do I do is insane lol

 

[Biro]

I’ve been getting by just fine on the base 5GB of iCloud storage. And I have five Apple devices (not including Apple TVs which don’t need backup). The secret is deleting old backups when one approaches the storage limit - and storing my documents and photos elsewhere.

That said, I understand 5GB isn’t nearly enough for everyone. But, for god’s sake people, 99 cents a month will get you 50GB. That’s essentially free.

 

[ReliableSource]

This was always the least understandable complaint about Apple to me.

Would it be nice if they allowed for cloud backups with other providers? Sure. Would it be nice if they’d add some more tiers and lower the prices of iCloud? Also sure.

But this is like arguing that Costco samples aren’t the size of a full meal. Yeah it’s a tiny amount, but isn’t the point of a free sample to see that “oh, it’s handy to have my contacts and passwords stored automatically without having to worry about it; maybe it’d be worth it to pay to back up everything”?

Like, this isn’t supposed to be enough for people to back up their devices. It’s supposed to be a free sample to sell you on paying for iCloud. The people who argue it’s too small are just looking to back up their devices for free.

And that’s fine; if you think Apple should be providing free backups for such premium devices, then argue for that. But to say that the 5GB tier is too small seems disingenuous to me. I don’t get what the argument for it is other than “I should have enough free storage that I don’t have to pay.”

 

[contacos]

They are under no obligation to give out any storage for free. I don't understand this mindset.

In that case they should let me pick a 3rd party online back up service of my choice but they don't, since they love locking us in.

Samsung for example offers it's own backup solution, yet they also let you back up on OneDrive, Google or even a connected thumb drive.

 

[turbineseaplane]

5GB is basically 0GB, as it's too tiny to be useful

Tim should be embarrassed to have that even be "the offering"

 

[Bobcat32]

Edited. I Will stand by what I said. You can't downgrade icloud storage or cancel on an android phone. You are required to use a Windows Mac or apple device. If you don't believe me. Then you don't have an android or have never tried. Why should this matter? I dunno but this apple we are talking about. And no I don't have a computer or iPhone because I sold my iPhone for the android in question. Without bothering to cancel. Shame on me