Quick Tip - Stop Paying Too Much for a Family’s iCloud Drive Storage

Apple gives iCloud users 5 GB of free storage, but that fills up fast with iCloud Photo Library, iOS backups, iBooks, and more. Until iOS 11 and macOS 10.13 High Sierra, each person in a family had to buy extra iCloud space separately. Happily, Apple has now made it so everyone in a Family Sharing group can share a single 200 GB ($2.99 per month) or 2 TB ($9.99 per month) plan. 

The family organizer can start sharing storage in High Sierra or iOS 11 as follows: on the Mac, go to System Preferences > iCloud > Manage Family > My Apps & Services > iCloud Storage; in iOS, go to Settings > Your Name > Family Sharing > iCloud Storage. Any other family member can then cancel their paid plan and join the Family Sharing plan using their iCloud Storage screen. Its a great money saving tip!

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Warning - iCloud Photo Library Users: Do NOT Turn Off iCloud

File this warning under “unless it’s absolutely necessary.” If you use iCloud Photo Library on your Mac, don’t sign out from iCloud. Also, don’t deselect the iCloud Photo Library checkbox in either the Photos options of the iCloud pane of System Preferences or in the iCloud preferences in Photos itself. Why not? Because, when you re-enable iCloud or iCloud Photo Library, Photos will re-upload all your photos, which could take days. (It’s not really re-uploading all of them, but even just resyncing will take a long time.) 

Worse, if you don’t have enough space in iCloud for your entire Photos library again, you’ll have to upgrade to a larger plan temporarily, resync, and then downgrade to your previous plan. Apple will refund you the cost of the upgrade, but you’ll have to work with support to get reimbursed. Adam C Engst details the hell he experienced over at TidBITS.

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Dont get scammed by fake Apple Support calls!

If you get a call from someone claiming to be from Apple Support, and that your iCloud account has been compromised, Hang Up immediately. They are FAKE!

Reports are flying across the web and twitter about fake Apple Support calls trying to piggy back on the "iCloud Hack" news of last week. Including MacWorld writer Glen Fleishman, who says his wife was called at least 6 times: 

"Earlier on Monday, my wife let me know that “Apple Support” had called about iCloud security. She was dubious, and rightly so. “Apple” then called five more times (and counting). Suffice it to say, it wasn’t Apple, but fraudsters trying to piggyback on reports that a major breach of iCloud credentials could render hundreds of millions of accounts vulnerable."

KIRO 7 news in Seattle reported the victims were then asked for personal information to verify the account. RED FLAG!

Victims have reported an automated call, that claims to be "Apple Support" and warns their account has been compromised. The victim is then routed to a human or "advisor" for "help".

Per Apple 

• Always confirm the caller's identify before you provide any sensitive information over the phone. If you get an unsolicited call from someone claiming to be from Apple, hang up and contact us directly.

• never provide personal account information—including your Apple ID password, credit card info, or other personal information—by email or text message, and use extreme caution when clicking links in messages or sharing information over the phone. Instead, visit the company's website directly or call them yourself.

Apple can be reached at 1-800-275-2273

People who have fallen for this scam have apparently been bilked and had bank accounts drained

Spread the news and share this post!! And if you get a call from "Apple Support", Hang Up!

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Hackers to Apple - Pay up or we start wiping phones!

A group of hackers claim that they have access to a large number of iCloud accounts and will start wiping iPhones on April 7th if Apple does not pay a ransom.

The Hackers, identified as "The Turkish Crime Family" have demanded $75,000 in bitcoin or $100,000 in iTunes gift cards in exchange for deleting the list of accounts they are in possession of. The hackers claim to have access to over 300 million accounts. One hacker claims the number is 559 million.

My recommendation - Change your iCloud password NOW and perform a manual backup of your phone to your computer with iTunes.

How to backup with iTunes
How to change iCloud password

Hackers report on Cult of Mac
Hackers report on Motherboard
Hackers report on Metro

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