If you follow the 3-2-1 backup rule for your Photos library, that's great - your memories are safe. If not, a gentle reminder that iCloud Photos is a great syncing service, but not a backup. Syncing won't help if you accidentally delete photos, can't access iCloud, or face a glitch. Every week there's a post on r/iCloud, r/ApplePhotos etc. about lost photos. You must have an offline copy, ideally two. Make it a New Year’s resolution to do this.

Here's a brief primer:

You’ll need external storage — either an external hard drive (format: Mac OS Extended / Journaled) or an SSD (APFS). EHDs are slower but more durable, SSDs are faster but need regular workout to stay fit. Having one of each is ideal. Available storage should be 1.5-2x the current size of your Photos library.

Photos stored locally: If you don’t use iCloud Photos, or use it with “Download Originals to this Mac”, backing up is really easy. Just use Time Machine, or periodically copy the Photos Library to external drive (drag and drop)

Photos stored in iCloud: If using "Optimize Mac Storage" setting, full-resolution photos are only stored in iCloud, so Time Machine and direct copy won’t work. Some options:

•  Apple’s native method: Create a new Photos library on external drive > Set it as the system photo library > Turn on iCloud Photos and select 'Download Originals'. This will download your entire library (can take hours or days). Afterwards, switch back to your original library and re-sync everything.

• Apple Privacy portal method: Log in to privacy.apple.com > select "Get a copy of your data" > select iCloud Photos. After a few days, Apple will send you download links to several zip files containing your photos. Download, merge and organize.

• Photos Takeout method (Disclosure: Our macOS app): Exports your Photos library directly to external drive as regular folders (by year, month, or album). Preserves resolution, formats and metadata. Supports incremental exports, so repeat backups are very fast. Website. Mac App Store (One-month: $8.99, One-time: $49.99)

Whichever method you choose, do get yourself a real backup. Happy New Year!

I have paid for iCloud storage for 4+ years now (2TB, 1.2TB is photos). It’s sinking in that I am just going to be paying Apple $10 for the rest of my life, and I hate that idea.

Curious what alternatives people do? Does that photo stream feature still exist?

I appreciate the Photos app and keeping all my stuff organized / synced…. Just hate the subscription for life.

My wife and mother in law have been complaining that their iPhones have been losing their old photos.

I’ve just checked, and my wife has only 3,000 photos—and no photos from before 2016. Her phone shows the correct album structure for events of earlier years, but the albums are empty (0 photos). It is synced with iCloud.

My MIL is in the same situation, with only 1,500 photos—and none from before 2018.

Both had over 20k photos. Both pay for additional iCloud storage. Neither deleted the older photos, or back them up to a computer because they trusted iCloud’s backups.

They say this has been going on for some time (so well past the 30-day recovery period), and it is just now in discussing the issue that they have realised the extent of the problem. Both say they are worried about losing more photos as time goes on. Both subscribe to iCloud additional storage, have an iPhone 16 on the latest iOS, etc.

Is this known issue? What could have caused this? There isn’t any way to recover the photos once iCloud has deleted them, is there?

FYI

Apple ordered to open encrypted user accounts globally to UK spying

British security services would have access to the backups of any user worldwide, not just Brits, and Apple would not be permitted to alert users that their encryption was compromised.

.

My family is using 199GB, so I'm getting the annoying messages that I'm out of space. The next level up is 2TB? Seriously? Why don't they have a 500GB plan, and a 1TB plan. I'm happy to give them my money, but I'm not happy that I have to go from a nominal price, to an egregious price. I got a family, kids, I have lots of devices, it's not like I have samsung devices backing up into iCloud. These are all apple devices that I have purchased and all still come with 5GB of free cloud storage... yeah - 2 videos.

I had no choice but to upgrade to 2TB, and now I'm using like 10% of it's capability, for 100% of the price. I submitted feedback to Apple suggesting more tiers, and also to give an increase of the free 5GB that comes with (since that's never been increased since 2011).

I encourage you to do the same - by going here: https://www.apple.com/feedback/

Since they nominally increase the memory space, give the users some flexibility in the appropriate plans. Every new device takes like 4K video and a billion pixels... that costs me storage.

I've reached my limit of subscriptions for this, that, and the other - I'm tapped out already. Don't hold me hostage to your ridiculous tiers. Give families, on a family plan, some flexibility, please.

https://www.404media.co/apple-hide-my-email-vulnerability-reveals-peoples-real-email-addresses/

A vulnerability in Apple’s “Hide My Email” tool lets almost anyone discover a person’s real email address that is supposed to be hidden by the feature, and Apple has failed to fix it for more than a year, according to a security researcher and 404 Media’s own tests.

404 Media is not revealing the exact details of the vulnerability because it can still be exploited as of Monday, when 404 Media verified the issue with one of our own hidden email addresses.

”Apple Hide My Email is leaking email addresses that are supposed to be hidden. We reported the issue and replication instructions to Apple over a year ago. We don't know why it hasn't been fixed, but we don't feel comfortable waiting any longer. Hide My Email users deserve to know that it may be possible for attackers to discover their hidden email addresses,” Tyler Murphy, the co-founder of EasyOptOuts, which discovered and reported the issue to Apple, told 404 Media.

“Free, publicly accessible people-search sites make it easy to link an email address to other personal details, so people relying on Hide My Email for safety may be at risk,” Murphy added.

Hide My Email is part of Apple’s paid iCloud+ product. It lets users generate an anonymous email addresswhich they can then use to sign up to services or email people with instead of their personal email. These email addresses are often two random words and a number ending in the @icloud.com domain.

This can be useful for all sorts of reasons: to reduce spam; to create an account you may not want linked to your personal address and identity; and to not have your personal information held by a site that may later suffer a data breach. I personally have generated more than 400 email addresses with Hide My Email, for example.

To test the issue I generated a new Hide My Email address and provided it to Murphy. Around five minutes later, he replied with my real email address linked to my Apple account which was supposed to be hidden.

“We don't know the full scope of the issue, but in our limited tests with volunteers, 100% of Hide My Email addresses were exploitable,” Murphy said.

Murphy first reported this issue to Apple in June 2025, according to a copy of Murphy’s messages with Apple he shared with 404 Media. A month later, Apple replied and said it was looking into the issue. In March of this year, Apple said it had “addressed the reported issue in a recent system change.” But Murphy found the issue had not been fixed. He provided more information, and later that month Apple said again it was looking into it. Apple said it was still investigating in May.

“We are still investigating this issue. To avoid placing our customers at risk, we would appreciate you not disclosing this information until our investigation is complete. We appreciate your assistance in helping us to maintain and improve the security of our products,” Apple wrote in May.

“It seems that ending new sales of Hide My Email until the problem is fixed would be an effective way to limit the number of customers at risk. Is that an option?” Murphy wrote back.

At the end of May, Apple said it was planning to address the issue in a future security update “expected in the coming weeks.” Murphy then contacted 404 Media on Monday and provided details of the issue and his statement saying, “We don't know why it hasn't been fixed, but we don't feel comfortable waiting any longer.”

Apple did not respond to multiple requests for comment from 404 Media.

In June, TechCrunch reported Apple plans to make changes to Hide My Email that will make it significantly less effective. It will change generated email addresses from using the @icloud.com domain to @private.icloud.com, which means websites or services will be able to more easily block signups from those addresses.

I’m not trying to bash Apple — I’m genuinely trying to understand what safe options people are using.

I’ve got a large photo library, mostly family stuff, and it feels like once everything is in iCloud, you’re basically stuck paying indefinitely unless you’re willing to risk messing something up.

Most of the advice I see is either:

- “Just download everything” (which doesn’t scale well)

- or very technical workflows that feel risky for normal users

My biggest concern is safety — making sure there’s a verified copy *before* anything gets removed locally.

For people who’ve actually done this successfully: how are you approaching it without risking data loss?

Hi everyone! I’m considering leaving Gmail and switching entirely to iCloud Mail. I’m fully integrated into the Apple ecosystem, so the idea of a more seamless experience is appealing. Plus, I’m interested in the potential privacy benefits compared to Google.

Has anyone here made this switch? How has your experience been with iCloud Mail in terms of reliability, spam filtering, and overall email management compared to Gmail?

Would love to hear your thoughts!

Just screaming to the void and about to ask for my money back.

iCloud+ with 2 TB storage
$9.99 per month
iCloud+ with 6 TB storage
$29.99 per month

I use iCloud to save my work files, but about two weeks ago, I noticed that most of the files had disappeared, although folder(directory) structures remained intact.

I contacted Apple's customer service three times, and finally I was told that it was impossible to recover my data. The icloud terms of use states that "Apple shall use reasonable skill and due care in providing the Service, but Apple does not guarantee or warrant that any Content you may store or access through the Service will not be subject to inadvertent damage, corruption or loss."

This is outrageous. They claim rights but shirk responsibility.

I asked if this was due to a malfunction in the algorithm for detecting illegal files, but the support specialist denied it. (Terms of use: "You acknowledge that Apple is not responsible or liable in any way for any Content provided by others and has no duty to screen such Content. However, Apple reserves the right at all times to determine whether Content is appropriate and in compliance with this Agreement, and may screen, move, refuse, modify and/or remove Content at any time, without prior notice and in its sole discretion, if such Content is found to be in violation of this Agreement or is otherwise objectionable.")

I still don't understand why this happened. And I believe that Apple doesn't know either. It's an incurable situation.

Do NOT trust iCloud; always backup to another cloud service or NAS.

I have around 250 GB of photos, backups, and others on my iCloud. As a result, I was forced to pay for the 2 TB option, instead of getting something more reaosnable like 500 GB. Now I need to pay $120 a year instead of just 36 a year for the 200 GB option.

Does anyone else find that really annoying? Feels like a predatory business practice...

Apple has finally raised the number of allowed personalized email addresses per Custom Email Domain from 3 to 10.

You can use up to five custom domains, with up to 10 personalized email addresses per domain.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/102540

Seems related to the increase in allowed iCloud email aliases from 3 to 9. The documentation changed after September 16.

I did a test where I email one of my hide my email addresses (from proton mail) and replied with mail.app in macos 26 and I checked headers when I got a reply.

Here is what I found in headers:

X-Dmarc-Info: pass=none; dmarc-policy=(nopolicy); s=u0; d=u0; pdomain=MY_NAME.COM

I guess it doesn't hide it if you have your own domain...

update:
It also does not remove your computer IP address if it's included in a header....

I use google workspaces for my domain and if I use mail.app it includes my ip address...

Received: from smtpclient.apple (IP_ADDRESS.cox.net. [IP ADDRESS])
by smtp.gmail.com with ESMTPSA id

A year or so ago I transitioned all of my email from Gmail to iCloud, and created around 200 hide my email addresses along the way. Yesterday I started getting bombed with hundreds upon hundreds of spam emails, several per second. After seeing it what address it was coming through, I disabled the address.

This address was only used on one single website used to pay a medical bill. I did call them and let them know they might have had a data breach, but I just can't imaging what I would have done if that had happened to my primary account and could not shut it down.

Thanks Apple for the feature, just please let me actually send emails from them too.

/story time

Hi guys, I'm trying to download iCloud for Windows 10 without using the microsoft store app. Does anyone have a download link to one or know if this is possible anymore? Thanks! :)

Obviously 5gb is not enough for anyone. I swear it used to not be like this years ago, and iCloud always synced everything you had incase you lost your phone, but now it's basically mandatory to pay for that "luxury" to keep your data right?

I have all apple devices. Just need basic personal email but also need very reliable service, quick syncing and good search. Been using gmail forever but not a fan of their privacy record. Is iCloud mail worth the trouble? Is it reliable?

I’ve been using Gmail for a long time, but since I mostly use Apple devices (iPhone and MacBook), I’m considering switching to iCloud Mail as my main email.
One thing that annoys me is that I currently have different email addresses connected to different accounts and services. Some use my Gmail address, while others use my iCloud Mail address. Because of that, I sometimes have to switch between Gmail and Apple Mail just to check different emails, which gets pretty annoying.
I’m thinking about switching everything over to one email address and using iCloud Mail as my main email.
For those who have made the switch: Was it worth it? Is iCloud Mail reliable enough as a primary email, or is Gmail still better?
I’m especially interested in spam filtering, reliability, privacy, and how well it works across Apple devices.
Would you switch everything to iCloud Mail, keep Gmail, or maybe use both in a better way?

Used iCloud+ for years across multiple devices, but we kept hitting storage limits. Between photos, videos, and backups, it added up over $300 in a few years.

I ended up setting up a dxp4800p NAS at home. Now everything backs up locally, no monthly fees, and we have way more storage for family photos and files.

Still use iCloud for syncing essentials, but for media, the local setup feels more sustainable long-term.

Anyone else using a hybrid approach or moved part of your data off iCloud?

I paid $720, last year, for my son’s iCloud. He has autism, and he stores every image and video he creates. I need to know of the best, easiest, most affordable iCloud alternative there is. The kid is taking me to the poor house! We have so many external hard drives, it’s not even funny, ATP. Then, if one breaks, well, you don’t want to know what happens, and he can NEVER get over it!

I need to save the both of us from the hassle: Me - going broke to Apple Him - losing his precious creations

We use Family iCloud and my wife and I share passwords. One day she couldn’t find them — I checked my devices too, gone. Not in Recently Deleted either. It coincided with setting up a new MacBook Air.

I called Apple. After weeks of back-and-forth they basically told me it’s more about preventing it from happening again — they can’t recover them.

I told them this shakes my trust completely, because tomorrow photos or documents could vanish too. They said passwords and banking info “can’t be stored on their servers.” But if I have them synced to iCloud, they’re already on your servers! Weak excuse.

What I find unbelievable: they don’t provide any backup of your passwords. They’re not stored locally if you use iCloud sync, and iCloud doesn’t back them up either. If shared passwords disappear from Family Sharing, they’re gone for everyone — not even the original owner keeps them.

TL;DR: Lost all my shared passwords due to an Apple bug. Can’t recover them because they’re not backed up anywhere in Apple’s system. Incredible.

Long story short: I was at a doctor’s appointment and told my manager I’d monitor emails on my iCloud account. While I was out, my iCloud subscription automatically tried to charge an old card (I literally just got a new one the day before). Because the payment failed, Apple instantly stopped me from sending or receiving emails with absolutely zero warning.

I missed critical work emails while at the doctor, leaving my team wondering why I didn't do anything, and I couldn't fix it until I got home to update my Apple Pay.

Why is there no grace period for this? If you have 200GB+ used in the storage plan, you obviously aren't just going to ditch the account.

Has anyone else experienced this? I'm looking for reliable alternatives for privacy emails because I can’t use a service that jeopardizes my job over a payment not going through that exact second.

Edit: A lot of you are missing the forest for the trees by hyper-focusing on my temporary work setup. The premise of this post is about Apple’s billing system. Cutting off email access at the exact second a card declines, without a 24- or 48-hour grace period, is a terrible user experience.

Edit 2: Thank you to the few people (u/stomachofchampions) who were staying on topic rather than my work and giving me solid advice on how to handle the backups. Much appreciated.

Edit 3: To clarify one last time. This post is strictly about Apple’s zero-grace-period billing policy.

Thank you to the other people who also stayed on topic, offered helpful advice regarding backups, email alternatives, and who understood the situation. u/sf-keto's comment and u/FeelinLikeACloud420's comment

To everyone else: I am not looking for unsolicited career advice, corporate IT audits, or judgment on how I handle my medical appointments. I have iCloud+, so I can have multiple email addresses. I use one of them for work. The details of my temporary work setup are completely irrelevant to the core issue, which is a major tech company instantly blocking a vital service the exact second a card declines. I will not be answering any more invasive, off-topic questions about my personal life or my employer. I get that now it's the employer's responsibility and not mine, but I still think my point stands. If you want to discuss Apple's billing practices and lack of a grace period, I’m here for it. If not, please move on.

Edit 4: For those who believe I'm not being truthful, look at this: https://support.apple.com/en-us/102198