Apple Introduces iCloud+ With New Privacy Features

Pretty much anyone with an Apple ID gets a free iCloud account that comes with 5GB of storage. Obviously Apple would prefer if you upgraded to their paid storage options, and they have decided to make it a bit more enticing by announcing a new premium feature for paid iCloud subscribers called iCloud+.

This comes with a bunch of privacy related features and tools that some might be able to appreciate. This includes a feature called Private Relay which encrypts all traffic leaving your device, meaning that no one, including Apple, will know what websites you’ve visited. It sounds like a VPN but Apple insists that it is not.

Another feature of iCloud+ is an expansion of the Sign In With Apple feature, where users using the Mail app on iOS devices will be able to generate random email addresses for instances they don’t want to give their real email address. This is similar to how Sign In With Apple works where all emails are sent to the randomly generated email address and then forward to your real email address.

Last but not least, iCloud+ will support HomeKit Secure Video where depending on the storage option you purchase, you will be able to connect more cameras to your iCloud account and have the footage saved to the cloud. iCloud+ will come at no additional cost to those who are already subscribed to a paid tier of iCloud.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Apple, General
Tags: icloud, Privacy, wwdc, wwdc 2021