Is Apple One Still a Good Deal in 2023?

It’s 2023, and Apple isn’t just in the tech business anymore. Now, you can find Apple behind entertainment, gaming, fitness, and more.

That’s right; as you probably already know, Apple has many different subscription services like Apple Music, Apple TV+, and Apple Arcade to provide its users with as many different options as possible. 

If you’re a die-hard Apple fan, chances are you’re subscribed to more than one of these subscription services. Apple knows this, which is why it created Apple One a few years ago.

While Apple One was a solid option when it first came out, it’s had a few slight price increases in recent times, which makes us wonder if the bundle is really worth it. 

If you’re in the same situation, here’s what you need to take into account to determine if an Apple One bundle is right for you.

What Is Apple One?

In case you don’t already know, Apple One is a monthly subscription bundle that provides access to some or all of Apple’s subscription-based services for a single monthly price.

For example, instead of paying for extra iCloud storage, Apple Music, Apple Arcade, and Apple TV+ individually, Apple One lets you get all four together for less money than you would if you subscribed to each one on its own. 

What’s Included in Apple One? 

What you get for your Apple One subscription will depend on the plan you choose. Unfortunately, if you want access to all of Apple’s services, you’ll need to go for the most expensive option, even if you’re just looking for an individual plan.

For starters, we’ve got Apple One’s Individual option. This plan comes with 50GB of iCloud storage as well as access to Apple TV+, Apple Music, and Apple Arcade. While Apple Music is an individual plan for only one person, the other services can be shared with up to five other people through Apple’s Family Sharing feature.

However, if you’re really looking for something the whole family can enjoy, then it’s the Apple One Family plan. This offers 200GB of iCloud storage along with the Apple Music Family tier that can also be shared with six family members, along with the same Apple TV+ and Apple Arcade subscriptions found in the Individual plan.

Last but not least is Apple One’s flagship Premier option. This gives you everything in Family — Apple Music Family, Apple TV+, and Apple Arcade — plus 2TB of iCloud storage and access to Apple Fitness+ and Apple News+.

Needless to say, the Premier plan provides the most — just about everything Apple has to offer — but it doesn’t come cheap.

How Much Does Apple One Cost?

Again, this will depend on the plan you choose. However, make things a bit more complicated, Apple decided to increase the price of all of its subscription plans in 2023, making them quite a bit more expensive. 

If you go for the Apple One Individual plan, you’ll pay $19.95 per month. The Apple One Family plan costs $25.95 per month, and the Premier plan is now $37.95 per month. That’s a $3/month increase for the Individual and Family plans and a $5 monthly hike for the Premier plan.

So, as you can see, Apple One isn’t necessarily cheap, but it still saves you a few dollars if you’re subscribed to four or more of Apple’s services.

How Much Do Apple Subscriptions Cost Individually?

While the cost of Apple One plans has increased over the past two years, so has the cost of most of Apple’s individual services.

So, there’s no doubt that Apple One will still save you a few dollars, but how much do you actually save? To give you a better comparison, here are the current prices of the services that Apple One offers.

iCloud+

• 50GB: $0.99 per month.
• 200GB: $2.99 per month.
• 2TB: $9.99 per month.
• 6TB: $29.99 per month.
• 12TB: $59.99 per month.

All iCloud+ storage plans include iCloud Private Relay, Hide My Email, support for custom email domains, and up to 10 days of HomeKit Secure Video storage from one, five, or an unlimited number of cameras, depending on your plan.

All iCloud+ plans can be shared with up to five other people who are part of your Apple Family Sharing group. They can also be “stacked” on top of any Apple One plan to increase its base storage. For example, Apple One Premier subscribers can pay an additional $9.99/month to get a total of 4TB of storage.

Apple TV+ 

Apple’s streaming service launched in 2019 for $4.99 per month, but after two price increases in the last 12 months, it now costs twice that, coming in at $9.99 per month. However, there’s no “family” plan here, as the standard subscription has always been sharable with up to five other members of your Family Sharing group.

Apple Arcade

Apple Arcade costs $6.99 per month, also an increase over the $4.99 price it launched at in 2019, although it also includes a substantially larger catalog of games than it did at launch. Like Apple TV+, Apple Arcade can also be shared with your whole Family Sharing group.

Apple Music

Sadly, the pricing for Apple Music is a bit more complicated. While Apple owns the rights to everything on Apple TV+ and Apple Arcade, it has to deal with the licensing costs and policies set by the music labels. This means charging extra for plans that provide streaming access to more than one user.

• Apple Music Student plan: $5.99 per month.
• Apple Music Individual plan: $10.99 per month.
• Apple Music Family plan: $16.99 per month.

These Apple Music plans launched in 2015 at $4.99, $9.99, and $14.99 per month but saw their first price hike in 2022 as a result of increased licensing costs for music.

The good news is that the Apple Music Student plan still includes Apple TV+ for free. Apple maintains this is a limited-time offer, which means it could go away at any time, but it’s been saying that for four years now, making it one of the longest “limited-time” offers we’ve ever seen.

Apple Fitness+

Apple’s fitness service costs $9.99 per month or $79.99 per year. No matter which option you choose, you can share it with up to five other family members.

Apple News+

This service now costs $12.99 per month after a recent $3 monthly increase. Like most other Apple services, it can be shared with up to five other family members.

The Numbers

So, for instance, if you subscribe to iCloud+, Apple Music, Apple TV, and Apple Arcade individually, you’d be spending $28.96 per month, which is $9.01 more than those same services with Apple One. 

And if you were to individually pay all the other services that are part of Apple One Premier, you’d be spending $66.94 per month — $28.99 more than with the equivalent Apple One plan.

So, Is Apple One Worth It in 2023?

As you can expect, the answer depends on your situation. If you’re using all of Apple’s subscription-based services, then Apple One is more than worth it. 

You’d be able to save nearly $30 per month and you and your family would have access to all of Apple’s best subscription services like Apple Fitness+ and Apple News+.

On the other hand, if you’re just one person who uses Apple Music and pays for 50GB of iCloud storage, you’re better off paying for them individually. 

While the price difference isn’t that big, if you know you won’t be using Apple TV+ or Apple Arcade as much every single month, you’d basically be giving Apple money for free.

Most of us don’t really use all of Apple’s services every month, so it might be better to subscribe to them whenever you know you’re going to use them and cancel them right after you’re done.