Apple has revised its pricing and storage plans for iCloud, making the online service cheaper for subscribers across the world. Users will still get 5GB of space for free when they first start accessing the tool.
The earlier plan had Indian customers paying Rs 60 for 20GB of iCloud space per month, Rs 250 for 100GB and Rs 1200 for 1TB. Now consumers will get 50GB of storage at Rs 65, 200GB at Rs 190 and 1TB at Rs 650. It’s a welcome change for users who now have access to more memory at a cheaper rate than before.
Existing iCloud subscribers who have purchased a monthly plan before September 16 will be upgraded to the new system automatically. If they get billed on an annual basis, they’ll continue to be charged at the current rate every year. However, the yearly rate will not be available to them if they switch to a monthly plan.
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Apple has also introduced a new iCloud Drive app in the newly launched iOS 9. The application allows users to browse or search for anything stored in their account by date, name and tags. It neatly organizes folders and opens files through any compatible tools. A sharing feature has also been added, letting users distribute their data with anyone they choose.
People can enable the app by going to Settings, selecting iCloud, choosing iCloud Drive, and then finally selecting Show on Home Screen. The new application and storage tiers seem to be Apple’s way of competing with other companies that offer similar services such as Dropbox and Google Drive. Both offer 1TB of space for roughly Rs 660.
The former further offers 2GB of storage at no cost, while the latter offers 15GB. iCloud has the advantage over Dropbox in both cases, but still lags behind in the free backup option when it comes to Google.