For iCloud Services, Apple Confirms it Now Uses Google Cloud

Apple provides the first acknowledgement that it’s relying on Google’s public cloud for data storage for its iCloud services.

CNBC noted that the revelation came in the form of an update released by Apple on its website. Apple periodically publishes new versions of a PDF called the iOS Security Guide. For years the document contained language indicating that iCloud services were relying on remote data storage systems from Amazon Web Services, as well as Microsoft’s Azure.

But in the latest version, the Microsoft Azure reference is gone, and in its place is Google Cloud Platform. Before the January update, Apple most recently updated the iOS Security Guide in March.

In previous editions, it stated that iCloud content was stored on Amazon Web Services and Microsoft’s Azure cloud, but the latest version point mentions Amazon S3 and Google Cloud.

The report, however, doesn’t clearly state whether Apple uses any Google cloud services outside of storing photos and videos, nor does it give a start date for when Apple first made the switch, The Verge reported.

It shouldn’t really come as a surprise: managing such massive troves of data is no mean feat, and it’s perfectly understandable that Apple chooses to work with third-party vendors instead of spinning up its own servers.

The disclosure is fresh evidence that Google’s cloud has been picking up usage as it looks to catch up with Amazon and Microsoft in the cloud infrastructure business.

In addition to Apple, other Google public cloud customers include Kroger, PayPal, Snap and Spotify.