Guess what? If you don't like the terms of use, do NOT sign up.
I'm so tired of the nanny state removing the responsibility from the user, who voluntarily signed up, for the user's poor decision making process. Read the agreement before joining. It is actually that simple.
Great suggestion. Please suggest another cloud service we can use to back up all our data on our iPhones.
Backblaze, Dropbox, etc.. Every time you perform a local backup in the privacy of your own drive, it syncs automatically to the cloud. As simple as plugging in to charge.
No, iCloud is deeply integrated into iOS – no other cloud service has any chance to backup your settings neither you will be able to restore your iOS device from anything other than an iCloud or iTunes (or macOS Finder) backup.
And there’s your answer.
Backup to iTunes/macOS Finder (which is baked into iOS and incidentally backs up more than the iCloud backup does) and those backup files can be backed up to the cloud via dropbox, Backblaze, etc.
Restore from there is just as easy as restoring from iCloud, and is in fact faster.
If one does not like the Apple eco-system, buy Android instead. No one, yet, is forced to buy any Apple product be it software, hardware or services.
And that is what people do. Apple iPhone is almost non-existent in Europe comparing to Android as opposed to the United States. Didn't you know that? Now regulartions are regulations and laws are laws. Who said that customers complained? This is regulators who reviewed terms and conditions. See the difference? So stop your childish tactics recommendations to consumers. Get mature and see the detail.
The issue is, these aren’t freely negotiated contracts, these are eat or die contracts users are forced to accept.
What hopeless fan boys some here are, is obvious with the comments, since they fail to accept legitimate concerns where there are.
While there may be legitimate concerns here, these are not eat or die contracts. iCloud is absolutely not the only backup solution. You can do a manual backup to your computer, upload content to Google Photos, Dropbox, Box, or any other number of services, you could also decide against an iPhone altogether and choose something else. There are plenty of options.
Except iCloud is the only backup service that is built in to iOS and allows automatic restoration of your phone, etc. also, do those other services allow backups of health data, settings, passwords, etc? My understanding is that they only backup files.
iTunes allows you to backups & store them wherever you want. If you tell iTunes to encrypt the backup (you always do this), then the backup includes health data, settings, passwords, etc. So use iTunes, encrypted backup & store it in Dropbox, Box, etc. There - you have just fully backed up to another cloud service.
Please read the T&C excerpt accurately. Only iCloud backups are subject to the 180 day window. Not other files stored on iCloud as long as you are paying for the storage.
I can’t read Italian, does the report refer to specific Italian law that the terms are in conflict with? If not, no case.
I would assume that if you're paying for iCloud storage, this would not pertain.
Your assumption is apparently wrong. There is nothing stating this applies to free tiers only, so backups will be deleted after 180 days no matter if it's your paid-for iCloud storage or not. So it turns out Apple is even controlling how long you should keep your data on the storage you're renting from them. Lovely.
Since you seem to be so conversant with the issue, can you tell me where to find the terms of service?
Please read the T&C excerpt accurately. Only iCloud backups are subject to the 180 day window. Not other files stored on iCloud as long as you are paying for the storage.
I can’t read Italian, does the report refer to specific Italian law that the terms are in conflict with? If not, no case.
I would assume that if you're paying for iCloud storage, this would not pertain.
Your assumption is apparently wrong. There is nothing stating this applies to free tiers only, so backups will be deleted after 180 days no matter if it's your paid-for iCloud storage or not. So it turns out Apple is even controlling how long you should keep your data on the storage you're renting from them. Lovely.
Since you seem to be so conversant with the issue, can you tell me where to find the terms of service?
From that link: iCloud Backup periodically creates automatic backups for iOS devices, when the device is screen locked, connected to a power source, and connected to the Internet via a Wi-Fi network. If a device has not backed up to iCloud for a period of one hundred and eighty (180) days, Apple reserves the right to delete any backups associated with that device. Backup may include device settings, device characteristics, photos and videos, documents, your messages, ringtones, Health app data and other app data. For additional information, please go tohttps://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207428.
No exceptions for paid tiers are stipulated, which would mean the terms apply to all accounts free or not.
Please read the T&C excerpt accurately. Only iCloud backups are subject to the 180 day window. Not other files stored on iCloud as long as you are paying for the storage.
I can’t read Italian, does the report refer to specific Italian law that the terms are in conflict with? If not, no case.
I would assume that if you're paying for iCloud storage, this would not pertain.
Your assumption is apparently wrong. There is nothing stating this applies to free tiers only, so backups will be deleted after 180 days no matter if it's your paid-for iCloud storage or not. So it turns out Apple is even controlling how long you should keep your data on the storage you're renting from them. Lovely.
Since you seem to be so conversant with the issue, can you tell me where to find the terms of service?
From that link: iCloud Backup periodically creates automatic backups for iOS devices, when the device is screen locked, connected to a power source, and connected to the Internet via a Wi-Fi network. If a device has not backed up to iCloud for a period of one hundred and eighty (180) days, Apple reserves the right to delete any backups associated with that device. Backup may include device settings, device characteristics, photos and videos, documents, your messages, ringtones, Health app data and other app data. For additional information, please go tohttps://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207428.
No exceptions for paid tiers are stipulated, which would mean the term applies to all accounts free or not.
And that document is very specific - it only deletes the backup. The details about what will be deleted, are the contents of the backup.
From that link: iCloud Backup periodically creates automatic backups for iOS devices, when the device is screen locked, connected to a power source, and connected to the Internet via a Wi-Fi network. If a device has not backed up to iCloud for a period of one hundred and eighty (180) days, Apple reserves the right to delete any backups associated with that device. Backup may include device settings, device characteristics, photos and videos, documents, your messages, ringtones, Health app data and other app data. For additional information, please go tohttps://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207428.
No exceptions for paid tiers are stipulated, which would mean the terms apply to all accounts free or not.
According to Apple Support, this only pertains to backups which have been turned off on device.
If you haven't disabled iCloud backup on the device, the backup will be retained.
I did say I was paying for iCloud storage, so I don't know about the free tier.
From that link: iCloud Backup periodically creates automatic backups for iOS devices, when the device is screen locked, connected to a power source, and connected to the Internet via a Wi-Fi network. If a device has not backed up to iCloud for a period of one hundred and eighty (180) days, Apple reserves the right to delete any backups associated with that device. Backup may include device settings, device characteristics, photos and videos, documents, your messages, ringtones, Health app data and other app data. For additional information, please go tohttps://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207428.
No exceptions for paid tiers are stipulated, which would mean the terms apply to all accounts free or not.
According to Apple Support, this only pertains to backups which have been turned off on device.
If you haven't disabled iCloud backup on the device, the backup will be retained.
I did say I was paying for iCloud storage, so I don't know about the free tier.
Understood.
People even on paid tiers may have reasons to turn off backups for a period of time, ideally for not more than 6 months of course since, paid or not, Apple may delete them. I certainly had not even seen mention of that and I'd bet most others here had not either. It is helpful to get the mention out there for those who might be unexpectedly impacted.
It does sound reasonable though considering the Billion+ account holders who probably use iCloud for nothing but backups and otherwise forgotten. That's a lot of potentially dead storage that may not be serving any purpose for the user and just increases Apple costs.
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Restore from there is just as easy as restoring from iCloud, and is in fact faster.
From that link: iCloud Backup periodically creates automatic backups for iOS devices, when the device is screen locked, connected to a power source, and connected to the Internet via a Wi-Fi network. If a device has not backed up to iCloud for a period of one hundred and eighty (180) days, Apple reserves the right to delete any backups associated with that device. Backup may include device settings, device characteristics, photos and videos, documents, your messages, ringtones, Health app data and other app data. For additional information, please go to https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207428.
No exceptions for paid tiers are stipulated, which would mean the terms apply to all accounts free or not.
If you haven't disabled iCloud backup on the device, the backup will be retained.
I did say I was paying for iCloud storage, so I don't know about the free tier.
People even on paid tiers may have reasons to turn off backups for a period of time, ideally for not more than 6 months of course since, paid or not, Apple may delete them. I certainly had not even seen mention of that and I'd bet most others here had not either. It is helpful to get the mention out there for those who might be unexpectedly impacted.
It does sound reasonable though considering the Billion+ account holders who probably use iCloud for nothing but backups and otherwise forgotten. That's a lot of potentially dead storage that may not be serving any purpose for the user and just increases Apple costs.