APPLE: We Need Higher iCloud Storage Options!

[aok75]

3 TB of what?

 

[aok75]

200gb and I have 100gb free.

 

[subzento]

Yes, I critically lack space, day in and day out cleaning, but over time a lot of photos and videos pile up.

 

[PsykX]

The plans haven't changed since like 5 years. Of course competition has caught up a LONG time ago, are of course less expensive than Apple's, and Apple does not even offer something comparable. Every keynote makes me expect iCloud upgrades but they never happen. They should at least double everything at this point.

 

[masotime]

I find it interesting that people can have iPhones etc for years… and be using 50 megabytes out of a half terabyte. I buy an iPhone, Fuji cameras, etc., in order to actually use them and take pictures, videos.

Just curious - do you store photos from your Fuji camera in iCloud? That might explain how quickly the iCloud storage gets used up.

 

[zapmymac]

Could you add a little more detail re: how you “took a week or 2 of actively sitting down for 20 minutes a day just to get rid of junk/crud.” Such as which type of device you used, and did you use icloud.com via web browser?

I tried to access “icloud photos” via the Photos app in MacOS, per an apple.com article implying it’s possible, but it doesn’t seem to be. Eventually I had to use the web site version of iCloud.com, after many attempts to use the Photos app in MacOS, after trying to use ipad to do it, and/or iphone, and after online searches for “how to”s …

If anyone knows a good article or video for this, maybe I‘m missing some important info/settings.

Lately my icloud photos settings are “off” for tablet, phone, and laptop, but I see the benefit of having them on, like many people I know do… but that requires frequent editing/culling as you mention, otherwise every random photo, many of which I don’t need/want saved, will be auto-uploaded to “the cloud” which over years of using that with “on“ setting, results in way too much junk, and worse, so many duplicates…

Ultimately, perhaps it comes down to culling/editing through it all more regularly… I try for 10 mins here and there, but don’t ever seem to make much progress.

More on-topic, IF** I could figure this out better, I’d be fine with the 50GB…. if not, I can still manage but with a mostly-full drive, whereas I prefer to keep half or 1/3 empty …

EDITED to add: If there were just a way to sort by size, that would help a lot with paring down the GB from unneeded stuff… Dropbox has this and integrates with MacOS, iCloud does this for files but not for photos for some reason…

I initially tried to use my MacBook Pro (Catalina) and my full iCloud library using the Gemini program, but it wasn’t great for me (ease of use). [buy or rent the software per month]

I then used my 2018 iPad Pro with the same app Gemini, and things went MUCH smoother & easier to cull the duplicates and junk stuff. This was before iPadOS / iOS had the built-in option to search for duplicates.

Duplicates were a huge issue for me.

I never used iCloud.com or a Windows machine to do any of this.

I’d pick a year and just start going through my photos, and eventually wound my way through massive amounts of junk.

I started by moving ALL photos/videos from my Windows machine / online / other and imported all those digi-cam photos, scanned 35mm, etc. into iCloud. Saved those originals For future deletion.

It is tedious, but then I had a master copy all in one place, culled, and ready for backup to my SSD locally. After that was completed, I deleted all those copies everywhere else…and was left left a clean iCloud repository and a local backup (APFS encrypted) and also one on a spinner…though not located physically elsewhere as it’s preached 3-2-1….but it’s better than before.

Photos of receipts were deleted after I moved them into Notes with the proper metadata (Home Depot receipts, warranty info, etc.) so I didn’t waste space with the same info in 2 places.

Being able to have an encrypted SSD available to my iPad Pro was the key for me. Also, dumping everything into iCloud was essential so I wasn’t chasing my photos around trying to remember if I had already moved them to iCloud.

Hope this helps 🖖

 

[MauiPa]

You know there is no reason you cannot use cloud storage from other vendors, right? iCloud is used more as a synching service, although I have 200GB from appleOne and use less than a quarter of it. I also have cloud options from Microsoft and Google, although I do worry a bit about them mining my storage for data, not that I have heard of them actually doing that, but that is Google's whole business model, so I keep my stuff encrypted, although Google could probably hack that in less than 10 minutes

so if apple chooses not to offer higher storage, but other vendors do, I really don't see the issue

 

[MajorFubar]

The issue here seems to be people using iCloud instead of (or as well as) a backup. It's not really designed for that. However I'm just as guilty. But at least I also have a TM backing up as well.

 

[zapmymac]

null

 

[AlekseyS]

It would be nice to have 4+ options and "select as I need". But as well some users lack of 500Gb - 1Tb options, when 200Gb is too low, 2Tb is too pricy...

 

[4389842]

I’ve been using iPhones since the 3GS, multiple iPads and MacBooks and I’m currently using 18GB of 50GB plan I’m on. I do have a clear out every now and then, I can’t comprehend how you’re using nearly 4tb. I do realise I’m considered a light user. Current phone is only a 128gb model, same with iPad.

Some people enjoy documenting life events with pictures and video recordings. Given ability to shoot raw, record 4k60, you’d be surprised how fast things go…

 

[4389842]

L

Are you relying on iCloud instead of buying a higher capacity device?…

Did you ever think about what would happen if you lose the device. That’s like the guy who was here some months ago because he uses physical iPads (yes plural) as his only photo albums.

I don't have your issues…

Famous last words

 

[eyoungren]

No but it sounds like you have your own issues $$$ $$$ $$$

iPhone 5 was bought new in 2012 when I was with Sprint. That was under a 2 year subsidized contract.

My next iPhone was the 6+, bought new under subsidized two year contract with Sprint in 2014. That phone was traded in for a 6s+ in September 2015.

6s+ was bought on a 2 year EIP with T-Mobile. I upgraded to a Pixel 3a XL in 2020. So, five years with the 6s+ as my primary phone.

I got my current 11 Pro Max in February 2021, on a 2 year EIP. It got paid off in February 2023. I'm still using it. You will note that the iPhone 14 series is the current iPhone. And I'm on the 11 PM.

I'm not a yearly upgrader, I buy older models and I get them on EIP and pay them off over two years. But I get what I want when I do upgrade.

Does that sound like a $$$ $$$ $$$ issue?

Or perhaps it is, a LACK of $$$ $$$ $$$.

 

[eyoungren]

L

Did you ever think about what would happen if you lose the device. That’s like the guy Sebi was on here some months ago because he uses physical iPads (yes plural) as his only photo album.



Famous last words

Why yes, I have thought of what would happen if I lost the phone - which is why I have what I have.

I use IMAP for all emails. Compatible on any device that can use IMAP. I won't lose my email.

Photos - backed up to Dropbox. I've already explained that they go straight to my computers/devices and how they get backed up. iCloud is an additional backup.

Calendars/Contacts - Google. Compatible with any device that can use Google.

Messages - SMS primarily, with some iMessage. Here's where you possibly have a point, but not really. You see, any photos sent in iMessage/SMS that I want to keep are dumped into Dropbox (where they get backed up). And most importantly - NOTHING important is EVER discussed over iMessage or SMS. It's done in person, face to face with the person I need to speak with. Hence I could lose every message and it wouldn't matter.

Lastly, I don't document my life. Every person in my family is adverse to cameras for their own reasons. So cameras are used primarily for mundane purposes and have a shelf life of minutes. Anything important has long been backed up from our devices.

Now if you meant, did I think about OP in regard to losing the device? No. But I don't consider relying on iCloud as my sole storage/backup in order to pay less on a lower capacity device as any kind of a serious backup plan.

 

[ericwn]

You know there is no reason you cannot use cloud storage from other vendors, right? iCloud is used more as a synching service, although I have 200GB from appleOne and use less than a quarter of it. I also have cloud options from Microsoft and Google, although I do worry a bit about them mining my storage for data, not that I have heard of them actually doing that, but that is Google's whole business model, so I keep my stuff encrypted, although Google could probably hack that in less than 10 minutes

so if apple chooses not to offer higher storage, but other vendors do, I really don't see the issue

Except for when you do see potential issues or areas of concern like the ones you pointed out with privacy.

 

[ignatius345]

Using about 1.2 TB of my 2 TB plan. I can see this steadily increasing as my wife and I take photos and videos, but at the rate it's been increasing I bet it'll be a few more years before we hit it.

 

[phill85]

Just curious - do you store photos from your Fuji camera in iCloud? That might explain how quickly the iCloud storage gets used up.

I do store the absolute best ones (with location information attached), but this is probably an extremely insignificant amount compared to the whole. In fact, most all of my Fuji photos are as a rule, smaller than an Apple ProRAW file from my iPhone 14 Pro. The biggest issue? If you actually use your phone in ProRAW or ProRes, RIP to your free space in iCloud.

Also… I use advanced data protection. Can’t imagine not using it at this point… I just made a whole other iCloud id to use devices that weren’t compatible with it.

 

[bababhuvaneshus]

5GB of free storage is included in your account when you sign up for iCloud. You can upgrade to iCloud+ if you want more iCloud storage or access to premium features.

 

[OneBar]

I think the default should be larger but I still wouldn't use it for anything as it's not enough room to back up any photos or videos. I have my free dbox account up to 14 Gb and that suffices to automatically offload my stuff so that I can actually back it up. I wouldn't be trusting Apple or anyone to preserve my data, especially if I considered it important.

 

[JamesMay82]

The cloud is the devils work! We all need to go old school and have physical storage.. I hope some of you above aren’t solely relying on the cloud for your photos.

 

[ericwn]

5GB of free storage is included in your account when you sign up for iCloud. You can upgrade to iCloud+ if you want more iCloud storage or access to premium features.

Reading the original post might have been helpful prior to replying.

 

[orionquest]

Seems like we all are 😉

Yes but not in the same way 😉

If you see value in using iCloud there is no problem with it. It's a good service and desgined in a way to be useful and basically hands off. Very typical of Apple's offerings. It's also a good business model for Apple to get people hooked into the service. I just don't see the value in it and I perfer to take control of my content, files etc and not rely on service were possible things change or something happens, and then you are stuck. Similar to what you are experiencing you've hit a bit of a wall with storage. I use alternative methods where I have direct access and know exactly where everything is stored, and is backed up.

 

[phill85]

The cloud is the devils work! We all need to go old school and have physical storage.. I hope some of you above aren’t solely relying on the cloud for your photos.

This is giving me mental images of people running back into the house during a house fire to save the photo albums 😵‍💫

I want one storage service, to just work (but I do save my RAW camera files from my Fuji’s in adobe cloud). Looked at Google one storage levels just now, wow. iCloud is definitely not at the same level of offerings.

 

[JamesMay82]

This is giving me mental images of people running back into the house during a house fire to save the photo albums 😵‍💫

I want one storage service, to just work (but I do save my RAW camera files from my Fuji’s in adobe cloud). Looked at Google one storage levels just now, wow. iCloud is definitely not at the same level of offerings.

My sister lost loads of her photos due to forgetting her iCloud password and getting locked out. Most peeps on this forum are tech savvy so unlikely to happen to them but her case is possible for other people.

I use external backup as my primary and then iCloud is my worse case back up.

My perfect scenario which I haven't got is to buy a MacBook Pro with 4TB + internal storage so everything I own is one one device that I can grab in the house fire scenario.. I personally think larger internal storage + External back + cloud is the safest option.

Also when downloading info back from iCloud it can take forever! I tried it once with my photo library and it took about 3 days.

 

[Alex Cai]

iCloud is too expensive although you get all these extra features other than storage.
Baidu drive is $5.mo for 2T, so some of my larger video and pictures goes there