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Allyson Kazmucha
The best cloud storage apps for iPhone and iPad to help you access your files anywhere, collaborate with work groups, and stream your media more conveniently than ever!
Looking for the best iPhone apps and best iPad apps to help you store and access your files from anywhere? Cloud storage services not only keep us in sync and let us access our files wherever we are, whenever we need them, but they can be a great way to backup, share, and collaborate as well. They can even help free up precious local storage on our iPhones and iPads. There are a lot of great cloud storage options to choose from, and almost all of them have apps on the App Store. More importantly, which cloud storage apps are the absolute best?
Dropbox
Dropbox is available for iPhone, iPad, Mac, PC, and many other platforms. You get 2 GB for free and can earn up to 500 MB for each referral you get up to 18 GB. Dropbox also offers paid plans that start at $9.99 a month and go all the way up to enterprise levels. Dropbox acts as a folder on Windows and Mac, and an app on iOS, syncs everything between your devices, and stores backups - with versioning! - on Dropbox.com. You can also use the Dropbox app to upload all your images for backup and storage. There's no built in document editing or collaboration, but Dropbox has a great API (application programming interface) which means lots of iOS and Mac developers have integrated it into other apps.
If you need a cross-platform option that's widely supported by third party developers and has great versioning support, get Dropbox.
- Free - Download Now
Google Drive ties into all other Google products including Google Docs. This means you can not only access and collaborate on all your documents and spreadsheets from any browser, but from the iOS app as well. Google Drive also supports several file types such as Photoshop, Illustrator, several video formats, and more. Since it's Google, search is really well implemented. Storage space is among the most affordable. You get 15 GB for free, 100 GB of starts at $5 a month, and additional plans go up from there. Collaboration is the killer feature, though third-party app support is not as robust as Dropbox.
If you want to be able to collaborate on documents in the cloud, with outstanding search, and reasonable prices, get Google Drive.
- Free - Download Now
Copy by Barracuda may not have been around for as long as services such as Dropbox, but their offers are extremely competitive. Users of Copy get 15 GB storage for free, forever. Copy can also move all your files from another service automatically which makes the transition simple. Moving up to 2 GB in files from another service will cost you nothing. One of the most things about Copy is their approach to share files. Instead of a 4 GB shared folder being counted against everyone in the group, Copy 'splits the bill' since technically it's only hosted once. Copy also features AES-256-SHA encryption so you can rest assured your files are safe.
If you're looking for a dependable cloud storage service and share a lot of files, you may find you'll save a lot more space with Copy due to how they allocated shared storage.
- Free - Download Now
Cubby is a cloud storage offering my LogMeIn. For free you get 5 GB of storage and can access your files on iPhone, iPad, and on the web. Paid plans are reasonable and currently start at $3.99 for 100 GB of storage. Cubby also offers direct sync between computers on an unlimited number of computers. Those using Cubby on a business level can also monitor activity on Cubby and who shares what.
If you're looking for a corporate or workgroup solution at a reasonable price, Cubby is worth a good look.
- Free - Download Now
OneDrive, formerly known as SkyDrive, is Microsoft's own cloud storage service that ties into Microsoft Office Online and the full desktop versions of Microsoft Office. You get 7 GB to start you off for free and can upgrade to additional storage price starting at $10 annually. Obviously, it has the best support for Microsoft products, which is important in business. Third party developer support is growing but still isn't great.
OneDrive is one of the cheaper options available and if you depend on Microsoft Office or other Live services, get OneDrive.
- Free - Download Now
In addition to the typical folder sync and backup, SugarSync lets you upload or sync through email, which is a feature no other services currently support. SugarSync also offers a Microsoft Outlook plugin which makes it easy to upload and save attachments and documents. While there are no free plans for SugarSync, $7.50 a month gets you 60 GB of storage, and higher options remain reasonable.
If backup is of special concern, or you need to upload via email, or you want Outlook specific storage, check out SugarSync.
- Free - Download Now
Box works as both a cloud storage service and a collaboration tool for workgroups. For personal use, Box offers the typical features you'd expect. For business users, Box features secure file transfer, marking up documents, and notes. This means work projects can be fully accessible across a group of users who can see any edits or notes left for them. A free personal account gets you 10 GB of storage. Individuals and businesses can get additional storage for a yearly or monthly cost.
If you need a business-centric collaboration features, Box is one of the best.
- Free - Download Now
Do you use any of the above cloud storage apps on your iPhone or iPad? Why did you choose the one you did and why does it fit into your workflow better than other available services? And as always, if we missed something great, be sure to let us know that too in the comments!
Note: Originally published August 2013. Updated May 2014.
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