iPhone Users Who Pay for iCloud Storage Get Two New Perks on iOS 27

[MacRumors]

If you pay for certain iCloud+ storage plans beyond the 5GB that Apple offers for free, you will receive two more perks on iOS 27 at no additional cost.

A summary of the two new iCloud+ perks on iOS 27:

• Increased daily usage limits for some new Apple Intelligence features, including image generation in the revamped Image Playground app.
• HomeKit Secure Video cameras receive generated video descriptions, search for camera clips, and automatic surfacing of noteworthy clips.

More details about each benefit are outlined below.

First, Apple said there will be daily usage limits for some of the new and enhanced Apple Intelligence features on iOS 27, including image generation. However, the company noted that "increased access" is available with "most" iCloud+ storage plans, which presumably means every plan except the base 50GB tier for $0.99 per month.

Apple said the limits are in place because the new features rely on "powerful server models," which are undoubtedly more expensive to run.

The underlying models that power Apple Intelligence are now based on Google's Gemini models, and this has resulted in improved Apple Intelligence features. Starting with iOS 27, for example, Apple's Image Playground app can generate "photorealistic" images. Apple has not disclosed the exact daily limits for image generation.

Second, Apple said at least some iCloud+ plans will now include Apple Intelligence features for compatible smart home cameras in Apple's Home app. These new features for HomeKit Secure Video cameras include generated video descriptions, the ability to search through camera clips, and automatic surfacing of noteworthy clips.

These perks will likely require an iCloud+ plan with at least 200GB of storage for $2.99 per month. If you have an Apple One Family ($25.95 per month) or Apple One Premier ($37.95 per month) plan, you should get these benefits too.

Article Link: iPhone Users Who Pay for iCloud Storage Get Two New Perks on iOS 27

 

[k1121j]

This scares me.

In coming price increases.

Image generation i don't use.

HKSV i don't use other then to quickly view current cams in the home app. I ditched home kit cams long ago, they all are garbage and expensive.
1. HomeKit is terrible at capturing activity, recognizing faces etc or anything
2. Quality is years behind other cameras ( no excuse)
3. HomeKit camera options are terrible.
4. Cameras time out if you watch them to long
5. Viewing multiple cameras you only get updates like every 1-10 seconds.

I changed to Ubiquity cameras with home bridge plugin, The only thing I use the home app for cameras it to glance at the cams on my iPad in the kitchen that's there already displaying the other HomeKit devices lights etc.

 

[HouseLannister]

A lot of assumptions about usage limits here. Until Apple says anything, this vagueness of paying for AI tokens isn't going to get any new signups. Here's hoping the image playground limits are just to stop power users from hammering it all day every day and 99% of us will never see a notification about it.

 

[963852741]

But wait, there is more, presenting our new Apple One Premiere Deluxe plan ...

 

[syklee26]

Tim Cook released a statement, "in order to provide this amazing perk, we will need to purchase more DRAM at very high cost, so we will have to jack up prices for Apple devices by additional 20%. We believe this nominal increase of price will bring a huge return on user experience, and you should all be glad to pay for it."

 

[xraydoc]

I have 5 people on my family account, including myself, each with iPhones & iPads (two iPads for me). Lots of photos to back up. I'm on a high tier, so I'm happy extra credits will be included. Though I do admit it would be better if they weren't charging for it at all.

 

[JosephAW]

How does that benefit those who are running an iPhone 15 Pro or less? 🙄

 

[HouseLannister]

How does that benefit those who are running an iPhone 15 Pro or less? 🙄

iPhone 15 Pro supports Apple Intelligence. This is all on PCC, so it does not require a 17 Pro or newer like some of the on-device model stuff like better dictation and more natural Siri voice.

Older devices that never supported Apple Intelligence still do not, so not sure what the question is there. If anything, you are paying the same for iCloud+ but not using all the features, so you are helping keep the price down for others, I guess. Thanks for that. 😁

 

[jooish]

Me with my $2.99 a month plan:

 

[elemenohme]

I really hope they add a system-wide toggle to disable cloud AI processing.

 

[dblissmn]

I don't think Apple has a lot of runway for price increases on this, not with Google offering 5TB of cloud and Gemini Pro bundled for $19.99 a month. This is one thing where Apple is being pushed by competition. Perhaps it partly explains the aggressiveness of their price increases on hardware where they have more of a captive audience, because, especially at the lower tiers, the RAM and SSD shortage do not account for all of the posted price increases -- not for $200 or so on a 128GB SSD, 12GB RAM iPad for sure.

 

[HouseLannister]

I really hope they add a system-wide toggle to disable cloud AI processing.

It's there. It's the one that looks like an airplane.

 

[thelion7]

A lot of assumptions about usage limits here. Until Apple says anything, this vagueness of paying for AI tokens isn't going to get any new signups. Here's hoping the image playground limits are just to stop power users from hammering it all day every day and 99% of us will never see a notification about it.

If there’s one thing apple is good at is not burning money overall.

That said I would be interested to know how popular image playground will be once iOS 27 launches.

My guess is it won’t too popular when stacked against their entire base of customers who have at least 1x Apple Intelligence device.

And it’ll take most of these customers a few months realise that Siri AI is a thing.

Because my guess is the chat bot function is the most popular form of AI for everyday users.

 

[BeatCrazy]

This scares me.

In coming price increases.

Image generation i don't use.

HKSV i don't use other then to quickly view current cams in the home app. I ditched home kit cams long ago, they all are garbage and expensive.
1. HomeKit it terrible at capturing activity, recognizing faces etc or anything
2. Quality is years behind other cameras ( no excuse)
3. HomeKit camera options are terrible.
4. Cameras time out if you watch them to long
5. Viewing multiple cameras you only get updates like every 1-10 seconds.

I changed to Ubiquity cameras with home bridge plugin, The only thing I use the home app for cameras it to glance at the cams on my iPad in the kitchen that's there already displaying the other HomeKit devices lights etc.

In general I agree with you, but the Aqara G5 Pro HomeKit cameras are actually quite good, and can be used with HomeBridge/RSV.

You can get the best of both words.. and their night vision is outstanding.

 

[indefinite]

Not to mention the Cloud Pro model becomes available in the Shortcuts app if you have an iCloud+ sub

 

[SmugMaverick]

iPhone 15 Pro supports Apple Intelligence. This is all on PCC, so it does not require a 17 Pro or newer like some of the on-device model stuff like better dictation and more natural Siri voice.

Older devices that never supported Apple Intelligence still do not, so not sure what the question is there. If anything, you are paying the same for iCloud+ but not using all the features, so you are helping keep the price down for others, I guess. Thanks for that. 😁

You know what the question is but you're just trying to be clever because you can't stand anyone questioning the almighty Apples stupid decisions.

Only those who can ACTUALLY use AI should be paying more for this gimmick garbage when it no doubt raises this year.

Those who were screwed over by Apples greed and stupidity like the iPhone 15 should not contribute to this trash.

 

[Newbie67]

How about giving us more mid range storage options for iCloud storage instead of bumping us up to a much more expensive plan?

 

[HouseLannister]

because you can't stand anyone questioning the almighty Apples stupid decisions.

Speak for yourself. I run a Pixel 10 Pro as my primary device. I gave a legitimate answer to what I thought was a legitimate question. iCloud+ has a bunch of features and costs the same whether you use them all or not. The only valid alternative would be to move Image Playground tokens to part of the Creator Studio bundle, but they would have to add video generation and more stuff to make it compelling enough. I think Apple made the smart decision to limit Image Playground since it is PCC, but vote with your dollar if you disagree.

TANSTAAFL

 

[Ctrlos]

You know what the question is but you're just trying to be clever because you can't stand anyone questioning the almighty Apples stupid decisions.

Only those who can ACTUALLY use AI should be paying more for this gimmick garbage when it no doubt raises this year.

Those who were screwed over by Apples greed and stupidity like the iPhone 15 should not contribute to this trash.

Both iOS and Android require 8gb of RAM to run any sort of local AI models. Download an App called Locally and try running it on a 6gb RAM device and you'll see why this limitation exists.

The regular iPhone 15 didn't get the RAM upgrade because Apple wanted to use its PS4 ports as a way of showing the difference between its regular and Pro devices.

Apple will likely keep the cheapest iCloud tier free of AI shenanigans because a lot of kids and casual users will have it to keep at a lower price. The rest may get a bump.

 

[Plutonius]

I'm curious how many people actually pay for iCloud ?

 

[Biro]

I’m sure some people value these “perks.” But I am not one of them.

 

[joeblow7777]

Neither of those perks benefits me at all. Oh well. 🤷‍♂️

 

[jonnysods]

A perk would be finding me a storage tier between 2TB and 6TB, the jump is nutty.

 

[Biro]

A perk would be finding me a storage tier between 2TB and 6TB, the jump is nutty.

Or how about something between 200GB and 2TB? 500GB and/or 1TB would be nice. And it might also be nice if I had the option to have Apple bill me for a year’s worth of extra iCloud storage at a time instead of a couple of dollars every month.

 

[spazzcat]

In general I agree with you, but the Aqara G5 Pro HomeKit cameras are actually quite good, and can be used with HomeBridge/RSV.

You can get the best of both words.. and their night vision is outstanding.

I have fully moved over to Aqara cameras (and most of my HK stuff now is Aqara), and I find HomeKit does a better job overall on recordings. I don't a video or notice everytime a leaf moves on tree. Most camera systems are way to sensitive and noisy with alerts.