Apple gifts Greek users a free month of iCloud after financial squeeze

File photo - A protester waves a Greek flag during an anti-austerity rally in Athens, Greece, June 29, 2015. (REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis)

There's not much to smile about if you're living in Greece at the moment, but Apple's easing the pain a little by giving paying iCloud customers a free month of service. Online payments have been frozen in the European country as the government seeks to restructure its debts and prevent the economy from further collapse.

The capital control restrictions implemented by Greece are designed to prevent a panicked cash exodus from the country's banks, but it also means credit card companies can't make payments with international processors -- and if you're paying month by month for iCloud storage, you could find yourself without your premium space.

"To prevent interruption in your iCloud service during the current fiscal crisis, and to make sure you have access to your content, we've extended your iCloud storage plan for an extra 30 days at no additional cost," Apple has told Greek subscribers via email, as AppleInsider reports. "We won't attempt to charge you for your plan until 30 days after your original renewal date. If we are unable to renew your plan, you may need to reduce the amount of iCloud storage you use."

Of course Apple can't extend this kind of courtesy indefinitely, so users in Greece will have to hope the authorities can dig themselves out of their current predicament sooner rather than later. App store and iTunes payments are also affected, leaving Greek Apple fans in digital limbo until the situation is resolved.

iCloud is becoming an increasingly important part of Apple's offerings as it looks to offer cross-platform syncing and storage and battle the likes of Google, Dropbox and Microsoft in the cloud computing market. Users currently get 5GB of room for free, with paid tiers available all the way up to 1TB of space.