Apple began emailing MobileMe users that the free 20GB of storage they received when migrating to iCloud is coming to an end. The notices began appearing on Monday with a warning that on September 30 the 25GB users have been enjoying for free will drop down to the standard 5GB level.
Apple's free iCloud storage boost for MobileMe users is coming to an end
In the email to customers, Apple stated,
Unless you take action before your downgrade takes effect, backups to iCloud will stop, and apps will no longer be able to save documents to iCloud. You can either free up storage or cancel your downgrade to keep your current storage plan for another year.
Apple originally promised the free 20GB iCloud storage would last only through June 30, but later pushed that out to the end of September.
Online backups for iOS devices is one of the features iCloud offers, and can quickly chew through the standard 5GB of storage Apple includes with the free service. Backing up more that one iOS device to iCloud can easily take up more than 10GB of space, and considering how many users have an iPhone and an iPad, there are plenty of subscribers that are likely using more than the base 5GB cap.
For iCloud users willing to give up online backups, they can simply shut off the feature on their iOS devices by going to Settings > iCloud > Storage & Backup and setting iCloud Backup to Off. Storage & Backup also includes a Change Storage Plan button that lets subscribers pay for upgraded data storage plans.
Storage upgrade plans for iCloud cost US$20 a year for an extra 10GB, $40 for an extra 20GB, and $100 for an extra 50GB.
Considering how handy iCloud backups for iOS devices is, there's a good chance a lot of former-MobileMe-now-iCloud subscribers will be buying annual storage subscriptions soon.