At its annual developers conference, Apple quietly reframed what a cloud subscription can mean — not merely a place to store files, but a layer of protection between a person and the surveillance economy. By folding a VPN, disposable email addresses, and expanded home camera storage into existing iCloud plans at no added cost, the company signaled that privacy, long a philosophical stance, is becoming a product. The gesture is generous in some directions and unchanged in others, leaving the 5GB free tier — and its millions of users — exactly where they were.
Apple Bundles VPN, Burner Email, and HomeKit Storage Into iCloud Plus
Privacy from ISPs and networks, not from Apple itself
Mark
So Apple is bundling three separate features into iCloud Plus—a VPN, burner emails, and unlimited HomeKit storage. Why does that matter?
Mimi
It signals where Apple sees the privacy conversation heading. They're not just offering storage anymore; they're offering ways to control what you reveal about yourself online.
Luke
But we should be clear about what Private Relay actually does. It masks your identity from websites, but Apple still sees your traffic. It's privacy from ISPs and networks, not from Apple itself.
Mimi
That's fair. And the burner email feature solves a real problem—you give out a fake address, it forwards to your real one, and if it gets sold to spammers, you just disable it.
Mark
What about the HomeKit storage? That seems like the most concrete benefit.
Mimi
Right now, if you want to record from even one HomeKit camera, you're locked into paying for 200GB of iCloud storage. This removes that gate entirely.
Luke
Though Apple didn't say whether the cheapest plans get this. That's a meaningful gap in what they announced.
Mark
And the Digital Legacy feature—is that new to Apple?
Mimi
It's new to iCloud, though other services have versions of it. You designate who can access your files after you die. It's practical and thoughtful.
Luke
The recovery feature is interesting too—letting trusted contacts receive security codes if you lose your device. That's solving a real pain point.
Mark
So the big miss is still the free storage tier?
Mimi
Exactly. 5GB is genuinely limiting for most people, and Apple hasn't budged on that in years.
Der Puls
- Apple is repositioning iCloud as a privacy shield, routing browsing traffic through two anonymous relays so that no single party — not your ISP, not the website, not Apple itself — can see the whole picture.
- Everyday inbox pollution gets a practical answer: Hide My Email lets users generate throwaway forwarding addresses, burning them the moment they attract spam without ever exposing a real account.
- HomeKit camera users, long pushed toward expensive storage tiers just to record footage, now get unlimited video storage decoupled from their file storage plan — though the cheapest tier's eligibility remains unresolved.
- New account recovery and Digital Legacy tools address the fragility of digital identity — who gets in when you're locked out, and who inherits your files when you're gone.
- The one thing Apple did not change is the one thing most users wanted changed: the 5GB free tier stays, meaning the new privacy features remain gated behind a paid subscription.
At its annual developers conference, Apple quietly reframed what a cloud subscription can mean — not merely a place to store files, but a layer of protection between a person and the surveillance economy. By folding a VPN, disposable email addresses, and expanded home camera storage into existing iCloud plans at no added cost, the company signaled that privacy, long a philosophical stance, is becoming a product. The gesture is generous in some directions and unchanged in others, leaving the 5GB free tier — and its millions of users — exactly where they were.
Apple used its Worldwide Developers Conference to announce iCloud Plus, a rebranded version of its cloud storage service that adds three privacy features to existing paid plans without raising prices. The additions — a VPN called Private Relay, a disposable email tool called Hide My Email, and unlimited HomeKit camera storage — represent Apple's most direct move yet to make privacy a tangible subscription benefit rather than a marketing promise.
Private Relay is the most architecturally ambitious of the three. It splits internet traffic across two separate relays, ensuring that neither one can identify both who you are and where your data is going. The result is a browsing experience shielded from ISPs, public networks, and the websites themselves — a meaningful layer of anonymity for everyday use.
Hide My Email solves a smaller but persistent problem: the spam that follows any time you share your address with a service you don't fully trust. Users can generate single-use forwarding addresses on demand, disabling any that attract unwanted mail without touching their real inbox. Apple already offered something similar through Sign In With Apple, but this makes the capability available independently across iCloud.
The HomeKit storage change removes a long-standing frustration for users of Apple's home security cameras, who previously had to pay for higher storage tiers just to record footage. Under iCloud Plus, that video storage becomes unlimited and separate from the storage used for photos and documents — though Apple left open whether its cheapest plans, which currently don't support HomeKit recording at all, would be included.
Apple also introduced two features designed for life's harder moments: a recovery system that lets trusted contacts provide security codes if you lose device access, and a Digital Legacy program that lets you designate who can access your accounts and files after death. What Apple did not introduce was a larger free tier — the 5GB baseline remains, keeping all of these new features behind the paywall.
Apple announced iCloud Plus on Monday, a refresh of its subscription cloud storage service that folds in three new privacy and security features without raising the price. The update adds a VPN service called Private Relay, a burner email tool named Hide My Email, and unlimited video storage for HomeKit-connected home security cameras—all bundled into existing iCloud subscription tiers at no extra charge.
Private Relay works by routing your internet traffic through two separate relays, obscuring both your identity and the origin point of your data. The system is designed so that neither relay can see the full picture of who you are or where your traffic originates. It's a privacy layer that sits between you and the websites you visit, meant to shield your browsing from ISPs, networks, and the sites themselves.
The Hide My Email feature addresses a more everyday problem: the spam that arrives after you hand your address to a service you don't fully trust. With this tool, you can generate single-use email addresses that forward messages to your actual account. If one of those addresses starts receiving unwanted mail, you can disable it without affecting your real inbox. Apple already offers a similar capability through its Sign In With Apple feature, but Hide My Email makes it available as a standalone option across iCloud.
The HomeKit storage expansion removes a significant friction point for people using Apple's home security cameras. Currently, recording video from HomeKit cameras requires paying for at least 200GB of iCloud storage, and supporting multiple camera streams pushes users toward even pricier tiers. Under iCloud Plus, HomeKit video storage becomes unlimited, decoupled from the storage tier you choose for photos, documents, and other files. Apple did not clarify whether this benefit extends to its cheapest plans, which today do not support HomeKit video recording at all.
Beyond the privacy bundle, Apple introduced two account management features aimed at life's harder moments. A new recovery system lets you designate trusted friends or family members who can receive security codes if you lose access to your devices. The company also launched a Digital Legacy program, allowing you to specify who can access your files and accounts after you die—a feature that addresses a gap many users face when trying to plan for what happens to their digital lives.
The announcement came at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday, where the company typically previews software and services updates. What Apple did not announce was a change many users have long requested: a free iCloud tier larger than the current 5GB baseline. That remains unchanged, and for now, anyone wanting the new privacy features will need to maintain a paid subscription.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
Apple did not clarify whether this benefit extends to its cheapest plans, which today do not support HomeKit video recording at all.— Apple's announcement at WWDC
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