If you use iCloud storage for your iPhone, iPad, etc. you may be wondering what iCloud+ is all about.
Many iCloud users will have received a notification saying they have been upgraded to iCloud+, free of charge.
iCloud+ offers a range of new features and it is a free upgrade for anyone who has a paid iCloud plan. The free 5GB iCloud account doesn’t get these additional features.
Other than the free 5GB plan that all iPhone / iPad users get, Apple offers 3 levels of paid for iCloud+ plans. £0.79 per month for the 50GB plan, £2.49 for the 200GB plan and £6.99 for the 2TB plan. You can also share everything with up to five other family members.
In addition to cloud storage, iCloud+ offers security features such as Hide My Email, which generates random email addresses that forward to your personal inbox. This means you don’t have to share your real email address when filling in forms to sign up to public Wifi or subscribing to an email newsletter. This is helpful if you don’t want to have your actual email address added to marketing databases.
Another useful new feature is iCloud Private Relay. This service is a bit like a VPN and is designed to protect your privacy online. Private Relay encrypts your browsing data as it leaves your device, which protects if from being read by others. It encrypts the URL so that nobody (not even your Internet Service Provider or Apple) can see both who you are and what sites you are visiting. This prevents third parties determining your identity and building a profile of your location and browsing history.
Another security feature built into iCloud+ is Mail Privacy Protection, which helps prevent email senders from collecting information about you. The system protects your IP address and is intended to prevent unwanted email marketing, etc.
iCloud+ also features HomeKit Secure video. This allows users to connect home security cameras to iCloud. Once set up, footage from your security cameras is automatically stored in an encrypted format in your iCloud storage.
