Technology: Apple One and Me

Our household of two people (double income, no kids) who each have a Macintosh we use full time (iMac & MacBook Pro), iPad (Pro and Air), Watch (Series 5 and Series 4) and finally we each have an iPhone 11 Pro and an AppleTV 4K.

We’re currently paying $9.99 a month for a 2 terabyte iCloud plan we share which honestly is about 1.2 terabytes of my own data (made up mostly of my iCloud Photo Library) and we’re paying $14.99 a month for Apple Music Family. Soon, we’ll be paying $4.99 a month for AppleTV+ which we’ve enjoyed a lot. Neither of us has a use for Arcade, News or Fitness. 

So when Apple One comes out, we’ll be paying Apple $9.99+$14.99+$4.99 for a total of $29.97. 

Here’s the bundle breakdown from Nieman Lab:

Apple One Individual: $14.95/month
Apple Music (normally $9.99)
Apple TV+ ($4.99)
Apple Arcade ($4.99)
50GB of iCloud storage ($0.99)
Total without bundling: $20.96
Bundle savings: $6.01

Apple One Family: $19.95/month
Apple Music ($14.99)
Apple TV+ ($4.99)
Apple Arcade ($4.99)
200GB of iCloud storage ($2.99)
…all for up to five people
Total without bundling: $27.96
Bundle savings: $8.01

Apple One Premier: $29.95/month
Apple Music ($14.99)
Apple TV+ ($4.99)
Apple Arcade ($4.99)
Apple Fitness+ ($9.99)
Apple News+ ($9.99)
2TB of iCloud storage ($9.99)
…all for up to five people
Total without bundling: $54.94
Bundle savings: $24.99

Apple One Premier is $29.95 a month, a savings of 2 cents over what I pay currently and would include Arcade, Fitness and News, services I don’t currently want or need. Apple’s FAQ on their Apple One page has this tidbit:

What if I need more iCloud storage?

What if I need more iCloud storage?

You can purchase additional iCloud storage separately to supplement what’s included with your Apple One plan. Learn more

The “Learn More” bit opens this page – https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201318 which doesn’t have the pricing but this is good to know. I’d be more interested in subscribing to Apple One Family and upgrading from 200GB to the 2 Terabyte plan so long as it ends up being less than the $29.97 I pay now. If it’s $24.99, that’s $60 less per year than I’m paying today. Not a huge savings but it’s something. If we eventually are interested in News, Arcade or Fitness, then the $29.95 plan becomes a no-brainer.

Based on today’s iCloud storage pricing, if Apple wants $9.999 in addition to $19.95 for 2 terabytes of storage, then our family will graduate to premiere and enjoy Arcade, Fitness and News which we don’t need but I’ll consider them ‘free’ 

We’ll have to see what the iCloud pricing ends up being for Apple One Family subscribers in the fall. 

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