iCloud backups and subscription?

JustAnotherSaver

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201238

United Kingdom3 (GBP)
50GB: £0.79
200GB: £2.49
2TB: £6.99

I have a 64GB phone and my wife has a 128GB, both iPhone 6S.


I've had issues with restoring from a PC backup in the past and so i'm curious about this iCloud storage/backup thing. The only downside is you have to pay for it but i'm trying to determine whether it's worth it or not.


First off, as i understand it we can split the storage, right? So to go for 200GB that can be split between both my wife's account and mine?


Secondly, what exactly do you back up to this iCloud thing? When i back up my phone to my PC via iTunes i can totally erase the phone so it is like it was from factory and then restore and it's exactly like it was 5 minutes ago. Can the iCloud backup do that or are there things it can't backup?

Chino

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

First off, as i understand it we can split the storage, right? So to go for 200GB that can be split between both my wife's account and mine?

Didn't you think to click on the "with your family" link on the page you linked to?

JustAnotherSaver

To what degree is this sharing though?


Can everyone on it see everyone elses photos for example?

System

You ask many questions regarding Apple stuff and things that are outside my knowledge base even though I have Apple gear.

The best place for you to get more informed with Apple is their own community forum and maybe their official YouTube channel.

https://discussions.apple.com/welcome

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYFQ33UIPERYx8-ZHucZbDA

sysadmin

so I pay for the 2TB option and that is shared between my (64GB iphone) wife (64GB iphone) son (32GB iphone) but more importantly my mac mini.

With regards to your phones, all your photos can be automatically uploaded to the cloud and then low-res photos (taking up less space) stored on your phone. Then when you want to look at them, the hi res version is downloaded to your phone. This free's up space on your phone if you take a lot of photos or videos.

Phone backups are taken automatically and you can restore your phone to a point in time should you need to wipe / restore. Think it only saves the last few backups though..

For me though, I have 600GB of photos, 300GB of videos and maybe 5GB of files stored in icloud that are all on my Mac. I can access them on icloud.com and am through any of my apple devices.

I'm heavily committed to the Apple ecosystem, however if you've a mixture of Apple devices, Windows devices and Android devices then i'd look at something like Dropbox or similar as can provide the same type of service but will work cross platform..

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

If you download iCloud for PCs, your photos and data can be downloaded to your PC. We clear out and move older phots from the iCloud area every three months and so have no need to use or pay excessive charges for another backup service.

tacpot12

My experience is the same as Blackbeard of Perranporth's: having signed up for iCloud at £0.79 per month (£9.48 pa) I don't need any other data storage service.

I pay £20 a year for my password manager and £30 a year for my Anti-virus software which covers all the four laptops in my family, so the iCloud charge compares favourably to other services.

JustAnotherSaver

To be honest we're not tied to Apple.

Sure i have an iPhone and so does my wife. Apart from when my wife moved to Samsung for the Galaxy S3 we've been iPhone users since 2010. My wife has had 2 iPad's - one of which is currently in use.



With that said, i'm not a fan of iTunes and the way it's going. I don't like the whole syncing thing which can be a bit of a nuisance but i learn to live with it. Being forced to update OTA is one change i really didn't like though, which is why i remain on an old version of iTunes.



So with that said, my next phone is likely to be an Android of some description. Now when the time comes i may 'chicken out' and stick with what i know, who knows. I was just trying to determine whether it was worth the shell out.

tacpot12 wrote: »

I pay £20 a year for my password manager and £30

Why? What does it provide you?


Mine is free so i'm just wondering what yours provides.

J_B

tacpot12 wrote: »

I pay £20 a year for my password manager and £30 a year for my Anti-virus software which covers all the four laptops in my family, so the iCloud charge compares favourably to other services.

Well, 'we' have just signed up to the 79p thingy, but are fifty quid better off than you as we don't spend on the other two things!

So, I'll as the same question ...

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

Mine is free so i'm just wondering what yours provides.

JustAnotherSaver

I use KeePass. I've read it's not so great for beginners but i disagree as i think it does everything i need it to perfectly well. Holds all the fiddly extra info beyond username & password just fine - such as memorable data so on & so forth.



I had a look at LastPass & seems like everything else these days - them clouds are costly.

tacpot12

I use Keeper. I don't use it to do much more than store my user ids and password, secret answers, pin numbers, and notes I don't want anyone to ever see.

I use its capability to generate strong random passwords, and have used its feature that produces a report of all you passwords to show those that are still weak. It does have an Autofill feature that I don't use much.

The main reason I want to pay for this service though is that I want it be secure. This is my fundamental requirement. I don't trust that any of the free providers will have enough cash flow to invest in the security systems and staff that will ultimately protect my most precious data. I've seen too many free providers go out of business, so now I want to be able to pay for a premium service to ensure it is always there for me.