Apple plans to discontinue its iCloud Documents and Data service and fully replace it with iCloud Drive by May 2022.
Originally spotted in support documents by MacGeneration, the move will force users to activate iCloud Drive to view their files. Apple said in the documents that upgrading to iCloud Drive will not change the storage space used by your files saved in iCloud.
“In May 2022, iCloud Documents and Data, our legacy document syncing service, will be discontinued and completely replaced by iCloud Drive,” Apple notes in its support document. “If you use iCloud Documents and Data, your account will be migrated to iCloud Drive after this date.”
Apple initially introduced iCloud Drive in 2014 as a more seamless way for users to store, access, and share files with other users and across multiple Apple devices.
For those who haven’t already done so, to activate your iCloud Drive on macOS, go to System Preferences, click on your Apple ID, then click iCloud, then select iCloud Drive. For iOS or iPadOS users, simply go to Settings, click your name, then click iCloud, then scroll down to enable iCloud Drive.
Apple Insider notes that the only difference users will see once Apple makes the switch is that they will be able to see and access this data directly in the Files app on iOS or the Finder on Mac.
In May 2022, iCloud Documents and Data, our legacy document syncing service, will be discontinued and completely replaced by iCloud Drive.
Google and other tech companies are shaking up how users are storing their data, too. Google Photos users have until June 1 to take advantage of unlimited photo storage on their Google Drive. After that date, Google said that “any new photos and videos you upload will count toward the free 15 GB of storage that comes with every Google account or the additional storage you’ve purchased as a Google One member.”
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