Apple Music & iCloud users receive unexpected subscription discontinuation alerts

AppleInsider

A number of Apple Music and iCloud users reported sudden problems with their subscriptions on Wednesday, including cancellations, or an inability to change plans.

Cancellation notices are being sent out by email, according to complaints on Reddit. A warning for a 50 gigabyte iCloud plan was received by someone connected to AppleInsider.

While only some subscribers are getting word of cancellations, others are seeing errors if they try to change their plan, or simply if they try to manage their iCloud data. AppleInsider received "cannot connect to iCloud" messages when trying to change plans from two iOS devices linked to different Apple IDs.

The source of the current trouble is unknown, but messages seen by AppleInsider and others are asking subscribers to update their payment information, suggesting that Apple might be having trouble with associated servers. Apple's online system status tracker only mentions some people being unable to connect to Apple Music since Tuesday.

Regardless the subscription problem appears to be international, affecting not just the U.S. but places as distant as Brazil and Japan.

Some users have speculated that Apple could be changing up its plans, increasing prices and/or adjusting data caps. One person on Reddit claimed that they saw the 1 terabyte plan disappear, but this hasn't been substantiated by others.

ecallaghan

Same here in the UK.... 

Chris Thompson

I am in the US and I received the notice this morning. I just got done chatting with Apple and they had this to say: 

We are aware of customers reporting similar emails at this time. Our engineers are working very hard at getting our stores back up and running smoothly. We do not yet have an estimated time as to when this will be resolved, but I can assure you that our teams are hustling to get this cleared up for us as soon as possible. I’m happy to take a look at your account and make sure that it’s still active for you though!

and 

The 50gb plan is not discontinued. We are investigating the email that you’ve received though. 

[Deleted User]

In Germany I see no plan other than the 50GB I am currently subscribed to. I can only downgrade as an option.
My iTunes subscriptions (Netflix and iTunes Match) are still ok.

mlahm

I am in Manila on business and cannot change my plan from 50GB - "Cannot connect to iCloud"  I have not notice any issues with my iTunes account (songs or authentications for content on Apple TV).

My son in Singapore cannot upgrade his plan which has been downgraded to the free level 5GB (we are on a family sharing plan) and is receiving error messages about his email and storage.

morganhighley

Had the same notification regarding Apple Music Family Plan. Ended up verifying credit card info, which needed the security code, and it returned to normal a few minutes later. The security code could have been a coincidence but my subscription was restored about 30 minutes after getting the email. 

macxpress

If Steve were here this wouldn't have happened... /s

kenc

It may be coincidental, but I got this notice this morning, and it looks like a classic phishing scam, with an Apple-like sign-in at a site in Portugal. The email came from: 

no_rep at osx.net

May be coincidental timing, but I've never gotten a phish mail that said it was from Apple. I get daily phish mails that pretend to be from Google or Fedex.

mrakoplas

I got one too.

Czechia, Europe.

Interestingly, the iCloud settings page still shows my 200GB subscription as active.

boredumb

My wife got an email yesterday, saying that her account would be closed in seven days unless she used
the very unsophisticated button in the very unsophisticated-looking email to update her account information...
It really doesn't look "Apple-esque", so...I just assumed it was phishing.   
Still do.

SvenJ

I got the '50GB discontinued' email. Looking around on the iPhone, I noticed it did seem to have a problem with the account, so I resubmitted some of the information on the card entry. Nothing had changed, but there are entries that don't show up after you submit, for security, so you can't tell if they were right before. We'll see what happens. If they had problems charging an account, I'd expect an e-mail, 'we had problems charging the account - go fix it'. Not, we discontinued your subscription, with no other information.

oirudleahcim

May be coincidental, but it appears to me that there’s a huge batch of phishing emails being circulated. I didn’t keep a screenshot, but I recently had a very poorly-constructed phishing email purporting to be from Apple appear in my mailbox, alluding to the usual “problems with my account." Unfortunately for the sender, the first dead giveaway was that the email was sent to an email account that has no affiliation with my Apple address or even the backup email addresses. Second giveaway was that the headers showed an Apple-like address, but not a real Apple sender domain. Thirdly, there was a link at the bottom which didn’t even say it was to an Apple domain. . .and I unmasked the URL further to discover it pointed to a malware site. Fourth, there was a disclaimer at the bottom of the email. . .in Portuguese. DOH!

Netizens, beware! They’re after us!


kenc said:

It may be coincidental, but I got this notice this morning, and it looks like a classic phishing scam, with an Apple-like sign-in at a site in Portugal. The email came from: 

no_rep at osx.net

May be coincidental timing, but I've never gotten a phish mail that said it was from Apple. I get daily phish mails that pretend to be from Google or Fedex.

SpamSandwich

macxpress said:

If Steve were here this wouldn't have happened... /s

"You should hate each other for having let each other down!" (actual quote)

redgeminipa

I had this happen to me on the 15th. I received two emails stating my 50GB plan was cancelled, effective immediately, due to billing issue, with no prior warnings of a problem with the charge. Next was an email saying my iCloud storage was full. 



After updating my billing information, I received an email stating the purchase was made from a device not previously associated with my Apple ID... The last new Apple product to use my ID was my new MacBook, which has been using it for a few months now. 



I find it odd that I also received a phishing email around that time. It was in my junk folder when I discovered it. No, I didn't fall for it.