The features appear as an admission from Apple about the limits of what privacy protections can do on-device.

But they nevertheless open the door to so-called “premium” privacy features becoming a part of Apple’s large and growing services empire. The privacy-focused additions are minor in the grand scheme of the protections Apple offers across its ecosystem, and Apple isn’t using them as justification for increasing the cost of iCloud. With the new Private Relay and Hide My Mail features, however, iCloud Plus is expanding its remit from a storage-based service into a storage and privacy service. iCloud Plus now lets you securely stream and record from an unlimited number of cameras, up from a previous maximum of five. The first change sits more within iCloud’s traditional cloud storage remit, and is an expansion of Apple’s existing HomeKit Secure Video offering. Private Relay and Hide my Email are privacy features included with iCloud Plus But what is changing is the list of features you’re getting, which is expanding by three. Prices will still range from $0.99 a month for 50GB of storage up to $9.99 for 2TB. Apple isn’t changing anything about the pricing or storage options as part of the shift to iCloud Plus.

You get 5GB of free storage to backup everything from images, to messages and app data, and you pay a monthly subscription if you want more (or just want to silence Apple’s ransom note when you inevitably run out of storage). ICloud has always been one of Apple’s simplest services. The pitch is still “our products keep you safe,” but now one of those “products” is a monthly subscription that doesn’t come with the device in your box - even if those devices are getting more built-in protections as well. But this promise has shifted very subtly in the wake of this week’s iCloud Plus announcement, which for the first time bundled new security protections into a paid subscription service. The pitch is simple: our products protect your privacy. Its CEO Tim Cook has repeatedly stated that privacy is “ a fundamental human right,” the company has based multiple ad campaigns around its privacy promises, and it’s had high profile battles with authorities to keep its users’ devices private and secure. Apple has spent considerable time championing itself as a protector of user privacy.

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