Hoping for iCloud upgrades at WWDC 2019

[67952]

My biggest hope for this years WWDC is iCloud upgrades. Given that Apple is pushing services, maybe it'll happen. My wish list:

• New iCloud pricing plans. Specifically I'd like to see a 500GB plan for $2.99/month.
• The ability to keep your iCloud documents end-to-end encrypted, so not even Apple has a key for them.
• An improved iCloud Drive/Files app for iOS that allows you to scan a document to PDF right inside the app (like Dropbox).
• The ability to mark files so they will always be available for offline viewing on all your devices.

Those are my hopes. Any other iCloud enhancements you are hoping for?

 

[techwarrior]

Folder sharing, selective sync. If you have Family Sharing enabled, shared calendars and folders automatically for the family members.

As for Family Sharing itself, remove the common credit card requirement.

WRT pricing, free tier should be enough to backup all of your iOS devices. Perhaps exclude backups and photos from the storage calculation, then only count files in the quota.

 

[JepGambardella]

1. Back-ups should be excluded from storage calculation
2. increase the free tier to 15gb
3. Enable the 50gb tier to use with Family sharing
4. Selective sync
   
5. (Edit) Option to pay for a full year with a discount.

 

[zorinlynx]

• New iCloud pricing plans. Specifically I'd like to see a 500GB plan for $2.99/month.

I doubt we'll see a move from 200GB to 500GB for the $2.99/month tier. The simple truth is there's a lot of people like me who are on the 2TB plan because we have between 200GB and 500GB of data, and Apple would lose that income if we downgraded.

I mean, I certainly HOPE for this, I just don't see it happening.
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As for Family Sharing itself, remove the common credit card requirement.

This is not going to happen. The common credit card is the only thing keeping a group of friends from getting together and doing family sharing.

Yeah I know I'm crushing dreams here. Feeling cynical today.

 

[Polydactyl]

Yeah I know I'm crushing dreams here. Feeling cynical today.

Here’s another one for you that I hope for every year: The option in Family Sharing to have all photos auto-shared into a family album (e.g., I take a photo on my phone, and my spouse can immediately see it in their iCloud photos and vice versa...without manual intervention).

I have to resort to Amazon photos for this. It’s also easy enough to do with Google photos and many others, but not iCloud.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Folder sharing, selective sync. If you have Family Sharing enabled, shared calendars and folders automatically for the family members.

As for Family Sharing itself, remove the common credit card requirement.

WRT pricing, free tier should be enough to backup all of your iOS devices. Perhaps exclude backups and photos from the storage calculation, then only count files in the quota.

THIS.... THIS .... How hard can it be to do this?

OneDrive does folder sharing and selective sync so I have to use it for all my data. This is 2019... iCloud Drive REALLY needs to get with the times.

I imagine the family sharing common credit card is done to discourage non-family families.

My photos are 136GB. Backups are about 10GB just for me. My family + their data ding that to over 200GB so I have to pay for the 1TB tier. But I hate paying for something I can't use, so I really feel tempted to remove my photo db from iCloud Photos and just pay for the 200GB tier because I'm forced to use OneDrive (selective sync and file sharing).

This year is the last chance I'm giving iCloud Drive to get with the times. Sadly, nothing quite like iCloud Photo (and I don't want to go Google).

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

• Lower prices.
• Single iCloud Photo Library for Family sharing.
• Timemachine iCloud backups.

I would be extremely happy for either of the first two happening.

I just went over 200GB so I just started using shared Desktop and Documents folders, just to use that space for something. I am now considering what to do with the remaining 1.7TB space. iTunes Library backup perhaps?

 

[lartola]

My biggest hope for this years WWDC is iCloud upgrades. Given that Apple is pushing services, maybe it'll happen. My wish list:

• New iCloud pricing plans. Specifically I'd like to see a 500GB plan for $2.99/month.
• The ability to keep your iCloud documents end-to-end encrypted, so not even Apple has a key for them.
• An improved iCloud Drive/Files app for iOS that allows you to scan a document to PDF right inside the app (like Dropbox).
• The ability to mark files so they will always be available for offline viewing on all your devices.

Those are my hopes. Any other iCloud enhancements you are hoping for?

scanning to PDF already exists in Notes.

 

[zorinlynx]

Here’s another one for you that I hope for every year: The option in Family Sharing to have all photos auto-shared into a family album (e.g., I take a photo on my phone, and my spouse can immediately see it in their iCloud photos and vice versa...without manual intervention).

I have to resort to Amazon photos for this. It’s also easy enough to do with Google photos and many others, but not iCloud.

That would be an awesome feature! I'd totally be good with that, though I'd want an easy to hit toggle in the camera app to turn it off temporarily. If I'm at work taking a ton of photos of hardware and such to show vendors, I don't need everyone being spammed with them.

 

[fastbagger]

iCloud email in the cloud for two way sync.

 

[chrfr]

iCloud email in the cloud for two way sync.

How would this be different than the well-established IMAP protocol?

 

[riverfreak]

So, apparently no upgrades.

I'd love to go all in with iCloud but it's still so woefully incomplete and a source near daily aggravation.

 

[dingdingdong]

So, apparently no upgrades.

I'd love to go all in with iCloud but it's still so woefully incomplete and a source near daily aggravation.

Here here! Very disappointing once again.

 

[riverfreak]

I don't think Apple wants to make a Selective Sync-like feature available for iCloud. Then the people who exceed the 500GB limit and have been bumped to the 2TB plan would actually be able to use their storage as they see fit.

 

[riverfreak]

And meanwhile, Dropbox just increased storage for Dropbox Pro up to (the iCloud limit) of 2TB, but also enabled their Smart Sync option.

Smart Sync works a little like iCloud does behind the scenes, offloading files that haven't been used in awhile. Of course, Dropbox gives you the option of turning this off, unlike iCloud. It also lets you pick which files you want to maintain as local or offline only.

In other words, Dropbox remains what iCloud should have been. Sigh.