User Case: What Happens If a Family Member Leaves Family Sharing?

 

I therefore considered downgrading my iCloud subscription in order to save money. However, my best friend has iCloud backups and is sharing with my family. Would she lose her iCloud backup and her iCloud images and videos if I removed her from family sharing? Is it possible to move it to her own iCloud instead?

- Question from Reddit

What Happens If I Stop Sharing iCloud Storage with Family

If you stop sharing iCloud storage with your family, the following will happen:

  • Loss of Shared Storage: Family members will no longer have access to the shared iCloud storage plan. They will revert to using their own iCloud storage, which is typically the free 5 GB plan unless they have their own paid plan.
  • Storage Limit Exceeded: If any family member was using more than their individual storage limit (e.g., the free 5 GB), they will need to either purchase their own iCloud storage plan or free up space to avoid issues like being unable to back up their device, sync data, or receive new emails.
  • Data Access: Any data stored in the shared iCloud storage will remain accessible only to the account holder (you). Family members will not lose their data, but they may need to manage their storage to ensure they stay within their individual limits.
  • Backups and Syncing: If family members were relying on the shared storage for iCloud backups, Photos, Documents, or other synced data, they may need to adjust their settings or purchase additional storage to continue these services.
  • Billing Changes: If you were the organizer of the family sharing plan and paying for the shared iCloud storage, you will no longer be charged for the shared plan once you stop sharing it.

To summarize, if you stop the family sharing plan, your iCloud storage will only be used by yourself, and other family members will back to the free 5 GB of storage. However, their data on iCloud will not be deleted, and they can still use iCloud to backup and sync if they have iCloud storage. There is a grace period of 30 days. Other members can upgrade their iCloud plan or free up space to avoid data loss.

Notes:✎ If I leave family sharing will I lose my photos?
If you leave Family Sharing, you won’t lose your personal photos stored in iCloud Photos. However:
Shared Albums will no longer be accessible.
If you were using shared iCloud storage, you’ll need your own storage plan if you exceed the free 5 GB limit.
Ensure your photos are backed up to iCloud before leaving.

Best Way to Migrate iCloud Data to Another Cloud - MultCloud

Whether for you or other family members, it is a good idea to backup your iCloud data to another place, like an external hard drive or a cloud drive, before stopping family sharing. By doing so, you can degrade your plan with ease. To backup files from a cloud to another, MultCloud is your top choice. MultCloud is a free web-based cloud file transfer service that supports 30+ cloud storage services, such as iCloud Drive, iCloud Photos, Google Drive, Google Photos, Dropbox, OneDrive, MEGA, FTP, NAS, etc.

MultCloud
MultCloud

MultCloud Cloud Transfer allows you to directly transfer data from iCloud Drive or iCloud Photos to another cloud without downloading and uploading. The transfer process can run offline so that you can close the MultCloud window and shut down your device after creating a transfer task. If you have a large number of data to transfer, offline transfer can help you save much time and energy.

Let’s take the steps of migrating iCloud Photos to Google Photos as an example.

Step 1. Open MultCloud on any web browser and click “Get started for free” to sign up.

Step 2. Add Google Photos and iCloud Photos by clicking “Add Cloud” and the corresponding cloud logo. When you add iCloud Photos, you will go through the two-factor authentication.

Add Google Photos and iCloud Photos
Add Google Photos and iCloud Photos

Step 3. Select the “Cloud Transfer” function in the left sidebar and choose iCloud Photos as the source and Google Photos as the destination.

Transfer iCloud Photos to Google Photos
Transfer iCloud Photos to Google Photos

Step 4. Tap the “Transfer Now” button to start transferring.

Notes:

  • Cloud Transfer offers multiple options that you can apply to your task. For example, you can filter the files you want to transfer or ignore with file extensions. Besides, you can choose to delete the transferred files from the source cloud to free up space.
  • Every user can get 5 GB of free traffic to transfer files each month. If you have a lot of files to transfer, you can subscribe to a paid plan to get more traffic.

If you have requirements, such as syncing files between iCloud Drive and Google Drive or restoring from Google Photos to iCloud Photos, you can try other MultCloud functions.

  • Cloud Transfer: MultCloud can transfer files from one cloud service to another directly without downloading and re-uploading.
  • Cloud Sync: With MultCloud, you can easily sync two folders between different cloud services in real-time.
  • Cloud Backup: You can backup and restore data between different cloud services automatically.
  • Instagram Downloader: MultCloud can help you download Instagram videos, photos, reels, and stories to local device or remotely upload them to your clouds.
  • Email Migration: You can directly back up and save Gmail emails as PDFs to your computer or cloud drive in bulk. 
  • Manage all cloud accounts in one place: Connect all your clouds to MultCloud and you'll find it so easy to access and manage multiple cloud storage files with a single login.
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Conclusion

What happens if I stop sharing iCloud storage with family? The family members will not have access to your iCloud storage and their plan will be converted to 5 GB of free storage. However, their data will not be removed from iCloud and iCloud Sync/Backup can still run as long as they have enough iCloud storage.

Moreover, it is recommended to backup your iCloud data to another place before you degrade your iCloud plan. If you want to transfer iCloud data to another cloud drive, MultCloud can help you automate the process with multiple helpful options.

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