Q: Your iCloud storage will be reduced to 5 GB

I know what you mean, PatsyK,

It looks right, but we'd like a little reassurance that it is correct before we find out otherwise on October 1st!

Hobbits wrote:

 

So let me see if I understand this correctly. 

 

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple is standing before the world telling us that iCloud is the wave of the future and it's here now. Gone are optical drives, need for bigger SDD or HDDs, and with IOS6 and Mountain Lion, documents, pictures, movies, and musics seamlessly move across all your authorized platforms.

 

DO YOU THINK HE MIGHT HAVE MENTIONED THAT HE WAS GOING TO CHARGE FOR THAT NEW TECHNOLOGY?!?

You have not understood it correctly. It was made very clear from the start that iCloud is free at the basic storage level of 5GB. This enables you to have email, and sync calendars, contacts, bookmarks and photos - facilities previously part of MobileMe at $99 a year.

If you want additional storage it was also made perfectly clear that there would be a charge - additional 10GB, $20 p.a., 20 GB, $40 p.a., 50GB $100 p.a.

The email which is the subject of this thread is aimed at people who migrated their MobileMe accounts to iCloud, not at people who started iCloud from scratch. In addition to the 5GB, migratees from MobileMe were given an extra 20GB for free until 30 September. After this, as you might expect, they either have to allow it to downgrade to 5GB or pay for the extra storage at the above rate. There is nothing unreasonable about this.

What is causing the problem is that the instructions aren't completely clear and don't seem to match the ambiguous reality of the settings pane, not the actual cost. You seem to think that everything should be free: the 5GB free deal seems fair enough to me.

Hi I received the same email and was similarly confused. After reading this discussion I accessed my iCoud account from my iMac and although the 20GB option was selected it was also telling me it was ending on 30 Sep.

I don't need the 50GB option it was showing as an upgrade and the 'next' button was greyed out, so I selected the downgrade button. In there I selected the free option and then re-selected the 20GB option. Clicked on 'done' the message under 20GB changed saying it would be renewed on 30 Sep and the 'next' button was now available.

I can only assume I've had to work my way through this because I was given the 20GB account as part of the MobileMe migration, which ends on 30 Sep, and they need me to actively select a new storage option.

Personally I feel they could have explained it better and also just given us a single screen with all the options so we could select which one we wanted. My worry is that by taking this approach people may feel pressured into selecting the 50GB option, not realising that with a bit of unneccesary flicking about they can continue with 20GB.

Roger:

I won't get into the syntax of the conversation nor attempt to prescribe to you the intricacies of rhetorical statements. Suffice it to say that you are squarely in Apple's corner and your comments are neither required nor desired.  It is my belief that you have sufficiently commented on a subject that you are not directly involved in or have inside information whilst passing yourself off as some sort of "expert".

SilverVB wrote:

 

Personally I feel they could have explained it better

One can but agree considering the confusion which has given rise to this and other threads.

This link, helps explain what is actually backed up to the cloud, and how you can manage it. I located this, because I had questions on how much space one would really need in the cloud, versus "backing" up your phone by linking it to an itunes account on say, your desktop computer. I'm still trying to determine what is the best way to utilize iCloud and iTunes. I'm fine with connecting my phone to my desktop and having it backup there. I just want the cloud to remember/link up bookmarks, emails, etc... the simple essentials for every day use. Anybody have any thoughts on this? Maybe there is another topic in the apple forums about this...

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4859

So I went to my iPhone5 and went to setting/icloud etc, and looked to see what was being backed up to the cloud. I was at about 8gbs. well, 7.5gbs of that was from my "camera roll", so I turned that to off. Now i'm well under the FREE 5 GB plan. This is perfect for me.

I don't need my photos backed up to the cloud ever day, because i'll just plug in my phone to my desktop computer, using iphoto do dload the photos to, like once/week. I don't worry about losing my phone and the photos on there. and if I do, i'm only a week behind in lost images. not a big deal in my case.

Hope this is a good example for how to use iCloud for at least one person out there

Hobbits wrote:

 

Roger:

 

...your comments are neither required nor desired.

Thank you for your concern; however I believe I will continue to post such comments as I think best, just as I have been doing for the last seven years.

Hi Roger

I'm back to your first post here - it seems to have gone a little "askew" since then.

First of all, I am away from home (UK - so you can use £ not $!), and will be until mid-October. I access iCloud from a company PC via satellite. My MBP has a failed logic board. Trying all the options given, I cannot access my storage account. I can change my password and my email addresses but cannot do or see anything else to do with my account.

I was not given a "free" upgrade to 20GB as I see it as I have already paid for this year (not sure when it ends - see above!). The question really is what happens on 1 October if I do nothing, which at the moment, I cannot?

Thanks

TY

As this is a new situation no-one really knows what is going on: but if your have paid for extended storage then that should go on without interruption. If you have concerns you could try http://www.apple.com/support/icloud/contact/ - they will probably ask you to pay but make it clear that this is an enquiry about a facility you've paid for.

This has been very confusing to me as well. Even though it appears I have the right option selected to continue to receive the storage amount I want, I keep getting emails warning me about my account being switched to the free 5GB account. However, I think I've found a workaround. I went to the "Manage Storage" settings and then "Change Storage Plan", just like the email detailed. Even though my desired amount was already selected (50GB) I went into the Downgrade Options and choose 20GB instead. After hitting "Done" you will see your Apple ID Summary and your storage plan will now contain the note "Your plan will be replaced with 20GB.... on 9/30/13" I then went through the same procedure AGAIN, this time re-choosing the 50GB plan. Now when I get to my Apple ID Summary, the note under my storage plan says "You will be charged $100 on 9/30/13". None of these steps may be necessary- perhaps that is what was going to happen on 9/30/13 anyway- but having a note confirming that sure makes a difference.

Tacking onto a year-old thread is bound to confuse you - things have changed since then (for one thing the free storage was extended to 30 September 2013).

However what you did is almost right - you didn't need to choose another level and then move back. All you had to do was select the existing amoung. To summarize for anyone else's benefit:

Hi Roger

I received your post automatically and returned to my iCloud to see what was happening (my original post was so long ago I had forgotten about it). I went through the motions, as above, and found I could select the free 5GB option but the "Done" button remained greyed out. It is not at that point obvious whether I have got the 5GB freebie or I remain on the paid for 20GB, Looking around, I found the following:

Troubleshooting storage issuesIf you are unable to upgrade or downgrade your iCloud storage, or inconsistent storage quota values are displayed on your iOS device or in System Preferences, review the troubleshooting steps in this ...

OS X Lion v10.7.2 or later

1. Choose System Preferences from the Apple () menu.
2. Click the iCloud icon.
3. Click the Manage > View Account buttons.
4. Re-enter your password when prompted.
5. Click the Change button next to Storage Plan.
6. Click the Downgrade Options button.
7. Select a storage plan and follow the prompts.

The difference here is the reference to "View Account". If you follow this step, it clearly tells you what you have and what you will get after 30 September 2013.

Cleared up my confusion anyway - hope it helps a few others!

Cheers

TY

This is not 2005 any more. 5GB of storage is a joke.