Apple today introduced Apple One, an offer of three different bundles of Apple services. There is an individual plan, a family plain, and, in countries that offer Apple News+, a premium plan. (That’s the US, Canada, Australia, and UK.)
Here are the services available in the bundle:
- Apple Music
- Apple TV+
- Apple Arcade
- Apple News+
- Apple Fitness
- iCloud storage
The family plan, which provides Apple Music, TV+, Arcade, and 200GB iCloud storage is a great deal: at $20 a month, you can share it with up to five other people, which means that, with a family of six (or a group of friends), it comes to $3.33 per month.
The individual plan can be good for some people, if they use Apple Music and at least one other service, and if the 50GB iCloud storage is enough. But for me, the math doesn’t work out.
I currently pay for Apple Music annually; that’s $100, or $8.25 per month. I also pay $3 a month for 200GB iCloud storage; the 50GB in the Apple One bundle isn’t enough. And I may continue to pay for Apple TV+, after the free period runs out early next year. To get the additional iCloud storage, I’d have to pay $18 a month.
If I stay with my annual Apple Music plan, add Apple TV+, and continue to pay for the iClouds storage, that’ll only cost me $16.25 per month. I have no reason to want to pay for Apple Arcade, so the bundle is more expensive. Even if I was paying monthly for Apple Music, I’d be paying $18 a month whether it’s a bundle or individual services, and, while I don’t know how it will work in the future, it might not be that easy to drop the bundle and return to individual subscriptions.
My other option would be to pay for the premium bundle. To be honest, while I don’t think Apple News+ is worth the $10 monthly price, I’d be willing to pay, say, $5 a month. With the premium bundle I’d save on the $3 iCloud storage fee, because it comes with 2TB storage (of which I really have no need). And I don’t think Fitness+ will be for me. So I’d pay $30 a month for extra services I don’t need.
I don’t know why Apple doesn’t have more options for the individual bundle, such as offering one which includes Apple News+. Apple will most likely tweak these bundles over time, and perhaps offer annual pricing for them. (Apple Music, Arcade, and Fitness+ currently offer annual prices; News+ and TV+ do not.) It’s in Apple’s interest to get more individuals into the prorgam.
But in the meantime, if you have two or more people wanting these services, either family plan is a no-brainer.