A funny thing happens when you use an iPhone, which doesn’t seem to happen as much if you’re using an Android: you start paying more for apps and various subscriptions, often to Apple directly.
This happened to me. But thanks to new features built into iOS, Apple has made it easier to avoid paying for apps and tools I used to subscribe to. Apple Passwords now mostly replaces a paid password-syncing service, the Files and Notes apps can handle scan-to-PDF tasks for free, and while Apple would prefer you upgrade to iCloud+ for photo backup, Google Photos offers a free alternative.
Here’s how I dropped three subscriptions for free alternatives, and how you can too.
You don’t need iCloud for photo backup
Use Google Photos for free instead
You can avoid paying for iCloud+ entirely if you shift your photo backup to Google Photos.
For example, right now, I have around 10GB of photos and videos that live on my iPhone that are backed up to iCloud, for which I’m paying $2.99 per month for iCloud+ for 200GB of storage (I have other files in iCloud, like backups, so I need more storage than the base 50GB plan for $0.99 per month).
If you just shift your photo backup to Google Photos, where you get 15GB for free (this space is shared across all Google services, not just Photos), plus it has the best widget on my phone, then you can avoid having to pay Apple every month for extra storage space just to keep your photos and videos backed up.
Apple gives everyone 5GB of free iCloud space, which for most people might not enough to back up a large library of photos. So you’ll either need to pay more to Apple to increase your storage space, or you’ll have to reduce your iCloud footprint by deleting backups and other files from the cloud while moving to another photo backup solution, like Google Photos. A single iPhone device backup is 2–4 GB, which will leave you little space for anything else if you are relying on the 5GB of free iCloud storage, so you’ll really need to consider increasing iCloud storage or move to another service to handle your photo backup.
To reduce your iCloud footprint and shift your photos backup to Google, just download Google Photos on your iPhone and turn on photo backup (Google Photos settings > Backup). You can pick if you want Google Photos to use more storage space to back up the original files for your photos and video (if you don’t have a huge library that exceeds the storage space), or you can pick “Storage saver” to save space and only keep mobile-optimized files on your device. To change your backup quality to save additional space, go to Google Photos settings > Backup > Backup quality > pick Storage Saver.
If you do this and log into any device with Google Photos (whether web, Android app, or other iOS apps), you should see your entire photo library once your phone has enough time to fully back up your photos to Google Photos. Before turning off Photo backup from iCloud, to avoid data loss, first ensure that Google Photos has fully backed up your photo library. This is important to prevent data loss.
Then, to delete your photos from iCloud (and a warning: before deleting your photos from iCloud, make sure you do a full Google Photos backup and confirm from another device that your photos were successfully backed up to Google), go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Storage > iCloud Photos > Turn Off and Delete Photos. Note: Apple gives you a 30-day grace period to undo the deletion of your photos in iCloud if you make a mistake. After 30 days, the deletion is permanent.
Doing this will shift your photo/video backup away from iCloud, where you have to pay a monthly fee for any appreciable amount of storage, and put it on Google Photos, where you get a lot of free storage for free. Also, turning off iCloud sync will mean that if you take a photo on your iPhone, it won’t show up on your other Apple devices, so choose accordingly.
Before deleting your photos from iCloud, make sure you do a full Google Photos backup and confirm from another device that your photos were successfully backed up to Google
QuizPaid iPhone apps that are now obsolete
Trivia challenge
Remember paying for apps that Apple or the internet eventually made irrelevant? Test how well you recall these forgotten downloads.
App HistoryiOSTech TrendsNostalgiaMobile Apps
Copilot, Navigon, and TomTom were popular paid iPhone navigation apps before which free Apple feature made them largely redundant?
Correct! Apple Maps launched with iOS 6 in 2012, offering free built-in turn-by-turn navigation. This decimated the market for paid GPS apps like TomTom and Navigon, which had previously charged $40–$100 for offline maps and routing.
Not quite. While Google Maps is a strong competitor, it was Apple’s decision to bundle Apple Maps with iOS 6 in 2012 that truly undercut the paid GPS app market. Apps like TomTom had charged up to $100 before free alternatives took over.
Twitterrific was one of the very first paid third-party Twitter clients on the iPhone. What historic distinction does it hold in App Store history?
Correct! Twitterrific holds the distinction of being the very first paid app purchased on the App Store when it launched on July 10, 2008. It was a beloved Twitter client that sadly shut down in 2023 after Twitter’s API pricing changes made the business unviable.
Not quite. Twitterrific’s claim to fame is that it was the very first paid app purchased on the App Store at its launch in July 2008. It had a loyal following for years before Twitter’s hostile API changes in 2023 forced it to shut down permanently.
Before iCloud Keychain and built-in password management, many iPhone users paid for a standalone app called 1Password. What originally made it a must-buy paid app?
Correct! Before iOS 12 introduced the Password AutoFill API, 1Password was essential because it was one of the very few ways to get reliable password autofill in Safari on iPhone. After Apple opened that API and expanded iCloud Keychain, the paid upfront model became much harder to justify for casual users.
Not quite. The key reason 1Password was a paid essential was its ability to autofill passwords in Safari long before Apple built that functionality into iOS 12. Once iCloud Keychain matured and Apple opened the AutoFill API, 1Password’s value proposition for everyday users shifted significantly.
Flashlight apps were once among the most downloaded paid apps on the App Store. Why did they become completely obsolete almost overnight?
Correct! When iOS 7 launched in 2013, Apple added a flashlight toggle directly into the redesigned Control Center, accessible with a single swipe. This instantly rendered the entire category of paid flashlight apps — some selling for $0.99 to $2.99 — completely pointless.
Not quite. The flashlight app market collapsed when iOS 7 in 2013 added a native flashlight button to the new Control Center. With one swipe, anyone could activate their LED flash for free, wiping out an entire genre of paid apps that had previously thrived.
Which paid photo-editing app, famous for its filters, was so influential that Instagram reportedly modeled its own filters after it before eventually making it obsolete?
Correct! Hipstamatic launched in 2009 and popularized the retro film-filter aesthetic on iPhone photography. Instagram’s founders openly acknowledged Hipstamatic as a major inspiration. Once Instagram offered free, social, and shareable filters, Hipstamatic’s paid model struggled to compete despite its superior photographic depth.
Not quite. Hipstamatic was the paid app that pioneered retro film filters on the iPhone starting in 2009, and Instagram’s founders have cited it as a direct inspiration. The rise of Instagram’s free, social-sharing model effectively made Hipstamatic’s paid one-shot approach feel niche and outdated.
Apps like Cycorder and Knobs were paid tools that gave iPhones basic video recording capability. What made them obsolete?
Correct! Early iPhones could take photos but had no built-in video recording, so paid jailbreak and App Store tools filled the gap. When Apple released the iPhone 3GS alongside iOS 3 in 2009, native video recording was included, immediately making these paid workarounds unnecessary.
Not quite. The reason video recording utility apps became obsolete was Apple’s own iPhone 3GS launch in 2009, which came with native video recording baked into iOS 3. Before that, users had paid for third-party tools just to capture basic video on their iPhones.
Angry Birds was once a chart-topping paid iPhone game. Rovio eventually made it free-to-play. What year did the original paid version launch on the App Store?
Correct! Angry Birds launched on the iPhone App Store on December 11, 2009, priced at $0.99. It became one of the best-selling paid apps of all time before Rovio transitioned it to a free-to-play model with ads and in-app purchases, a shift that reflected the broader industry move away from premium mobile games.
Not quite. Angry Birds launched on December 11, 2009, as a paid $0.99 download. It became a global phenomenon and one of the App Store’s biggest paid successes before Rovio pivoted to the free-to-play model that now dominates mobile gaming.
Voice Memo apps like Griffin iTalk were paid purchases before becoming irrelevant. What built-in Apple app eliminated the need for them?
Correct! Apple introduced the native Voice Memos app with iPhone OS 3.0 in 2009, which provided free, straightforward audio recording directly on the device. This made paid third-party voice recording apps like Griffin iTalk instantly redundant for the vast majority of users.
Not quite. The app that killed paid voice recording tools was Apple’s own Voice Memos, introduced for free with iPhone OS 3.0 in 2009. Once Apple included a capable, free recorder built right into the iPhone, there was little reason to pay for a third-party alternative.
Your Score
/ 8
Thanks for playing!
You don’t need a PDF scanner
Your iPhone does it for free now
Not long ago, I paid $9.99 to buy a lifetime license for Genius Scan Plus, which is an iPhone app that lets you use your phone camera to turn any documents into a PDF. Genius Scan automatically detects the edges of your document, fixes perspective, and sharpens text such that the resulting PDF looks like it came from a professional scanner. It was worth paying for because it solved a huge problem and was very useful.
But this functionality is now built into iOS in two places, so you never need to pay for a camera-to-PDF scanner ever again.
You can turn your iPhone camera into a PDF scanner in one of two ways. First, open the Files app > tap the three dots > scan documents. The second way you can use the free PDF scanner in iOS is via Notes. To do that, open Notes app > paperclip > scan documents.
If you do it from Notes, you can mark up the PDF with editing tools, whereas if you scan from the Files app, you are just saving the PDF for sharing later. Also, Apple Notes has 5 hidden features that can make you more organized that you might want to check out.
Stop paying a subscription for LastPass
Apple’s Passwords app is cross-device and actually good now
I paid for LastPass for years before realizing that for the way I actually use a password manager, Apple Passwords does nearly the same job for free.
Many people use a password manager like LastPass to securely save and synchronize passwords across multiple devices and platforms. But LastPass Premium costs $3 per month. That’s worth it, especially if you have a mix of devices and platforms. However, many are using Bitwarden because it’s open source and has perhaps the widest platform support.
But if you primarily use Apple devices, and all you need is secure password syncing, you’ll probably be fine using Apple’s free Passwords tool that does all the key things LastPass does, but for free. And there’s even basic support for Apple Passwords on Windows if you use the iCloud for Windows app. There is also now an iCloud password extension for Chrome.
If you decide to make the move from LastPass to Apple Passwords, you can import all of your logins to Apple Passwords after first exporting them from LastPass.
You don’t always need to pay Apple more
You have alternatives
As time goes on, a lot of what used to be a premium feature or service that you had to pay for is now built in to the operating systems you use every day, and in most cases, are offered for free with Apple’s built-in apps and services. Things like photo syncing, password management, and document scanning are all things you no longer have to pay for, especially if you use an iPhone.
- Brand
-
Apple
- Display
-
6.3 inches
