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We should have 10Gb of free iCloud storage.

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Apart from iCloud there is Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Mega, Box etc. but it's a little more complicated than that. You have to be able to access the files and the service needs to be compatible with the apps you are using it with. See; https://www.thebalance.com/a-compar...eeae965b-8d31-473e-802a-bfb41a9836b5-0-ab_msb
GoogleDrive for example has an iPhone app and offers free 15Gb of storage for photos, movies and other files.
DropBox offers 2-16Gb and OneDrive 15Gb
See; https://www.imobie.com/support/icloud-alternatives.htm

BUT why not just download them to your computer and switch off iCloud Photo Library? I don't use it myself but, I do use My Photo Stream to ensure my pics are downloaded to my MBP then I delete them from the phone. You will need to switch it off in Settings > Photos and Camera on your iPhone and also on the device you sync to in iCloud Preferences > Photos.

thanks i'll try this :)
 
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If you install Google Photos on your phone, you can use it to back up your photos to the Google cloud. You have two choices - original (full) resolution or a scaled down "optimized" resolution. If you choose the former, you are limited to 25G of total space. If you choose the latter, you get unlimited.

To back up your photos, you launch the app and let it run. It will back up videos AND photos (unlike Apple's defaults). If the screen locks while it's running, however, you have to unlock and let it continue running.

To those that are concerned about losing photo quality by allowing Google to decrease the resolution:

1) If you have "that picture" that you intend to print, frame, and/or have enlarged, simply send it to yourself via email so as to not lose the full quality photo

2) You will have a very hard time telling the difference in all but the most finitely detailed pictures that your resolution has been decreased

3) The resolution is only decreased in the backup in Google's cloud - your original photo is untouched

4) Using Google's backup could allow you to convert your iCloud usage to Photo Stream ONLY for the pure purpose of syncing your pictures over to another device through the cloud


The above is basically how I use it. Plus, I have turned off the application level data backup off for pretty much all applications.

Four devices, and I can operate within my 5G of free space without losing backups.
 
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Apple should offer its users free iCloud storage of at least 16GB, maybe more like up to 64GB. I like to previously mention idea of Apple offering the user with more devices on the iCloud account more space. Though I only own two devices, I would welcome having 10GB of cloud space. I find myself using OneDrive and GoogleDrive for most of my backups. I get 1TB with OneDrive and 17GB with GoogleDrive, which at this point has been plenty. Come on Apple...hook your people up.
 
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Apple should offer its users free iCloud storage of at least 16GB, maybe more like up to 64GB. I like to previously mention idea of Apple offering the user with more devices on the iCloud account more space. Though I only own two devices, I would welcome having 10GB of cloud space. I find myself using OneDrive and GoogleDrive for most of my backups. I get 1TB with OneDrive and 17GB with GoogleDrive, which at this point has been plenty. Come on Apple...hook your people up.

Actually, you get 25G with your Google account which is spread across the various services. Photos (full resolution), mail, drive, etc.
 
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This is what it shows in my account.

Actually, you get 25G with your Google account which is spread across the various services. Photos (full resolution), mail, drive, etc.
ImageShotGDrive.jpeg
I get 2 extra GB for some promo I got way back when. Am I missing something? If there is a way to gain another 10GB, due tell.
 
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You're right.. Apologies. I had the "25" stuck in my head because of the 25MB limit on email size.
 
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Rod


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I use iMazing to backup my iPhone 5s locally and one of it's options is to store settings and passwords as well. In order to do this the backup needs to be encrypted which was not a problem but it warns you that this will mean iTunes backup preferences will also change to encrypted. This gave me the option to stop my local backup and backup via iTunes to iCloud. So I have a local backup on my MBPr including settings and passwords and iTunes iCloud backup which tells me it will: "Backup the most important data on your iPhone to iCloud." My question is what exactly is my "most important data"? I assume that means Health and HomeKit info along with passwords and settings (not that I have any Health and HomeKit data because I dont use those apps) because that's what's listed under the encryption option. It's just a little grey, I know I'm covered but I see my iCloud storage growing slowly and i wonder what is being stored? It's not a security concern I'd just like to know what is being backed up and more importantly how to delete old backups from iCloud.
 
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Rod

If the backup program you're using is making changes to the iTunes settings, I have to wonder what your program is actually doing on its own compared to just being a new front-end to the iTunes components.

iTunes can back up all of your passwords and health data by... wait for it... encrypting the backup. :)
 

chscag

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Just a bit of info about "iMazing"... It does not require iTunes not does it make changes to iTunes settings. And it is not a "new front end to iTunes". The latest version is "iMazing 2".
 
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Yes, I have iMazing 2 and no it's not a new front end to iTunes, I get that, I got it in a software package quite cheap and started using it because it gave me more control of local backups but although it was a while ago I'm pretty sure that when I opted for iMazing to store passwords and settings it stated I must select encrypted backup and that the next time I did a sync to iTunes I noticed that had changed to encrypted as well so not wanting to duplicate I opted for backup to iCloud.
My understanding was this would not be a "Full" backup but just what Apple decribes as "most important data".
Backups now show two dates; one for the most recent iCloud backup and one for the last full backup to this computer. All good.
My question is; what is my "most important data"? Can I delete old backups on the MBP and how and can I do the same with the iCloud backups?
 
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Thanks for all advices! Actually, I have both Dropbox and Google Drive, the first has restrictions in size and the second - i've installed lately and it synchronized only few my photos, not all! Now I'm trying Google Photo.
Besides, Apple's prices on the memory enhancement are not high i think, so if all the ways will fail i'll better pay for more space )
 
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5 GB isn't really much as iCloud storage. I was hoping Apple will raise it to 10GB at least for free.
 
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I think they should give you free space for the size of your device and add together all your devices storage rather than just giving you 5GB. They have a mountain of cash so it's not as if they cannot afford it.

I have an iPhone 16GB, iPad 64GB, MacBook Pro 256GB - so with my rudimentary maths skills that's 336GB I should have for free.
 
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I think they should give you free space for the size of your device and add together all your devices storage rather than just giving you 5GB. They have a mountain of cash so it's not as if they cannot afford it.

I have an iPhone 16GB, iPad 64GB, MacBook Pro 256GB - so with my rudimentary maths skills that's 336GB I should have for free.

I disagree.

I have two 128G phones and a 128G tablet. I use a single 5G account and am able to manage my storage usage by limiting certain aspects of what I back up to the cloud.

5G is extremely limiting, especially in light of the fact that applications back up their data by default. Do you REALLY need to tie up 750MB of storage for your Facebook app? Why? What's the big deal if it isn't there? And, if I'm switching devices, I -NEVER- rely on the cloud and do it via iTunes.

I don't need 384GB of space. But, 10GB would sure make like a whole lot simpler, AND it would let me use some of the features of iCloud Drive that I currently can not.
 
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Apple have quietly added a tier to their iCloud storage options, 2Tb. It makes sense I guess with the possibility of setting the base level iPhone at 32Gb and some suggesting that a 256GB iPhone may appear to join the 256GB iPad Pro. Not to mention the new feature of macOS Sierra that lets you store your Documents and Desktop folders in iCloud, to be synced between all your Macs. With people generating more and more data and (wisely) backing it up the bottom tier of 5Gb free looks pretty paltry. After all I'm sure that the revenue generated by iCloud storage doesn't amount to anything significant for Apple why not allow us low level users access to a bit more for free.
Personally I use iCloud Keychain, iCloud Drive (to sync my Password manager), Mail (which I don't use), Contacts, Calendars, Reminders, Notes and the essential Find My iPhone. The whole lot only uses 1.5 Gb but I would use a lot more if it was free. If I add iCloud Photo Library for example I am well, close the limit. I used to use it but I got sick of being constantly bugged by messages that I'm almost out of space to store my backup, along with a threatening dialogue box encouraging me to upgrade my storage plan or I won't be able to use my iCloud email service. In fact given that I have 64Gb storage on my iPhone 5s it might not be unreasonable to expect a base level of 25Gb.:Smirk:

What I would love to see happen is free cloud storage given based on what device that you have purchased and are signed onto. Buy a 128GB iPhone, you get 128GB of space. However, from a business standpoint, I guess they see why they charge extra for the additional store age. I mean, it does cost to maintain those cloud servers that d protect your device data.
 
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Rod

Rod


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Well it was a while ago when I read wrote that article, since then apple have restructured their iCloud storage plans and I now get 50 Gb for $0.99 which I think is pretty reasonable.
 

chscag

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Yes, 50 GB for $.99 is very reasonable. However, Microsoft will give you 1TB for free if you have an Office 365 subscription. I'm thinking about subscribing since we now have an iPad Pro. MS does not allow editing of its free apps on a tablet that is 10" or more unless you have a subscription. Which means I can edit word docs on my iPhone (that's very difficult to do) but not on my new 10.5" iPad Pro.
 
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Rod

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Hm, that's an interesting restriction that I was not aware of, I guess I can understand it i.e. you can edit on a free app if it's on a device that's too small to make editing practical. How can MS tell if you are using the same app on a larger device, or is it a different version of the app?
 

chscag

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How can MS tell if you are using the same app on a larger device, or is it a different version of the app?

Apparently, they can detect the hardware you're using their iOS Office apps on. The subscription to Office 365 Personal is only $69.99 year and includes all the Office apps. You can install it on 1 tablet, 1 iPhone or Android, and on 1 PC or Mac.
 
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Rod

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I suppose I should have guessed they could do that, still it always surprises me how much providers know about users. I bought the MS Office suite a year ago so I get 50Gb.
 

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