Is 'Total Drive' a legitimate service to add more iCloud storage?

I'm not that familiar with Total Drive, but it seems completely distinct and different from iCloud Drive.

Total Drive is, at heart, a backup storage solution. You designate content on your device(s) to get backed up, and Total Drive backs them up. End of story. As a separate service, it does not appear to affect your iCloud Storage in any way.

It also costs $99/year, or $11.99 a month, so I'm not sure where the $1.99 price tag you're referring to comes from - that's an optional charge to add more capacity to your iCloud Storage plan from Apple.

iCloud Storage can also act as a backup repository, and synch across devices. The main advantage of iCloud Storage is its integration into the OS for things like application/data offload (so the OS automatically offloads idle or little-used applications and data (photos, music, documents, etc) and seamlessly download them any time you try to open them (compared to manually having to download the content that you want).

Either way, both Total Drive and iCloud Storage offer certain advantages. It's up to you to determine which one (if any) offers you the most value.

I received a message about needing to get my storage upped or I could loose everything. It was from Total Drive and it was for $1.99. I am not really that familiar with this stuff but I didn’t want to loose my photos and all. It really made it sounded like I had to have it. So for $1.99 I did it. But then It was actually $1.99 twice a month and I just discovered they changed it to $9.99 twice a month. I would never have agreed to that!!!! I feel totally scammed and am requesting a refund and cancelation.

Does it add more storage to iCloud?

No, not in any way. It is a completely different service that does not work with iCloud.

Is it legitimate?

That is a vague question, although the ratings are good with some mixed reviews in the App Store. The main factor would be if it makes more sense for you to pay for that service as opposed to iCloud with the built in integration. In my opinion it would not make sense to pay for 2 services and some apps are specifically designed to store content in iCloud.

Janicefrombonnybridge wrote:

I did not request a recurring transaction, and require it to be cancelled immediately

If your case is like the others here, it has nothing to do with Apple and it is not Apple that is billing you. You can verify if the subscription is one that is managed by Apple and easily cancelled here:

View or cancel app subscriptions on iPhone - Apple Support

I suspect it is NOT, so that means the you are being billed directly from the Developer. On the TotalDrive website, they show cancellation instructions where you can also find more information including their refund policy.

https://help.totaldrive.com/en/billing/-/how-do-i-cancel-my-subscription

You most likely inadvertently signed up for a free trial through a website advertisement or Social Media link where it became a subscription because the free trial was not cancelled.

They said they are giving a one time charge of $1.99 for more cloud storage. That’s it no other charge mentioned. They say in the ad- you don’t have room for photos, so your photos will be lost- anything you want to save will be lost. So I signed up for the

$1.99 deal. When I checked my charges. They also charged me , without my knowledge $39.99.

SCAM!!! TRICKSTER!! I called the company right away. I asked them to cancel my order & return my money. Surprisedly He did do the refund !

Ginger005s wrote:

I got charged $9.99 throughPayPal which I was not aware of because I pay $2.99 a month what is this for?

Did you perhaps sign up for a Total Drive subscription?!?

Total Drive has nothing to do with iCloud.

The word "cloud" is a generic term which people use to refer to servers and services on computers located on a network (especially on the Internet), "in the cloud". The image of the cloud saying that we aren't as interested in the gory details of how all the networks are connected, as in the fact that a service lives "out there somewhere."

iCloud (note the leading "i") is a trademarked name that Apple uses to refer to the "Apple cloud", to services that live on Apple's data centers. But there are many other private clouds. Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Adobe … among many others … all have their own clouds.

This Total Drive app is for accessing a private cloud associated with the Total Drive people. They may be hoping that when you see the word "cloud", you'lll think of "iCloud" (Apple's service). Or not. But if you're paying Apple $2.99/month for iCloud+, and you then pay Total Drive $9.99/month (?) for whatever they are offering, that's as if you rented two different storage units from two different companies.

I have them continuously trying to take money I even replaced my bank card because I didn’t know what it was and my bank alerted me and turned the payment down I’m going to a attorney I never gave them permission to take my money!

JDsmother wrote:

I received a message about needing to get my storage upped or I could loose everything. It was from Total Drive and it was for $1.99. I am not really that familiar with this stuff but I didn’t want to loose my photos and all. It really made it sounded like I had to have it. So for $1.99 I did it. But then It was actually $1.99 twice a month and I just discovered they changed it to $9.99 twice a month. I would never have agreed to that!!!! I feel totally scammed and am requesting a refund and cancelation.

Did you read any of this thread before posting? 1) This is a user-to-user forum, and no one here can refund or cancel anything, and 2) Total Drive is not an Apple product. There have been links provided in earlier posts for contacting them.

My father, was also fooled into signing up for a subscription. He was also lead to believe that it would increase his Icloud storage. The company cannot be trusted for using this marketing technique. I would never trust them with my data.

I was just duped into this product when I saved a file on my phone. It said they were unable to process my iCloud auto renewal until I updated my payment information. it seemed totally legit—I have an auto renewal on my iCloud storage. Moments after I unfortunately gave them access to my iPay, I got an email thanking me for purchasing Total Drive. I tried to get to the cancellation link but they wanted more personal information to access it. What a nightmare

Well, Well,- The refund never came but they did charge me the $1.99 PLUS $3.99

This could be a monthly charge for all I know. I called my Bank and had this scammer BANNED FROM MY BANK ACCOUNT

Yes!! You can do this!

CALL YOUR BANK!!!!!!

RD-77 wrote:

Probably not. Look up👀

Total Drive is NOT part of the Apple family. That is an easy one without any further action needed on the posters part to confirm.

I found a charge in my PayPal Account for $9.99 from some company called TotalDrive or Total Drive or whoever and while looking through my charges, found one earlier for $1.99 that I didn’t catch. I had never heard of these people! I disputed it through PayPal and my bank and both institutions said I had initiated the membership. I deleted my PayPal app but nothing I can do about the bank so I just got totally taken by these people I’ve never heard of. I remember it was about this time I was getting notified by Apple that I needed more room on my phone for backups. Now, I’m 72 and don’t really understand about these things so I really feel like I was taken advantage of. I got an email from these people saying my “membership” was closed and they were very sorry to see me go. See me go?? When did I see them coming? NEVER!!

Rclark1507 wrote:

Is total drive actually part of the Apple family?

Nope!

Overagedusers wrote:

I don’t want total drive.please cancel it. Joanne Kurina

Total Drive is not an Apple product, so cancelling depends on how the subscription was started. I you signed up on their website, you can cancel by following the instructions they provide here after choosing the "Card" option.

https://help.totaldrive.com/en/billing/-/how-do-i-cancel-my-subscription

It you downloaded the app first and made an in-app purchase that is managed by Apple, you cancel those the same way you would with any other in-app purchase.

View or cancel app subscriptions on iPhone - Apple Support