What is Apple One and how does it work?

We’ve made it to a world that functions almost solely on software. Many people can work from anywhere, apply for credit or track children’s’ whereabouts from a device. Travel back to the 90s and no-one would believe you. It’s been a long time coming, but Apple’s focusing increasingly on subscription services and software. Introducing: Apple One. 

You’ve probably subscribed to one too many subscription services already, but Apple wants you to subscribe to one more. One that could help organise things slightly. Instead of having up to six of the things, you just let Tim Cook raid your piggy bank once every month, and save a few rands. 

But, is it one plan to rule them all? Maybe. Apple One only requires one payment per month. But for that payment, you get access to all of Apple’s subscription services. Currently, there are three different Apple One plans to choose from. But Apple Three probably didn’t sound as good – and would have had a certain carrier get all grumpy and send its entire legal team to Apple HQ to… talk.

Choose your poison(ous Apple One)

The Apple One service recently launched in a limited number of countries but will roll out in more locations in a few months’ time. Due to this, we don’t have any local pricing yet. But we’ve had a look at the plans and what you get for your (to be determined) money. 

The Individual plan is designed for one user and is the cheapest — here you get Apple Music, Apple TV+ and Apple Arcade. You’ll also get an extra 50GB of iCloud storage stacked on top of whatever you already pay for. 

If you’ve got more than one person in the house, the Family Plan is the second tier. Here you get Arcade, Music and TV+ (which offer family sharing, regardless of your plan). In addition to the above-mentioned, you’ll also get iCloud storage of up to 200GB. If you’re feeling fancy, the Premier Plan will get you up to 2TB on iCloud, with some News+ and Fitness+ sprinkled in. For a larger price of course. 

Once it launches in SA, whether you should sign up depends on what you’ll save over your existing Apple subscriptions. Once we have local pricing we’ll do a comparison on the actual savings for someone signing up to AppleOne. What it does boil down to, however, is that you’ll save quite a lot if you’re keen on subscribing to all of the Apple services.