iCloud for Windows users see corrupted iPhone videos with mystery images

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in iPhone
Users of iCloud for Windows are having problems viewing videos and images, with corrupt footage and images that may belong to other accounts appearing on their PCs.

iCloud
iCloud


The iCloud for Windows tool makes it easy for Windows users to synchronize their photos, videos, contacts, and other items with their other Apple ecosystem hardware. However, while usually a reliable service, some users are starting to encounter issues on Monday.

A small number of users are discovering that if they try to watch video recorded on an iPhone 13 Pro or iPhone 14 Pro that has been synced with iCloud for Windows, they see black footage with scan lines.

More damningly, as reported by MacRumors, the corrupted videos can sometimes insert still images from unknown sources. One user said the stills include photos of other people's families and soccer games.

While AppleInsider staff have not encountered the issue in person, we have confirmed other reports about the incident -- albeit not to the level of severity as reported.

It is unknown where the still images stem from, but there's a good chance that it could be coming from other iCloud accounts. Attempts to reinstall iCloud for Windows doesn't solve the problem, which means that it's likely a server-side issue.

Apple has been informed of the instances. There has yet to be any confirmation that employees are working on a solution.

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    rob53rob53 Posts: 3,253member
    iCloud for Windows is a Windows app you download from the Microsoft store. It's for PCs running at least Windows 10, using Windows Media Player (per https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204363). It appears Apple's iCloud servers are being used but photos and videos are accessed either on an iPhone or a PC. This article says an iPhone was used and synced to iCloud using iCloud for Windows which isn't available as an iOS app so my assumption is the photos/videos were synced to a PC then uploaded to iCloud. This gets to be convoluted when various OSes are used on totally different platforms (I see everything from Apple as being on the same platform). Windows uses different file naming processes and data storage types so it wouldn't surprise me if something gets screwed up when going between these two systems.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 7
    netroxnetrox Posts: 1,422member
    Just exactly how is it even remotely possible? You cannot inject corrupted images into videos or visa versa as they have fundamental differences in processing images. 


    watto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 7
    CheeseFreezeCheeseFreeze Posts: 1,250member
    Are you kidding me?
    Photos of strangers? How is that even possible? If that's the case, iCloud is buggy as ****, at least, their Photo service.

    The Windows app (or the macOS Photos app for that matter) is just a client to the back-end service and should automatically adhere to the rules of the server. I mean, if this is really happening, macOS is probably also unsafe and but the issues may simply not have surfaces, e.g due to slightly different API calls.

    Apple needs to get their act together and hire a security firm to poke their services for any weaknesses.
    edited November 2022
  • Reply 4 of 7
    Cesar Battistini MazieroCesar Battistini Maziero Posts: 341member
    I never got it to work.

    Never could sign in to iCloud of Windows.
  • Reply 5 of 7
    KTRKTR Posts: 280member
    It could be a windows bug
  • Reply 6 of 7
    FileMakerFellerFileMakerFeller Posts: 1,546member
    netrox said:
    Just exactly how is it even remotely possible? You cannot inject corrupted images into videos or visa versa as they have fundamental differences in processing images. 
    I'm guessing a bug with the file storage system in iCloud. A process known as "sharding" breaks each file up into smaller pieces that are then stored on different physical drives to increase resilience and write efficiency. If the map of what shard is stored where gets corrupted, this is theoretically a potential consequence.

    Filesystems are amazingly complex these days. There are a number of potential culprits just in that portion of the overall iCloud system alone, and then you need to look at the transmission of the data once it's been retrieved, the identity management, etc, etc.

    Regardless of the underlying issue, this is not a good outcome for iCloud users or for Apple.
    muthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 7 of 7
    CheeseFreezeCheeseFreeze Posts: 1,250member
    KTR said:
    It could be a windows bug
    No, not really. 
    Windows cannot control the security of iCloud and randomly include photos of strangers with other iCloud accounts.


    maltz
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