{"id":52552,"date":"2026-07-08T15:22:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T19:22:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=52552"},"modified":"2026-07-08T15:22:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T19:22:34","slug":"apple-intelligence-for-homes-icloud-requirements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2026\/07\/08\/apple-intelligence-for-homes-icloud-requirements\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple Intelligence for Home’s iCloud+ Requirements"},"content":{"rendered":"

macOS 27 Golden Gate Beta 3 Release Notes<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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Apple Intelligence for Home requires an iCloud+ subscription starting at 2TB.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Via Rajesh Pandey<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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As part of the upgrade, the Home app uses AI to generate summaries of motion alerts from compatible HomeKit Secure Video cameras.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

Apple likely requires the 2TB iCloud+ tier because HomeKit Secure Video already relies on iCloud+ storage tiers. The 2TB plan supports a larger number of cameras, and AI-generated video descriptions would add to Apple’s cloud processing costs.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

That makes sense, but it seems odd because the iCloud tiers<\/a> are named based on storage amounts, yet the feature isn’t tied to how much space you’re actually using. A lower iCloud plan with tons of free space doesn’t get the features, yet a nearly full 2 TB plan does. There are already restrictions where supporting more cameras requires higher plans, but that is at least quasi related to storage.<\/p>\n\n

I reluctantly upgraded to a 2 TB family plan within the last year or so. We don’t store many files in iCloud, messages are set to auto-delete after a year, and I manually offload photos older than a year (except for hearted favorites). It’s hard to believe given how I remember the original 5 GB free tier once being sufficient, but staying under 200 GB became untenable without a lot of extra work. It doesn’t help that Live Photos sometimes gets inadvertently turned on, so that we’re storing all these little videos without realizing it.<\/p>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n