iCloud Drive

iCloud Drive is Apple’s file storage, launched with iOS 8 in 2014 and built into every iPhone, iPad and Mac. It shares iCloud storage with photos, backups and mail: 5 GB is free, and iCloud+ plans go from 50 GB to 12 TB. It is reviewed here on the same criteria as the privacy-focused services in this section, as a point of reference rather than a recommendation.

The review turns on one setting. By default Apple keeps the keys to your files and can decrypt them, which is how it restores an account after a forgotten password and how it can answer a search warrant. Advanced Data Protection, which you turn on yourself, moves those keys to your devices, and Apple then says it cannot decrypt iCloud Drive. Some file details, some sharing and all collaborative editing stay under Apple’s keys either way, and the setting is not available everywhere.

Encryption & Key Custody

Key custody under the default, which Apple calls standard data protection, sits with Apple. Your files are encrypted in transit and on Apple’s servers, and the keys for iCloud Drive are stored in hardware security modules in Apple’s data centers. Apple’s security guide says that when you sign in to iCloud on a new device, its servers can use these keys without further input from you. Apple uses that access to restore files on a new device or after a forgotten password, and its US legal guidelines say iCloud Drive content can be handed over in response to a search warrant.

Advanced Data Protection changes this for iCloud Drive and nine other categories, including device backups, Photos and Notes. When you turn it on, your device deletes Apple’s copy of the keys and creates new ones that exist only on your trusted devices. iCloud Mail, Contacts and Calendars stay under Apple’s keys either way. To turn it on you need two-factor authentication, a passcode on your devices, and every device signed in to your account updated to iOS 16.2, macOS 13.1 or a later version, or to iCloud for Windows 14.1. The switch is on an iPhone, iPad or Mac, not in the Windows app. Managed and child accounts cannot use it.

The setting protects the file content. For the metadata encryption, Apple lists the following iCloud Drive data as kept under its own keys even with the setting on: the file type, size, creation, modification and last-opened dates, checksums of the file content and file name, app installer signatures and whether a file is executable. Apple’s wording does not make clear whether the file name itself is protected or only its checksum. Apple uses the checksums to store identical files once, a technique it calls convergent encryption.

Account recovery depends on the same setting. Under the default, Apple can reset access and your files come back. With Advanced Data Protection on, Apple cannot help: you recover with the passcode of one of your devices, a recovery contact who can generate a code for you, or a 28-character recovery key. Apple asks you to set up a recovery contact or key before the setting turns on. If all of these are lost, the files are lost too.

Sharing stays end to end only between people who all have Advanced Data Protection on, for example in a shared iCloud Drive folder. Under the default, shared files are not end-to-end encrypted, and a link set to “anyone with the link” puts the item back under Apple’s keys even with the setting on. To set up any share, Apple receives the participants’ names and accounts, and may keep a title and thumbnail of the item for a preview.

With Advanced Data Protection on, iCloud.com cannot open your files at first. If you allow web access again, you approve each sign-in on one of your devices, which then hands Apple’s servers and your browser the keys for the categories you open, for that session. Your device shows a notification each time, and the approval has to be repeated after an hour for a new category.

In the UK, Apple’s support page says it can no longer offer Advanced Data Protection to new users, and that UK users who had already turned it on would be given time to switch it off to keep using iCloud. For them, iCloud Drive stays under Apple’s keys. Apple’s page does not say why. In April 2025 the Investigatory Powers Tribunal confirmed that Apple had brought a case over the Home Secretary’s power to issue technical capability notices under the Investigatory Powers Act 2016, without confirming that a notice had been issued. Apple says the feature is available everywhere else and that it has never built a backdoor or master key.

Trust & Transparency

The iCloud apps and servers are closed source, and no security audit of the encryption is published. Apple holds ISO/IEC 27001 and 27018 certifications that include iCloud and are renewed each year by an accredited registrar. They cover Apple’s security management system, not the encryption design or code. What Apple does publish is a detailed description of how iCloud keys work, in its Platform Security guide and support pages, a transparency report on government requests, and legal guidelines that list what it can hand over.

Users outside the US sign their contract with a regional Apple company, such as Apple Distribution International in Ireland, but Apple says it keeps the keys it can use in its US data centers. Without Advanced Data Protection, the keys to your files are therefore in the US wherever you live, and Apple’s US guidelines say iCloud Drive content can be handed over in response to a US search warrant. In mainland China, iCloud is run by GCBD (AIPO Cloud (Guizhou) Technology Co. Ltd) under its own terms.

Whatever the setting, Apple sees your name, address, email and phone number, payment details, and connection logs with IP addresses, which its legal guidelines say are kept for up to 25 days, as well as the file details listed above. Apple says device analytics and iCloud Analytics are sent only with your explicit consent, so the telemetry is opt-in, and both can be switched off later under Analytics & Improvements.

There is no confirmed data breach of Apple’s systems. In 2014, after photos were stolen from a number of celebrities’ accounts, Apple said the accounts had been taken over through a targeted attack on user names, passwords and security questions, and that none of the cases came from a breach of Apple’s systems, iCloud included.

Features & Sync

Desktop sync is part of macOS: iCloud Drive appears in the Finder on a Mac and in the Files app on iPhone and iPad. On Windows, iCloud for Windows adds it to File Explorer. There is no Linux app.

File versioning is thin. Deleted files stay in Recently Deleted for 30 days and can be restored there or from Data Recovery on iCloud.com. Pages, Numbers and Keynote documents keep a version history you can browse and restore; Apple documents no version history for other files.

Collaborative editing works in Pages, Numbers and Keynote, in the apps and on iCloud.com in a desktop browser. Apple’s servers coordinate the changes, so the key of a shared document is uploaded to Apple, and Apple’s security guide says the same happens when you open one of these documents from a shared folder. These documents are readable to Apple whatever the encryption setting.

Usability & Platforms

On a Mac, iPhone or iPad, iCloud Drive needs no installation and uses the Apple Account you already have; two-factor authentication is required for every new account. On Windows you install iCloud for Windows from the Microsoft Store, and the latest version needs Windows 11. There is no Android app, and Apple’s list of supported browsers for iCloud.com does not include Android.

Turning on Advanced Data Protection is a single switch in iCloud settings once your devices are updated. While it is on, you can sign in only on devices that meet the software requirements, and every web session must be approved from an Apple device.

Price & Value

The free tier gives 5 GB, shared with photos, device backups and mail. iCloud+ costs $0.99 a month for 50 GB, $2.99 for 200 GB, $9.99 for 2 TB, $29.99 for 6 TB and $59.99 for 12 TB in the US. Apple bills these plans monthly and lists no introductory price, so the listed price is the one you keep paying. Each plan can be shared with up to five family members, and it also includes Hide My Email, a custom email domain and iCloud Private Relay. Apple’s terms let you cancel a new subscription within 14 days of the confirmation email and get your money back; after that, fees are not refunded.

Pros and Cons

Our Rating