Messages in iCloud not implemented at present, coming in a future update to iOS 11

AppleInsider

A feature touted for iOS 11 at the 2017 WWDC was Messages in iCloud -- but it was removed during the beta process, and will return at some undisclosed point in the future.

The "Messages in iCloud" feature synchronized a user's Messages "stack" between devices seamlessly. With the feature set implemented, deleting a message on one logged-in device would strike it from all, plus only the newest messages would be stored on-device with the rest held in iCloud and loaded only when needed.

At present, there is no mention of the cloud-based Messages on the feature page for iOS 11.

AppleInsider reported that feature was removed from iOS 11 during the fifth beta release. Apple claimed at the time that the purged feature will ship in a future software update to iOS 11.

Even without the functionality, users can continue to receive and store messages on each device, and can continue to backup and restore messages using iCloud Backup.

At present, not only is Messages in iCloud not fully implemented, but Apple Pay Cash and AirPlay 2 appear to be missing as well.

slurpy

Good, Apple should take all the time it needs, if there are bugs and people lose their message they will freak out. Probably best that this feature wasn't enabled with iOS11, goes better with a 11.1 update when theres less variables.

saarek

Apple seems to be slipping a lot these days. The lack of fusion drive support at launch for their new file system, as an example.

maybe they should just release new features throughout the year and forget the annual release cycle that they are stuck in.

bill42

saarek said:

Apple seems to be slipping a lot these days. The lack of fusion drive support at launch for their new file system, as an example.

maybe they should just release new features throughout the year and forget the annual release cycle that they are stuck in.

That is the entire point of beta testing... Apple thought they had a new system covering all the bases but then learned thanks to beta testing that certain drives were having some issues so they pulled the support for now. There is no annual release cycle. They will put features into iOS 11 during updates when ever they are ready, at multiple times during the year, just as they always have done. Apple systems today are far more solid than they used to be. You think Apple is slipping these days? What about The update to System 8 o the Macintosh line where most people had to wait a full year before it would work with their software? Or the first OS X that many waited for 1-2 full years before they dared install? Today you can install an iOS or mac OS update today on the very first day and almost everything will work flawlessly.

rysmithaz

This one was definitely a bummer… It would be interesting to hear the reason. During the beta. It worked perfectly for me across four devices.

mtbnut

Ouch, this is going to be front-page news. In fact, the Today show is running an expose on this specific gaffe, and Bloomberg News is doing a 2-hour show titled, "Apple: The Downfall of Messages in iCloud and What It Means To You. Should You Refinance Your Home Now?" 

slprescott

Semi-related:

In the iOS 11 version of iMessage, a side-scrolling list of apps appears appears below the text entry box for typing a new messaage.

On my phone, this list includes Google Maps but not Apple Maps.   Both apps are installed on my iPhone, and I use Apple Maps frequently.

Strange... why would Apple's in-house Maps product not appear for pasting content into iMessage?

netrox

saarek said:

Apple seems to be slipping a lot these days. The lack of fusion drive support at launch for their new file system, as an example.

maybe they should just release new features throughout the year and forget the annual release cycle that they are stuck in.

Honestly, it makes no sense to support hard drives or hybrids with APFS. It's really optimized for flash storage, not disk drives. There is no benefits to optimizing for hard drives anymore. We've already optimized as much as we did. We need to optimize file systems for flash drives. When you optimize flash storage, you don't give the same advantage to HDD. They are fundamentally different.

dysamoria

slurpy said:

Good, Apple should take all the time it needs, if there are bugs and people lose their message they will freak out. Probably best that this feature wasn't enabled with iOS11, goes better with a 11.1 update when theres less variables.

No, they just shouldn't have released iOS 11 at all, seeing as two other features were quietly dropped in beta, for "future addition". It was clearly not ready in full. Just like every version of iOS since iOS 7. This product has been full of bugs since then (mostly the same ones) and they've not been fixed. The priority is in pushing new versions out, not making the product reliable.

Did they fix all the text edit box errors (text, selection, navigation, autocorrect fails) in Safari (and now Mail, with iOS 10) in iOS 11??? How about the tab preview images? Or the printer offline dialog in AirPrint? Or the 3D Touch trackpad awkwardness on phones with 3D Touch (not just the pressure activation, it's another example of Safari's broken text edit fields). How about the autocomplete suggestions offering word replacement options when a word is user-selected but not actually doing anything when tapping one of the suggested words? Etc etc etc...

edited September 2017

potatoleeksoup

"only the newest messages would be stored on-device with the rest held in iCloud and loaded only when needed"... Does that mean that all of my iMessages would not be accessible when I don't have an active WiFi/cellular connection? I have entire messages histories over years stored on my iPhone flash memory. I want this to continue. Am I misinterpreting something?

edited September 2017

[deleted user]

Eventually, with ios12.
Just like Faces with Photos in iOS10....

macxpress

So what exactly is in iOS 11? All of these new features are coming later. So why not just release the damn OS later? Yes, I know there's a UI tweak and things like that, but there are some major features that are missing. 

foggyhill

pakitt said:

Eventually, with ios12.
Just like Faces with Photos in iOS10....

Considering how close it was to working before it got pulled out, likely much nearer than that.

foggyhill

macxpress said:

So what exactly is in iOS 11? All of these new features are coming later. So why not just release the damn OS later? Yes, I know there's a UI tweak and things like that, but there are some major features that are missing. 

Go to Apple's website and inform yourself before ranting into the void.

 Pulling something because it would be too buggy to release before they freeze features that will be in the .0 release is done all the time.
You prefer they release a POS piece of software?

In beta they determined that they could not predict fixing everything before 2-3 weeks before the first phones get shipped (they do need to put 11.0 on the phones in their boxes), so some things get pushed back. It is what sensible and reasonable companies do.

Release something mostly broken is not something you should ever do, but MS has done many times (though not in the last year).

foggyhill

dysamoria said:

slurpy said:

Good, Apple should take all the time it needs, if there are bugs and people lose their message they will freak out. Probably best that this feature wasn't enabled with iOS11, goes better with a 11.1 update when theres less variables.

No, they just shouldn't have released iOS 11 at all, seeing as two other features were quietly dropped in beta, for "future addition". It was clearly not ready in full. Just like every version of iOS since iOS 7. This product has been full of bugs since then (mostly the same ones) and they've not been fixed. The priority is in pushing new versions out, not making the product reliable.

Did they fix all the text edit box errors (text, selection, navigation, autocorrect fails) in Safari (and now Mail, with iOS 10) in iOS 11??? How about the tab preview images? Or the printer offline dialog in AirPrint? Or the 3D Touch trackpad awkwardness on phones with 3D Touch (not just the pressure activation, it's another example of Safari's broken text edit fields). How about the autocomplete suggestions offering word replacement options when a word is user-selected but not actually doing anything when tapping one of the suggested words? Etc etc etc...

Good grief, get a  clue about how software dev is done and then talk to us. Do it now.

rayz2016

dysamoria said:

slurpy said:

Good, Apple should take all the time it needs, if there are bugs and people lose their message they will freak out. Probably best that this feature wasn't enabled with iOS11, goes better with a 11.1 update when theres less variables.

No, they just shouldn't have released iOS 11 at all, seeing as two other features were quietly dropped in beta, for "future addition". It was clearly not ready in full. Just like every version of iOS since iOS 7. This product has been full of bugs since then (mostly the same ones) and they've not been fixed. The priority is in pushing new versions out, not making the product reliable.

Did they fix all the text edit box errors (text, selection, navigation, autocorrect fails) in Safari (and now Mail, with iOS 10) in iOS 11??? How about the tab preview images? Or the printer offline dialog in AirPrint? Or the 3D Touch trackpad awkwardness on phones with 3D Touch (not just the pressure activation, it's another example of Safari's broken text edit fields). How about the autocomplete suggestions offering word replacement options when a word is user-selected but not actually doing anything when tapping one of the suggested words? Etc etc etc...

Spend a few minutes reading up on the Agile development methodology, then you can come back here and complain with a bit of a clue behind you.