Apple One is the newest subscription service from the Cupertino tech giant that combines some of Apple's biggest products into one package.

The service was announced at Apple’s 2020 event and includes iCloud, Apple Music, Apple TV Plus, Apple Arcade, Apple News Plus and Apple's newest service, Apple Fitness Plus that offers daily workouts and advanced fitness tracking.

The service starts at $14.95 / £14.95 / AU$19.95 for an individual plan; $19.95 / £19.95 / AU$25.95 for a family plan and $29.95 / £29.95 / AU$39.95 for the premium plan that includes the most iCloud storage.

Apple One's individual and family plans will be available in over 100 countries and regions, and the service will be available across all Apple devices. The premium plan, though, will only be available in the US, UK, Australia and Canada. 

Apple will also be offering a 30-day free trial of the service that will be open to new customers.

Cut to the chase

• What is it? An all-in-one Apple subscription service.
• When will it be released? Fall 2020 (October/November)
• How much will it cost? $14.95 / £14.95 / AU$19.95 for an individual plan

We first heard about Apple One back in August, when Bloomberg published a report having spoken to “people with knowledge of the effort”. According to the report, Apple One will consist of  “a series of bundles that will let customers subscribe to several of the company’s digital services at a lower monthly price”.

Apple One release date

Apple’s bundled subscription service was announced at the September Time Flies event and is rumored to launch in October, though no exact release date was announced at the event.

That said, there's nothing stopping Apple from going live it any day now – as it truly is just a software update. 

Saying that, the October release date was initially posited by Bloomberg, which spoke to “people with knowledge of the effort” – and with iOS code and website domain registrations pertaining to Apple One recently coming to light, a late 2020 release date looks pretty likely.

Apple One price

Apple One is apparently designed to save customers money, as well as enticing more users to sign up to Apple’s subscription services. 

During the event, we learned that pricing will start at $14.95 / £14.95 / AU$19.95 for an individual plan; $19.95 / £19.95 / AU$25.95 for a family plan and $29.95 / £29.95 / AU$39.95 for the premium plan that includes the most iCloud storage.

That's more than a Netflix subscription, obviously, but the idea here is that you're getting a Netflix equivalent in the form of Apple TV Plus ($4.99/mo.) as well as Apple Music ($9.99/mo), Apple Arcade ($4.99/mo.) and iCloud, which can cost up to $9.99/mo. if you go for the 2TB storage plan.

Now, if you decide to go for the individual or family plans, you won't get Apple News Plus or Apple Fitness Plus in the package, and you'll have less iCloud storage than folks who opt for the Apple One Premier service.

Here's the complete breakdown from Apple:

• Individual includes Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, and 50GB of iCloud storage for $14.95 / £14.95 / AU$19.95 per month.
• Family includes Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, and 200GB of iCloud storage for $19.95 / £19.95 / AU$25.95 per month, and can be shared among up to six family members. 
• Premier, where available, includes Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, Apple News+, Apple Fitness+, and 2TB of iCloud storage for $29.95 / £29.95 / AU$39.95 per month, and can be shared among up to six family members.

Crunching the numbers, the individual plan offers a savings of over $6 / £6 / AU$9.50 per month, while the Family plan offers a savings of over $8 / £8 / AU$12.50 per month, and the Premier plan offers a savings of over $25 / £25 / AU$39 per month. 

There's an added bonus for Apple Card owners in a 3% cash back bonus if they pay for Apple One with that credit card.

So, if you're paying for all those services individually, it's a no-brainer.

Apple One services

Apple One bundles the tech giant’s existing subscription services into a number of tiered streaming packages. The services include Apple Music, Apple TV Plus, Apple Arcade, Apple News Plus, and a new subscription service that offers virtual fitness classes, which could be accessed on iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. 

Not familiar with Apple’s subscription services? Here’s an overview of all the different platforms you can sign up for:

Apple Music

Apple Music is the tech giant’s answer to Spotify, boasting a large song library, numbering around 50 million, across a broad range of genres.

It can be accessed on your smartphone, music streamer, TV, or computer, as well as via the Apple HomePod, using Siri’s voice control smarts. 

As well as music streaming, the service offers podcasts and the Apple 1 radio station (formerly known as Beats 1), as well as stations dedicated to pop hits and country music. 

Prices vary, with a cheaper plan aimed at students ($4.99 / £4.99 / AU$5.99), while individual accounts cost $9.99 / £9.99 / AU$11.99. There’s also a family subscription for up to six people, which costs $14.99 / £14.99 / AU$17.99.

The inclusion of Apple Music within the Apple One bundled subscription service could give the streaming platform a much-needed boost in its battle to be the best music streaming service in the world; however, with 72 million subscribers compared to Spotify's 130 million, it has a long road ahead.

Apple TV Plus

The Apple TV streaming service is the most recent addition to Apple’s services, offering a slate of original programming for a small monthly price ($4.99 / £4.99 / AU$7.99). And while the launch lineup was pretty bare, the service has gradually grown to include other shows and programs beyond the (exceptional) The Morning Show it debuted with.

It’s not perfectly implemented, being merged with the Apple TV app and lacking clarity on what’s included and what you have to rent/buy from a licensed partner. You get a year’s subscription free, though, when buying a new iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple TV, so it’s well worth making use of after a hardware purchase.

• Apple Music vs Spotify: which streaming service is best?

Apple Arcade

Apple Arcade is a paid-for subscription service for iOS games. For the price of $4.99 / £4.99 / AU$7.99, you get access to 100+ indie titles to be played on your iPhone, iPad, Macbook, or Apple TV – meaning none of these are AAA blockbusters, tending to be smaller, lower-spec affairs that can run on the average Apple handset. But there are some real gems here, such as Sayonara Wild Knights, and a mix of exclusive titles (Card of Darkness) or ports of existing games (Enter The Gungeon). You can even connect a PS4 DualShock or Xbox One controller to improve the gameplay too.

Apple News Plus

Apple News Plus gives you access to over 300 high-quality digital magazines and premium newspapers in the Apple News app.

Premium digital subscriptions like Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, Wired and National Geographic are included in Apple News Plus, and this means there's a fee of $9.99 / £9.99 / AU$14.99 a month. 

What about an Apple fitness service?

Apple also announced a subscription service for interactive workouts, much like those offered by Peloton. 

Details are sparse at the moment, but from what we've seen so far it's a service that has pre-recorded workouts and syncs to your Apple Watch. It’s accessible on a range of devices including iPhone, iPad and Apple TV, and seems to be targeted at the workout from home crowd. 

Peloton has aimed its services squarely at Apple users (it launched a dedicated Apple Watch app only a few months ago, and its newly launched Peloton Bike+ can be paired with an Apple Watch with a single tap), so it faces some very stiff competition – particularly if it undercuts Peloton’s monthly fee.

• Apple September 15 event: Apple Watch 6, iPad Air 4, and maybe, the iPhone 12