Updated February 2026 • 5 min read
iCloud+ costs $0.99/month for 50GB, $2.99/month for 200GB, or $9.99/month for 2TB. Seems cheap — until you realize Apple gives you only 5GB free (pathetically small since 2011) to trap you into paying. Here's how to downgrade without losing your photos.
🔴 DATA LOSS WARNING: If you downgrade and your iCloud usage exceeds 5GB, Apple will stop syncing. After 30 days over the limit, your data may be deleted. Download everything FIRST.
5GB is tiny but manageable if you move photos elsewhere:
Apple — a $3 trillion company — gives you 5GB free. The same amount since 2011. Google gives 15GB. Samsung gives 15GB. Microsoft gives 5GB but 100GB with Microsoft 365. A single iPhone photo is 3-5MB. You fill 5GB in about 1,000 photos — roughly 2-3 months of normal phone use. This isn't a generous free tier; it's a conversion funnel disguised as cloud storage.
Bottom line: Download your photos to Google Photos (15GB free) or your computer, then downgrade iCloud+. The $0.99-9.99/month saves $12-120/year. Apple's 5GB free tier is insulting, but you can work around it by using Google Photos for media and keeping iCloud for just passwords and contacts.
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