Opinions wanted: Apple versus Google for extended Backup and Cloud Storage

1836 Views 22 Replies 9 Participants Last post by Kenneth J Adams, 5 d ago

Jake

Discussion Starter · 9 mo ago

I am toying with the idea of expanding my storage options for our families IOS mobile devices by upgrading either Google One or iCloud storage. Most likely the 200GB option. Price is not really an issue. But looking at practical factors. We (4-5) all have Apple accounts and Google Accounts, Windows laptops, iPhones and iPads. Photos and videos currently get uploaded (compressed) to Google and deleted from the iPhone once full. iPad and laptops do not generate much content other than some documents. The 5GB iCloud would still function as a system backup for the iPhones and iPads.

I am aware of the security differences between the two ecosystem and we accept those risks and all the tracking. We will keep using iPhone too so no desire to switch to Android.

So are there any other gotchas or perks with one system or the other? I seem to recall Google offering a lite VPN. They say "Extra member benefits" but don't mention what those are anywhere. Other than a discount on Google stuff.

I do like the face tagging in Google One. I have many photos dating back to the late 90s that is is hard to locate a specific person by randomly scrolling.

Any and all opinions welcomed.

Google

Plans & Pricing - Google One

Google One has cloud storage plans for everyone — 100GB, 200GB, 2TB, and more. Our Android VPN comes with 2TB plans in select markets. All plans include family sharing and special features to give you peace of mind.

one.google.com

Apple

iCloud+ plans and pricing

When you sign up for iCloud, you automatically get 5GB of free storage. If you need more iCloud storage or want access to premium features, you can upgrade to iCloud+.

support.apple.com

1 - 20 of 23 Posts

JamesK

· #2 · 9 mo ago

I'm allergic to Apple. In news recently, there was an article about how they're not adding RCS, as they want to lock in their customers to iMessage. So, if you like lock in, go with Apple.

Reactions: 1

NeilN

· #3 · 9 mo ago

Any large company that gives up control and buys into Google's latest "flavour of the day" messaging standard is foolish (they still get the finger from me for decimating the RSS ecosystem). My family uses the 2TB iCloud storage which comes with Apple One Premier. It works out because I don't have to deal with setting up third party cloud storage whenever someone gets a new device. All their "stuff" is automagically copied to the cloud and intelligently handled by iOS to balance free space on the device with the convenience of having a local copy. I don't know if Google One is accessible on an Apple Watch if that's an issue for you (I have various shortcuts set up on my watch that write to files stored on iCloud).

All this is for Apple mobile device stuff. For work and school stuff, Microsoft's OneDrive is used.

Reactions: 2

Jake

Discussion Starter · #4 · 9 mo ago

Yes we also have Apple Watches but so far just use it typically like for fitness, health, notifications, weather. I also have Apple TV+ so I'll look into the Apple One options. I believe the next level down from Premier also includes Apple Music as well which I am interested in. I didn't mention it, but YouTube Music is giving me issues and I am still trying to figure out what works and what doesn't or what will work once I have paid for a service. I have a Chromecast Audio that is my preferred speaker since it is piped into my AVR and larger speakers.

I completely agree on the "intelligently handled" argument.

Mr.6

· #5 · 9 mo ago

Jake said:
Yes we also have Apple Watches but so far just use it typically like for fitness, health, notifications, weather. I also have Apple TV+ so I'll look into the Apple One options. I believe the next level down from Premier also includes Apple Music as well which I am interested in. I didn't mention it, but YouTube Music is giving me issues and I am still trying to figure out what works and what doesn't or what will work once I have paid for a service. I have a Chromecast Audio that is my preferred speaker since it is piped into my AVR and larger speakers.

I completely agree on the "intelligently handled" argument.

Apple stuff just works. I have zero issues and hassels with Apple products.

ExDilbert

· #6 · 9 mo ago

Considering the devices being used, the extra features offered for those devices and the almost identical pricing, iCloud appears to be a slam dunk.

Jake

Discussion Starter · #7 · 9 mo ago

I went down a rabbit hole there for a while reading up on RCS.

I'll say this about Apple, having just one messaging app on all my IOS devices has made it a lot simpler. I never quite understood why my various Android devices all had their own look and feel messaging apps/chat apps. Add to that, Google's rebranding or closing services every few years had not helped.

This wiki entry sums it up.

its increasingly fragmented and non-unified suite of messaging offerings was also facing growing competition from services such as Facebook Messenger, iMessage, and WhatsApp. A decision was made to scrap the existing Google Talk system and code a new messaging product through a collaboration with multiple development teams

This is starting to sound like I am Google bashing but it is not. My house is a daily user of Google Assistant, Google Photos and Google Drive and will continue. But to quote NeilN,

Any large company that gives up control and buys into Google's latest "flavour of the day" messaging standard is foolish

JamesK

· #8 · 9 mo ago

@Jake

Two issues, the default app on the various phones, other than Apple supports RCS. While they may look a bit different, they all work together. This is the same situation as with with FaceTime. You need an Apple device to use it. The other is there are a lot of 3rd party apps for both platforms, which people use for a lot of reasons, such as encryption. Bottom line, if you want something that works for both Apple and Android users, you won't get it from Apple. This is called lock in and Apple has been doing that for decades.

Jake

Discussion Starter · #9 · 9 mo ago

Thanks for the explanation. Since there are a lot of 3rd party apps available for the iPhone why not just use one of those?

JamesK

· #10 · 9 mo ago

@Jake

Given I'm allergic to Apple gear, I'm not likely to worry about iPhone apps. The problem is with Apple and their lock in policy.

BTW, while my own phones have been Android, I have used iPhones and a Blackberry at work. I prefer Android for that reason.

HDTVFanAtic

· #11 · 9 mo ago (Edited)

Jake said:
I am toying with the idea of expanding my storage options for our families IOS mobile devices by upgrading either Google One or iCloud storage. Most likely the 200GB option. Price is not really an issue. But looking at practical factors. We (4-5) all have Apple accounts and Google Accounts, Windows laptops, iPhones and iPads. Photos and videos currently get uploaded (compressed) to Google and deleted from the iPhone once full. iPad and laptops do not generate much content other than some documents. The 5GB iCloud would still function as a system backup for the iPhones and iPads.

I am aware of the security differences between the two ecosystem and we accept those risks and all the tracking. We will keep using iPhone too so no desire to switch to Android.

So are there any other gotchas or perks with one system or the other? I seem to recall Google offering a lite VPN. They say "Extra member benefits" but don't mention what those are anywhere. Other than a discount on Google stuff.

I do like the face tagging in Google One. I have many photos dating back to the late 90s that is is hard to locate a specific person by randomly scrolling.

Any and all opinions welcomed.

Google

Plans & Pricing - Google One

Google One has cloud storage plans for everyone — 100GB, 200GB, 2TB, and more. Our Android VPN comes with 2TB plans in select markets. All plans include family sharing and special features to give you peace of mind.

one.google.com

Apple

iCloud+ plans and pricing

When you sign up for iCloud, you automatically get 5GB of free storage. If you need more iCloud storage or want access to premium features, you can upgrade to iCloud+.

support.apple.com

i am also in the Apple structure with iPhones, iPads, Macs etc

here’s your long term issue. Won’t effect you today. But it will eventually. So might as well consider it today Before you move forward.

1 iPhone a decade a go. Complimentary 5gb backup no issues.

Added iPad. 5gb too low. Need 50gb at $.99 cents. No problem

5 years later, ceiling it. Need 200gb for $2.99 a month. No issue.

Now 5 years later my 200gb is too low. Only option Apple offers is 2TB for $19.99 a month!

No 500gb for $4.99. No 750gb for $7.99. No 1TB for $9.99

$2.99 to $19.99 a month

GTFO

Google also goes from 200gb at $2.99 to 2TB. BUT they only charge $9.99 a month.

plus you can purchase for a year at $99 vs $240 from Apple.

i am also investigating a service called iDrive that gives you 5TB for $75 a year, so I’d get off the Apple plan as eventually you will be in same position as me.

if they had the 500gb for $4.99. 750gb for $7.99. 1TB for $9.99 I might consider staying.
but $36 to $240 a year? They lost me.

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Reactions: 1

NeilN

· #12 · 9 mo ago

I've used iDrive for years for PC backups. A seamless syncing service it is not.

57

· #13 · 9 mo ago

I realize that for some people the cloud is an easy backup accessible from various devices, but in cases where you need a lot of memory, you need to pay. Personally, I back up my iPad and iPhone to my Mac computer once in a while and it gets backed up to an external drive once a week. No cost at all.

HDTVFanAtic

· #14 · 9 mo ago

NeilN said:
I've used iDrive for years for PC backups. A seamless syncing service it is not.

Dont doubt it’s not seamless.

probably Apple will only be. But there are still issues there. Like Apps disappearing from App Store that cannot be restored.

but the gall of 200gb to 2TB for a 650% increase and nothing in between is telling.

at least Google is half that price

Jake

Discussion Starter · #15 · 9 mo ago (Edited)

Good point about the slowly increasing backups. Like 57 does, I used to backup my cameras and now phones to physical media. I dropped that a few years ago since I found I rarely cracked open the backups and just went to Google Photos. Even for making large format prints.

One factor I had not considered is Google's compression. So backups take a lot less space than the original. Especially with many phones capturing >12MPixel images. I meant to look into that since I know Apple allows for JPG/H264 or HEIF/HEVC.

Does anyone here with a PC use iTunes for iPhones backups?

NeilN

· #16 · 9 mo ago (Edited)

I used to. Worked fine. Then I realized that it wasn't worth the hassle unless you a specific reason to repeatedly wipe your phone and restore. HDTVFanAtic's point about disappearing apps is valid but I've found most of those apps will break sooner or later.

Reading Daring Fireball reminded me of a disadvantage of iCloud-only backups:

"While I’m talking about initial setup, let me repeat my recommendation from last year: I cloned my existing iPhone 13 Pro to new iPhone 14 devices this week both by restoring from iCloud Backup and using the direct device-to-device Quick Start transfer. I highly recommend the device-to-device transfer. It might take a bit longer, but it moves almost everything, including your login credentials for almost every app. My biggest complaint about restoring from iCloud Backup is that while your data all gets restored, your login credentials don’t."

Reactions: 1

Jake

Discussion Starter · #17 · 9 mo ago

A little tip about old versions of apps. If you ever installed an older version of an app it is still available in the app store, just hidden. Go to the App Store and tap My Purchases. Find the app you want to install. Tap the cloud icon to download it on your old Apple device. If there’s a compatible version in Apple’s app server, Apple would suggest you install the old version of the app. I had to do this for Netflix on a really old iPad.

bobmac

· #18 · 8 mo ago

NeilN said:
I used to. Worked fine. Then I realized that it wasn't worth the hassle unless you a specific reason to repeatedly wipe your phone and restore. HDTVFanAtic's point about disappearing apps is valid but I've found most of those apps will break sooner or later.

Reading Daring Fireball reminded me of a disadvantage of iCloud-only backups:

"While I’m talking about initial setup, let me repeat my recommendation from last year: I cloned my existing iPhone 13 Pro to new iPhone 14 devices this week both by restoring from iCloud Backup and using the direct device-to-device Quick Start transfer. I highly recommend the device-to-device transfer. It might take a bit longer, but it moves almost everything, including your login credentials for almost every app. My biggest complaint about restoring from iCloud Backup is that while your data all gets restored, your login credentials don’t."

I am just wondering if he had an encrypted backup in his iCloud backup? From Apple support site..
Encrypted backups can include information that unencrypted backups don't:

Your saved passwords.
Wi-Fi settings.
Website history

Encrypted backups might not include "login credentials for almost every app" though.

NeilN

· #19 · 8 mo ago

This is referring to local backups, not iCloud backups. iCloud backups have always been encrypted (no user choice in the matter) as far back as I can remember.

Jake

Discussion Starter · #20 · 6 d ago

In conclusion I ended up getting the Google One 202GB option. I may revisit this in a year as I paid for the entire year. it was $40/year. Yes 202GB is not a typo. I still have my original 17GB limit. I recall there was a 2GB bonus if you completed a security audit.

Not mentioned before but I use the Google Office apps a lot. I access this material mostly on a PC. Also, I added my family members to the plan as they were also reaching the 15GB limit.

1 - 20 of 23 Posts