should we expect an iCloud storage bump in the near future?

[A_Flying_Panda]

I’m running out of my 2TB icloud storage, i got all my photos in icloud and don’t know what to do with all these....
would apple bump the limit for iCloud storage in the near future? Maybe a 4 or 5TB tier?

any thoughts?

 

[ian87w]

Try calling Apple support to see if they have some higher tiers that are reserved for certain customer scenarios.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

Reading your headline, I though you were asking about free storage. Considering you're asking about paid storage... They've bumped it up in the past. They know exactly how many users they have in top-tier storage, and how close they are to exceeding their storage limits. They're not likely to ignore an opportunity to boost Services revenue.

 

[A_Flying_Panda]

Reading your headline, I though you were asking about free storage. Considering you're asking about paid storage... They've bumped it up in the past. They know exactly how many users they have in top-tier storage, and how close they are to exceeding their storage limits. They're not likely to ignore an opportunity to boost Services revenue.

I was thinking to have two accounts each with 2TB tier, and join them into one family..

 

[akash.nu]

2TB of photos?! Damn!

 

[ApfelKuchen]

I was thinking to have two accounts each with 2TB tier, and join them into one family..

Yeah, but currently Family Sharing doesn't allow merged storage capacity - one storage plan shared between all family members, yes. Multiple storage plans pooled among family members, no. It's much easier to add a new storage tier, much harder to properly manage the use of what effectively would be multiple HDs. It can be done, of course - spanned volumes are nothing new (Fusion Drive, for example). It just adds complexity where it's not needed.

 

[MDDUCKMAN]

I was thinking the same thing earlier this week. I'm at 1.1 TB for my family share out of 2 TB. While I think I have quite a ways to go, I was wonder if we will start to see one more tier added at the top. Especially with file sizes getting larger and Apple pushing people to use iCloud.

 

[Deadeyeshark]

I’m at 1.2tb photos and 400 gb icloud Drive, a Jump to 3tb would give me a little more breathing space.

 

[freeagent]

Sounds like you may have to get a 4-6 TB HDD and download all of your pictures to that to free up your iCloud ?

 

[now i see it]

iCloud storage was never meant to be used in that way. Find another online storage provider - or better yet, learn how to edit your photos. Culling is your friend. Be brave

 

[CTHarrryH]

I use 2 of the 5 gb of free

 

[ApfelKuchen]

iCloud storage was never meant to be used in that way. Find another online storage provider - or better yet, learn how to edit your photos. Culling is your friend. Be brave

Why wasn't iCloud storage meant to be used that way? Photography is one of iPhone's killer apps, and iCloud Photos is there to ensure those photos are uploaded and stored safely off-device, where they can then be accessed by multiple other devices - shoot with your iPhone, edit on a larger-screened iPad and/or Mac.

I agree that culling is necessary. Many people have a tendency to just accumulate every image they ever take (including accidentally-taken burst sequences). But from Apple's standpoint, they make money if people don't cull. If Apple didn't mean iCloud storage to be used for uncalled images, they'd apply some of that AI to create a "You probably want to delete these" album.

However, we can infer that a 2 TB storage plan can handle an awful lot of photos - if they didn't want people to use it, they wouldn't offer it.

But here's the thing. While on iPhone, photos tends to be the top user of iCloud storage, Mac users can put their Documents and/or Desktop folders into iCloud. So 2 TB (or even larger) iCloud plans have a lot of good uses.

Whether you want to pay the price Apple charges for that space is a separate matter. However, when it comes to Apple, we can't assume that a high price means they don't want people to buy it.

 

[A_Flying_Panda]

iCloud storage was never meant to be used in that way. Find another online storage provider - or better yet, learn how to edit your photos. Culling is your friend. Be brave

I really can’t agree with you on this. how do you think icloud is meant to be used then?
i’m not using iCloud in any way out of ‘normal’. I store the files i used from day to day, which takes up ~200GB. Then my wife is using another ~100GB. Then i have ~100GB of backups, we have 2 iPhones, 3 iPads, things adds up quickly, and ~50GB of emails. The rest is photos. You can easily accumulate 1.5TB+ of photos over 10 years.

I never actually modified any settings on icloud, it’s all default.
I started with MobileMe, then there is email. Then iCloud Drive, there are files. When iCloud Photo Library launches, my then iPhoto automatically put my library onto iCloud. everything has been working perfectly, and this is how it’s meant to work. I don’t have to sign up another ‘cloud account’, manage it from another app, and manually balance photos stored on my iphone and iCloud. with iCloud everything is seamless, automated, I don’t even notice that it exists.
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Sounds like you may have to get a 4-6 TB HDD and download all of your pictures to that to free up your iCloud ?

Yeah then there are more problems.

1. I need a computer/mac. I now run 99% on my ipad and trying to ditch Macs for the last 1%.
2. I need to manually pull photos off the iPhone and onto the hard drive.
3. I need to back up the hard drive, i’ll either have to buy another cloud service for offsite backup, or i need to manually sync and keep another drive in another location.
4. What if i need to look at an ‘older’ photo? I need to pull out my mac, and my hard drive, and then start to look for it. What if i‘m not home, or my hard drive is not on me?

 

[Deadeyeshark]

Everyone has a different need, an don't need to justify why they need the extra space. The whole idea of iCloud is the convenience of storing files on Apples secure servers, been there done that with storing files elsewhere and it just becomes a drag. I think iCloud is due a boost of the upper tier, last change was back in 2017, with reducing solid state capacities I don't think it will be that long in coming.