Apple Starts Offering Free 1-Month Trials to Paid iCloud Storage Plans

With a view to ultimately give a push to its paid plans, Apple has now started offering free one-month iCloud storage trials. The new trials have reportedly been given to all users who have reached their 5GB limit and applies to all the existing paid iCloud plans, including 50GB, 200GB, and 2TB. The latest change comes months after the iPhone maker brought Family Sharing for users on 200GB and 2TB plans. Moreover, Apple has thrown down the gauntlet to Google Drive and Microsoft's OneDrive as both don't offer free trials of their paid plans.

The free trial option comes through a pop-up message to users who have already consumed the default free limit of 5GB, as spotted by AppleInsider. "You do not have enough space in iCloud to back up your iPhone. A 50GB plan gives you plenty of space to continue backing up your iPhone. Your first month is free and it's just $0.99 each month after," reads the message.

While the 50GB plan will be available to users after completing the first free month at $0.99 (Rs. 75 in India), users picking up the 2TB storage option will need to pay $9.99 per month - or Rs. 749 in India. It is also worth pointing out that the selected storage plan will automatically renew. This means users need to discontinue the paid storage plan from their end, otherwise, they need to pay for the additional storage that was once given for free.

You can certainly leverage the fresh development and expand your existing iCloud storage to up to 2TB without any additional charges - but only for one month. The move by Apple certainly seems geared to expand the paid user base of its iCloud storage service.

In 2016, Apple expanded its iCloud storage plan lineup by introducing the 2TB option. The company also in 2017 replaced the original 1TB storage tier with the 2TB tier and brought the Family Sharing feature for 200TB and 2TB iCloud storage subscription plans to let users share their storage with up to six family members.