Apple working to resolve widespread iCloud and retail store failures [u]

Posted:
in General Discussion edited June 2020
An unknown problem is causing difficulties with very many of Apple's iCloud services and is also affecting retail stores which are reportedly unable to complete sales. Update: Apple has now restored many of the 21 services.

Apple's iCloud Status page at time of writing
Apple's iCloud Status page at time of writing


Following intermittent email problems earlier today, very many of Apple's iCloud services are officially listed as being down or "experiencing a problem," according to Apple's system status pages

The problem appeared to be quickly worsening, too, as more services were being affected. That appears to have stemmed and Apple has been reporting mostly steadily improved services all round. After approximately 90 minutes, an Apple Pay issue regarding the ability to use or suspend cards was the first to be fixed.

Game Center and iCloud Mail problems were next to be fixed. Apple's automated system status has been reporting fluctuating numbers of resolved issues, but currently it claims 18 out of the 21 issues had been fixed.

The remaining services still having difficulties include iCloud Reminders and iCloud Calendar.

iCloud is down in case you haven't lost your mind trying to enter your password already

-- meaningful internet moniker (@loudersoft)


Apple has yet to comment but customers on Twitter were reporting similar failures in Apple Stores. Reportedly some number of transactions are failing to complete, presumably because of the same issue.

This incident appears to have been more widespread than previous iCloud problems, but the service has been affected before, as recently as June where two separate incidents cause issues with the iTunes Store and basic iCloud functions.

Update: 2:33 p.m. EDT Apple resolved the Apple Pay issue.
Update: 2:47 p.m. EDT Apple fixes iCloud Mail and Game Center problems.
Update: 3:00 p.m. EDT Apple claims 18 services restored.
Update: 5:32 p.m. EDT All issues have been resolved.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 26
    danuffdanuff Posts: 33member
    All email has been down since 1230pm this afternoon :(
    AppleExposed
  • Reply 2 of 26
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,801member
    I figured since out of the blue while using my Mac it said there was a problem with my iCloud account and wanted me to sign back in. 

    Someone must have unplugged a power strip to plug in their desk fan...
    edited July 2019 AppleExposedStrangeDaysGeorgeBMac1STnTENDERBITSrusswbaconstangdavgreg
  • Reply 3 of 26
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    13:49 CDT No problems here in the midwest at all. Just used Pay at Taco Bell and email is working fine. Must be sporadic.
    edited July 2019 AppleExposed
  • Reply 4 of 26
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Seems to be some very large scale issues with different companies services recently (nation state hacks? China? Iran? Russia?).
    magman1979steven n.virtualshift
  • Reply 5 of 26
    avon b7avon b7 Posts: 7,625member
    Seems to be some very large scale issues with different companies services recently (nation state hacks? China? Iran? Russia?).
    NSA bugs? LOL

    Or the bogeyman...

    https://www.zdnet.com/article/seriously-cisco-put-huawei-x-509-certificates-and-keys-into-its-own-switches/
    GeorgeBMac
  • Reply 6 of 26
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,844member
    Seems to be some very large scale issues with different companies services recently (nation state hacks? China? Iran? Russia?).
    How about no? (plus, didn’t Trump wag his finger and jokingly say “No meddling!” to his buddy the dictator Putin? That should guarantee it’s not Russia, right?)
    edited July 2019
  • Reply 7 of 26
    createriocreaterio Posts: 26member
    It’s just Mercury Retrograde doing its thing, same as with Facebook yesterday... ;) https://www.almanac.com/content/mercury-retrograde-dates
    edited July 2019
  • Reply 8 of 26
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    createrio said:
    It’s just Mercury Retrograde doing its thing, same as with Facebook yesterday... ;) https://www.almanac.com/content/mercury-retrograde-dates
    Einstein’s General Relativity explains this. Did you not get the email?
    saudawg
  • Reply 9 of 26
    rezwitsrezwits Posts: 878member
    There was an earthquake but yeah that doesn't mean anything.../s
    ireland
  • Reply 10 of 26
    magman1979magman1979 Posts: 1,292member
    Seems many large organizations were impacted by this yesterday and today:

    https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/07/facebook-cloudflare-microsoft-and-twitter-suffer-outages/
  • Reply 11 of 26
    dayedaye Posts: 18member
    An unknown problem is causing difficulties with very many of Apple's iCloud services and is also affecting retail stores which are reportedly unable to complete sales. Update: Apple has now restored many of the 21 services.

    Apples iCloud Status page at time of writing
    Apple's iCloud Status page at time of writing


    Following intermittent email problems earlier today, very many of Apple's iCloud services are officially listed as being down or "experiencing a problem," according to Apple's system status pages

    The problem appeared to be quickly worsening, too, as more services were being affected. That appears to have stemmed and Apple has been reporting mostly steadily improved services all round. After approximately 90 minutes, an Apple Pay issue regarding the ability to use or suspend cards was the first to be fixed.

    Game Center and iCloud Mail problems were next to be fixed. Apple's automated system status has been reporting fluctuating numbers of resolved issues, but currently it claims 18 out of the 21 issues had been fixed.

    The remaining services still having difficulties include iCloud Reminders and iCloud Calendar.

    iCloud is down in case you haven't lost your mind trying to enter your password already

    -- meaningful internet moniker (@loudersoft)


    Apple has yet to comment but customers on Twitter were reporting similar failures in Apple Stores. Reportedly some number of transactions are failing to complete, presumably because of the same issue.

    This incident appears to have been more widespread than previous iCloud problems, but the service has been affected before, as recently as June where two separate incidents cause issues with the iTunes Store and basic iCloud functions.

    Update: 14:33 EDTApple resolved the Apple Pay issue.
    Update: 14:47 EDTApple fixes iCloud Mail and Game Center problems.
    Update: 15:00 EDTApple claims 18 services restored.

  • Reply 12 of 26
    dayedaye Posts: 18member
    Just came back from my local Apple store. No problem at all now.
    AppleExposed
  • Reply 13 of 26
    createrio said:
    It’s just Mercury Retrograde doing its thing, same as with Facebook yesterday... ;) https://www.almanac.com/content/mercury-retrograde-dates
    https://www.ismercuryinretrograde.com/
  • Reply 14 of 26
    baconstangbaconstang Posts: 1,104member
    My Safari keychain hasn't updated a password change from yesterday on a different Mac.
    😟
  • Reply 15 of 26
    GeorgeBMacGeorgeBMac Posts: 11,421member
    daye said:
    Just came back from my local Apple store. No problem at all now.
    Check your wallet
    gatorguy
  • Reply 16 of 26
    Good, I like it when big companies services have outages. Reminds people this doesn’t all work on magic. FaceBook, Google, Apple etc. 
  • Reply 17 of 26
    davgregdavgreg Posts: 1,036member
    Does Apple still use AWS for a significant portion of iCloud services?
    The reason I ask is to follow on with was there an outage of other AWS hosted stuff?
  • Reply 18 of 26
    GeorgeBMacGeorgeBMac Posts: 11,421member
    davgreg said:
    Does Apple still use AWS for a significant portion of iCloud services?
    The reason I ask is to follow on with was there an outage of other AWS hosted stuff?
    No, they migrated off of AWS back when there were suspicians of hacked servers years ago and moved to Google and then, after a short stint there, built their own server farms.
  • Reply 19 of 26
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    davgreg said:
    Does Apple still use AWS for a significant portion of iCloud services?
    The reason I ask is to follow on with was there an outage of other AWS hosted stuff?
    No, they migrated off of AWS back when there were suspicians of hacked servers years ago and moved to Google and then, after a short stint there, built their own server farms.

    The users metadata info and encryption keys are stored on Apple owned servers (there is at least one country exception, perhaps two or soon to be). The encrypted files themselves are stored with third-party cloud companies with both Google Cloud Platform and Amazon Web Services specifically acknowledged by them. At one time Apple had mentioned Azure (Microsoft) as well. The wording of the cloud security document where the first two companies were mentioned isn’t entirely clear so Apple could certainly be using other cloud storage services even if not naming them directly.

    Earlier this year there was an article here on AI claiming Apple had halved their reliance on Amazon over the past year or so. But just a few days earlier another publication ran a detailed article on how reliant Apple was on AWS and it was increasingly so. To be honest I would not be surprised to learn they are more reliant than ever on 3rd party servers considering Apple's rapid expanse into services and the expanded need for cloud streaming of news, music, media, and other service content and recent cancellations and delays on building their own data centers.  The AI article was likely in relationship to potentially personally identifiable data, iCloud stuff, where Apple is the presumed caretaker and coordinator and moving more of it off AWS and over to Google instead and not overall cloud needs but who knows exactly where the truth lies outside of the parties themselves. 

    The only thing clear is that Apple does not have nearly enough server farms of their own to host all of your personal content plus what's needed for various Apple services so yes they depend on outside companies in coordination with data stored on their Apple-owned servers. Someday they may have enough capacity of their own, not today. 

    edited July 2019 GeorgeBMacFileMakerFellerbadmonk
  • Reply 20 of 26
    GeorgeBMacGeorgeBMac Posts: 11,421member
    gatorguy said:
    davgreg said:
    Does Apple still use AWS for a significant portion of iCloud services?
    The reason I ask is to follow on with was there an outage of other AWS hosted stuff?
    No, they migrated off of AWS back when there were suspicians of hacked servers years ago and moved to Google and then, after a short stint there, built their own server farms.

    The users metadata info and encryption keys are stored on Apple owned servers (there is at least one country exception, perhaps two or soon to be). The encrypted files themselves are stored with third-party cloud companies with both Google Cloud Platform and Amazon Web Services specifically acknowledged by them. At one time Apple had mentioned Azure (Microsoft) as well. The wording of the cloud security document where the first two companies were mentioned isn’t entirely clear so Apple could certainly be using other cloud storage services even if not naming them directly.

    Earlier this year there was an article here on AI claiming Apple had halved their reliance on Amazon over the past year or so. But just a few days earlier another publication ran a detailed article on how reliant Apple was on AWS and it was increasingly so. To be honest I would not be surprised to learn they are more reliant than ever on 3rd party servers considering Apple's rapid expanse into services and the expanded need for cloud streaming of news, music, media, and other service content and recent cancellations and delays on building their own data centers.  The AI article was likely in relationship to potentially personally identifiable data, iCloud stuff, where Apple is the presumed caretaker and coordinator and moving more of it off AWS and over to Google instead and not overall cloud needs but who knows exactly where the truth lies outside of the parties themselves. 

    The only thing clear is that Apple does not have nearly enough server farms of their own to host all of your personal content plus what's needed for various Apple services so yes they depend on outside companies in coordination with data stored on their Apple-owned servers. Someday they may have enough capacity of their own, not today. 

    That's disturbing...
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