Somehow, iCloud+ is the subscription I rely on the most

I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again: Apple is no longer just a hardware company. It’s not even a software company. Apple is a service company — at least after their obvious flagship iPhone. After the iPhone, services make up the second-largest share of the company’s quarterly revenues, reaching almost 30% last quarter.

Contributing to this massive growth are services we all pay for (happily or not), such as App Store subscriptions, in-app purchases, Apple Card, AppleCare+, Apple Fitness+, Apple News+, Apple Arcade, Apple Music, Apple TV+, and the focus of this piece, iCloud+.

Every month, I review my expenses, looking at what I bought and reevaluating my subscriptions. Recently, I made the decision to (once again) cancel my Apple One Premier bundle and only subscribe to Apple Music for family and iCloud+. Apple Music is straightforward in terms of its value. But how has iCloud+ become so valuable to my life?

iCloud+’s Cloud storage

From file synchronization to iCloud backups

Cloud storage is easily the feature we associate most with iCloud. After all, when the service was first released, that’s all it was. However, yesterday’s iCloud is all but gone except for the free 5GB Apple users receive when signing up for the service.

While iCloud+ includes many more features that I’ll explore momentarily, people primarily subscribe to the cloud storage service to sync their files, photos, contacts, notes, and other digital belongings across devices and back up their iPhones and iPads.

iCloud+ has five paid tiers:

• 50GB for $1 (One HomeKit Secure Video camera)
• 200GB for $3 (Five HomeKit Secure Video cameras)
• 2TB for $10 (Unlimited HomeKit Secure Video cameras)
• 6TB for $30 (Unlimited HomeKit Secure Video cameras)
• 12TB for $60 (Unlimited HomeKit Secure Video cameras)

I subscribe to the 2TB plan because my family collectively uses over 330GB, with my own files making up the vast majority. The primary reason I use iCloud+ is to have my files sync between my iPhone, iPad, and MacBook, as I’m constantly switching between devices throughout the day to do various tasks.

On the other hand, I share iCloud storage with my family to ensure their iPhones and iPads are backed up should something happen to them. Equally, I appreciate the digital safety net my iCloud backups provide. So much so that I wish Apple would release iCloud backups for Macs.

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iCloud+ hides my email

Email aliases to reduce spam and tracking

Hide My Email allows iCloud+ subscribers to generate disposable random email aliases to provide services upon sign-up. You might be wondering why not just give your email? Who cares? Well, there are two reasons.

First, your email can be used to track you across the internet. Data brokers collect which services you sign up for by matching your email, as it’s a fantastic unique identifier you’re typically just willing to give out. Second, if tracking concerns aren’t enough for you, having an email alias allows you to deactivate it if it gets sold for marketing purchases or a company doesn’t respect your unsubscribe request.

For those two reasons, I continually generate an email alias when signing up for a new account or even checking out as a guest.

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iCloud+ works well with HomeKit secure video

Security camera cloud storage at no additional cost

Suppose you’re a smart home enthusiast like me who uses Apple HomeKit. In that case, you may want security cameras around your home without paying for a questionable cloud subscription service. Fortunately, Apple has our backs.

HomeKit Secure Video gives iCloud+ subscribers a week’s worth of footage storage for one, five, or unlimited compatible cameras. What’s unique about HomeKit Secure Video is that footage is encrypted locally on your network by your HomeKit hub before being sent to Apple’s servers for storage. Apple, nor anyone else but you, can view your camera’s footage.

I have eight Eufy 2C cameras surrounding my house’s outdoor area and seven Eufy C120s inside that turn on when I leave home. Thanks to Family Sharing, my mother also uses some HomeKit Secure Video cameras around her property.

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iCloud+ provides Custom Email Domain

An email alias for small businesses and hobbies

When Custom Email Domain was first released along with the other new iCloud+ features, I was excited about trying it but didn’t have a real purpose in mind. Custom Email Domain allows subscribers to attach up to five custom domains to their iCloud email and have up to three email aliases per domain.

This feature is excellent for someone like me who wanted a professional business email but didn’t want to pay Google, Microsoft, or another email hosting provider. Instead, I linked my new website domain to my iCloud account and was able to create three professional emails with it. While running for a local office, I linked a second domain to my iCloud email to now have a separate campaign address.

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