Apple hit with massive iCloud lock-in lawsuit accusing Apple of ‘rip-off pricing’
- Which one? claims that Apple is blocking consumers’ access to cheaper alternatives
- Apple offers 5 GB of iCloud space for free, but you have to pay for more
- British brand Which? is seeking £3 billion ($3.8 billion) in damages from Apple
Apple has long been accused of being stingy with its iCloud online storage levels, but things have rarely gone beyond the realm of cruel grumbling. That’s all changing now, though, as British brand Which? has launched one £3 billion ($3.8 billion) lawsuit. Apple accuses Apple of poaching its customers by locking them into expensive iCloud tiers.
When you buy an Apple device, you get 5GB of iCloud storage for free. If you want to upgrade, you can choose from a range of paid iCloud options. However, which one? says users won’t get a choice of competing cloud storage services, but will instead have to use iCloud because Apple blocks certain data on your device from being uploaded to competitor services.
A separate lawsuit from March 2024 claims that Apple “arbitrarily sequesters” critical app data and device settings needed for a full device backup.
According to the legal action from Which?, “Apple iPhone and iPad iOS users have had little choice but to use Apple’s own iCloud service, and therefore Apple can charge users more than if it had to compete with rival cloud storage services. “
The Which? The lawsuit seeks damages of £3 billion (about $3.8 billion) for about 40 million British customers, which would mean a payout of about £70 (about $90) for every Briton who has had iCloud services since October 1, 2015 used. Even for a company of Apple’s size and wealth, that would be a significant payout.
Analysis: We’ve been here before
The argument of Which? Essentially, Apple is unlawfully steering users to its own services instead of giving them a choice.
Apple has found itself in hot water in the past over similar issues, after it was sued by Epic Games for, among other things, preventing developers from directing customers to other services that could save them money. In that case, the judge ruled against Apple and forced the company to change its anti-steering practices, so which ones? may be hoping for a similar ruling in his own lawsuit.
Apple will likely say that it is preventing some critical files from being backed up to competitors’ services because they contain important information that Apple cannot guarantee is safe as it is beyond its control. Whether that argument is enough to win the case against Which? remains to be seen.
Apple could easily alleviate consumer dissatisfaction by offering more than a paltry 5GB of free iCloud storage. Granted, upgrading to the next iCloud tier (50GB) is cheap at $0.99 per month, but since many of the best phones and computers offer much more free storage, Apple fans shouldn’t have to pay to get more than 5 GB to get online disk space.
But ultimately, Apple isn’t forcing anyone to upgrade to more expensive iCloud tiers: you can buy a device with more storage or take a full backup with a desktop app like iMazingFor example. But if the lawsuit of Which? forces Apple to be more generous with its free iCloud offering, which in itself would be a win for consumers.