If you rely on iCloud to keep your photos and videos safe if anything happens to your iPhone …things are getting a lot pricier. Yes, the cloud backup solution from Apple, which is available to every iPhone owner, is now 25% more expensive.
The subscription fees increase by a few pennies on the 50GB plan (from 79p to 99p per month), but the biggest sting is reserved for those who need more storage in the cloud, with the 2TB plan rising from £6.99 to £8.99 per month.
That’s an extra £24 each year to save your latest pictures, videos, files, and iPhone back-ups to Apple’s servers. Ouch.
The iCloud storage price rises aren’t universal, with iPhone customers in the United States a notable exception. Apple hasn’t revealed the reason behind the pricing change, but fluctuating foreign currency exchange rates could be behind the rise, some analysts have speculated. We’ll update this article if we hear more.
Following the price rise, the new iCloud storage price plans are:
- 50GB | £99 per month
- 200GB | £2.99 per month
- 2TB | £8.99 per month
Running low on storage but don’t fancy paying the extra charges? Thankfully, there are a few solutions.
Those who get by on the free 5GB of iCloud Storage each month won’t be affected by the price hikes, but considering the amount of free storage hasn’t changed in years, the number of users getting away without not paying a penny for backups must be very slim.
Apple hasn’t increased monthly costs for its Apple One membership. This is similar to Amazon Prime and bundles together a number of the company’s subscriptions into a single plan, including iCloud storage for back-ups, Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, and more.
If you’re paying for a few different subscriptions from Apple, switching to an Apple One plan could be a money-saver.
Alternatively, you could switch to a different backup solution.
Instagram Reels, TikTok and YouTube Shorts are some of the first apps that come to mind when it comes to hogging iCloud storage space, but even the simplest video shot at home for your own memories can take up a lot of space.
Even a short 10-second clip shot on one of the latest iPhones – thanks to the high-quality 4K camera – will use 25MB of space, so for those on a smaller iCloud plan it will quickly add up.
So, how can Apple users avoid the iCloud price hikes?
First up, Amazon offers unlimited photo backups for all Prime members. If you’re already a subscriber to Amazon Prime, you can download a free iOS and store all of your pictures at full resolution in the cloud.
To take advantage of this incredible offer, head over to the App Store and download Amazon Photos. For non-Prime member, you can get the usual 5GB of storage space (the same given by Apple for free) but it’s Prime members who yet again get a steal.
Prime users can get unlimited space for their photos and videos, if you’re faced with dwindling storage on your iPhone but don’t want to pay Apple’s inflated prices you can upload as many photos and videos to the app to store for free (if you’ve already paid for a Prime membership).
If you’re not a Prime member, it’s worth checking whether any of your other existing subscriptions include cloud storage solutions. For example, some of the biggest VPN providers bundle cloud storage as part of their service. NordVPN offers a number of different price tiers, including its award-winning VPN, password manager, and end-to-end encrypted cloud storage.
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