iCloud Storage Plans Explained: Which One Do You Need?

Every Apple Account gets 5 GB of iCloud storage free. Above that, you pay monthly for iCloud+. In the US the plans are 50 GB, 200 GB, 2 TB, 6 TB and 12 TB. Most people need 50 GB or 200 GB on their own, or 2 TB for a family that takes a lot of photos. Before you upgrade, check what is using your space. Old backups, duplicate photos and long videos often take up more than you'd expect, and clearing them can save you from moving up a tier.

Every iCloud+ plan and price

These are the US monthly prices at the time of writing. Prices differ by country and Apple changes them from time to time. Your iPhone shows your local price on the plan screen.

Every paid plan includes the iCloud+ extras: iCloud Private Relay, Hide My Email, a custom email domain and HomeKit Secure Video. Apple One bundles also include iCloud+ storage. Individual comes with 50 GB, Family with 200 GB and Premier with 2 TB. If you already pay for Apple One, check how much storage it gives you before you buy a separate plan.

What fills up your iCloud storage

iCloud storage is shared across several things, and it's often not obvious which one is using it up.

• Photos and videos. If iCloud Photos is on, your whole library counts, including originals of everything you've shot. On most accounts this is the biggest item.
• Device backups. Each iPhone or iPad that backs up to iCloud has its own backup. Old devices you no longer use can keep their backups for a long time.
• Messages. With Messages in iCloud, your conversations and every photo, video and voice message in them are stored there too.
• iCloud Drive. Any files you keep there, including Desktop and Documents if you sync those folders from a Mac.
• iCloud Mail, plus data from other apps that sync through iCloud.

Apps, music, films and books you bought from Apple don't count. You can download them again for free at any time.

How to check your usage

On iPhone or iPad: open Settings, tap your name at the top, then iCloud. A bar shows how much you're using and which categories take the most. Tap Manage Storage (called Manage Account Storage on recent versions of iOS) to see each app's share, along with your backups.

On a Mac: open System Settings, click your name, then iCloud. You get the same bar and a Manage button.

Look at the two or three biggest items. In most cases Photos is first, then Backups or Messages. That tells you where to start clearing.

Free up space before you upgrade

If you're just over a limit, a short clear-out is often enough to stay on your current plan. Work through these in order, because the first ones are quick.

Delete old device backups

Under Manage Storage, open Backups. If you see a phone you sold or an iPad you no longer use, select it and delete the backup. One tap can free several gigabytes. Keep the latest backup of any device you still use.

Trim Messages

In Manage Storage, open Messages. You can review the largest attachments and conversations and delete the ones you don't need. To stop the pile growing, go to Settings › Messages › Keep Messages and choose 30 days or 1 year instead of Forever. This deletes older messages, so change it only if that's what you want.

Clean up the photo library

Most of the space usually goes here. Remember that with iCloud Photos on, deleting a photo on your iPhone deletes it from iCloud and from all your devices. That's what you want for clutter, but it's worth knowing before you start.

Start with what the Photos app already does for you:

1. Duplicates. Under Utilities, the Duplicates album lists exact and near-exact copies. Merge keeps the best-quality version.
2. Screenshots. Under Media Types, the Screenshots album collects them all. Most stop being useful within a week.
3. Videos. Also under Media Types. Video takes far more space than photos, and a minute of 4K video can use more than a hundred times the space of a single photo. Look for long clips you'll never watch again, screen recordings, and videos recorded by accident.

Next come the photos Photos doesn't group: blurry shots, pictures of receipts, near-black frames, memes saved from group chats, and the five near-identical shots you took to get one good one.

That's what we built Keepers for. It sweeps up the junk it finds in your library, and then you go through the rest one swipe at a time, deciding what stays and what goes. The work runs on your iPhone or iPad, not on our servers, and there's no account to make.

You can sort 25 photos a day for free. Unlocking Keepers for good is $8.99 once, with no subscription.

Empty Recently Deleted

Deleted photos sit in the Recently Deleted album for 30 days. You get the space back once that album is emptied or the 30 days are up. When you're sure, empty it.

One setting that's easy to misread: Optimize iPhone Storage (in Settings › Photos) keeps smaller copies on your phone and the full originals in iCloud. It frees space on the iPhone, not in iCloud.

When a bigger plan is worth it

Paying for more is reasonable once the easy clean-up is done and you're still near the limit. Some rough guides:

• 5 GB free: enough for contacts, calendars, notes and maybe one small backup. It won't hold a photo library.
• 50 GB: one person with a modest photo library and one device backup.
• 200 GB: one person with years of photos and video, or a couple sharing a plan.
• 2 TB: a family that shoots a lot of video, or anyone with a very large library or iCloud Drive.
• 6 TB and 12 TB: for photographers, video makers and large families with big archives.

Look at how fast you're growing, not only where you are now. If you're at 45 GB and add 10 GB a year, 200 GB will last for years. A tier like 2 TB that you'll never fill is $7 a month more than 200 GB in the US, which adds up to $84 a year.

Family Sharing

You can share an iCloud+ plan with up to five other people through Family Sharing. Everyone's photos and files stay private to them, and only the storage total is shared. For two or more people this usually costs less than separate plans. One shared 200 GB or 2 TB plan typically beats two or three individual ones.

To share it, set up Family Sharing in Settings › [your name] › Family, then turn on iCloud+ sharing for the family.

Downgrading or cancelling without losing data

Go to Settings › [your name] › iCloud › Manage Storage (or Manage Account Storage) › Change Storage Plan, then choose Downgrade Options. The change takes effect at the end of your current billing period.

The risk comes after that. If your data is larger than your new limit, iCloud stops keeping things up to date. New photos stop uploading to iCloud Photos, devices stop backing up to iCloud, iCloud Drive stops syncing, and you can't send or receive email at your iCloud address. To avoid that:

1. Get under the new limit first. Do the clean-up above, then check that the storage bar shows less than the plan you're moving to.
2. Keep a full copy of your photos somewhere else. On a Mac, open Photos › Settings › iCloud and choose Download Originals to this Mac. Then back up that library to an external drive. On iPhone, Download and Keep Originals does the same if the phone has enough room.
3. Move large files out of iCloud Drive to a Mac or an external drive before you switch.
4. Turn off iCloud Backup for devices you back up to a computer instead. That frees their share of space.

If you're cancelling iCloud+ completely and going back to 5 GB, do all four. For most people, 5 GB won't hold a photo library.

FAQ

What happens if I run out of iCloud storage? New photos stop uploading, iCloud backups stop, iCloud Drive and other apps stop syncing, and iCloud Mail can't send or receive. To fix it, free up space or move to a bigger plan.

Does deleting photos on my iPhone free up iCloud space? Yes, if iCloud Photos is on. The photo is removed from iCloud and every device signed in to your account. You get the space back once Recently Deleted is emptied or the 30 days pass.

Is iCloud storage the same as iPhone storage? No. iPhone storage is the chip inside your phone, and iCloud storage is space on Apple's servers. Optimize iPhone Storage saves space on the phone. Only deleting things or changing what syncs saves space in iCloud.

Can I share my iCloud plan with my family? Yes. An iCloud+ plan can be shared with up to five other people through Family Sharing, and each person's data stays private.

Do I need to pay monthly to clean up my photos? No. The Duplicates and Screenshots albums in Photos are free. If you want an app for the rest, Keepers is a one-time purchase, not a subscription.