iCloud

My girlfriend and I make extensive use of shared iCloud calendars. We have one for joint events, and we each share our own calendars so that we both have a complete picture of our schedules. That enables either one of us to arrange things like dinner with friends, knowing that it won’t clash with anything else.

But (semi-) vacationing with friends, we’ve also found a shared group calendar is the perfect way to coordinate activities …

With iOS 15 and macOS Monterey 12 last year, Apple added a new iCloud Private Relay feature that helps protect your internet privacy. The feature works by sending all of your internet requests through two separate and secure internet relays, including one operated by Apple and one operated by a third-party.

The web infrastructure company Cloudflare is one of those partners with which Apple is working, and it has published a new blog post detailing its role in the iCloud Private Relay process.

Users have been experiencing difficulties when trying to access some Apple services on Thursday evening. Multiple reports indicate that iCloud, iMessage, FaceTime, and others are partially or completely down around the world.

For the past few weeks, some users have been complaining about a “New iCloud Terms & Condition” bug that needs you to accept iCloud’s terms and conditions over and over again.

Earlier this week, 9to5Mac reported on major issues with iCloud syncing and CloudKit that have been plaguing third-party applications. Now, some affected developers say that they have heard from Apple that the issues have been fixed, with some additional details on what happened to initially cause the problems.

Update: Apple said it had fixed the problems with iCloud, but now the company states that they’re back. Not only that, but Game Center is also having issues this Wednesday.

If you’re experiencing problems when trying to access some iCloud services, you’re not alone. iCloud Backup, iCloud Mail, and iCloud Photos are currently down for some users.

The Apple system status page is best known not for displaying the actual status of Apple services, but rather a pageful of green indicators that only change once a problem is so widespread and severe that the company can no longer hide it.

I mean, I get it. There will always be minor and temporary glitches affecting a tiny number of people, and it’s not realistic for Apple to update the page to reflect each one of these. But I think there’s no denying the fact that the page currently has its own reality distortion field …

Over the last several months, an issue with iCloud has emerged that is impacting many popular third-party applications that rely on Apple’s cloud infrastructure for syncing and other tasks. Apple has not yet publicly acknowledged the problem, but some developers have reportedly been privately contacted by the company to confirm that it’s an iCloud server problem impacting their apps rather than an issue with the app itself.

Following multiple reports that iCloud Private Relay stopped working with some carriers, Apple is making it clearer to users what can be done when Private Relay is not working due to a network error. With iOS 15.3, users will see a disclaimer telling them the possible reasons why the feature is disabled and how they can fix it.

Some iPhone users this week noticed that iCloud Private Relay suddenly stopped working with their cellular connections. While T-Mobile first suggested that the affected devices were running iOS 15.2, Apple on Wednesday claimed that no changes were made to Private Relay in iOS 15.2.

Some Apple services are experiencing issues – the company has acknowledged that iCloud and Photos are slow or currently unavailable.

Earlier today, a report indicated that some European carriers were blocking the Private Relay feature introduced by Apple with iOS 15. This feature is designed to give users an additional layer of privacy by ensuring that no one can view the websites that they visit.

Now, in addition to some carriers in Europe, it appears that T-Mobile/Sprint in the United States is also blocking iCloud Private Relay access when connected to cellular data.

Update: In a statement to 9to5Mac, a T-Mobile spokesperson said:

Customers who chose plans and features with content filtering (e.g. parent controls) do not have access to the iCloud Private Relay to allow these services to work as designed. All other customers have no restrictions.

However, many of the users we’ve heard from, and tested ourselves, do not have any such content filtering enabled. We’ve followed up with T-Mobile for additional clarification, but have not yet heard back.

Apple has patched the Log4Shell iCloud vulnerability, after it was last week revealed that a security hole in the open-source tool log4j put millions of apps at risk.

Cybersecurity experts described the vulnerability as “setting the internet on fire,” and “the most critical security vulnerability in a decade” …

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When Apple announced all the new features coming to macOS and iOS at WWDC back in June, one of the new announcements was iCloud+, which encompasses all paid iCloud plans. One aspect of iCloud+ is iCloud Private Relay. Since it changes the network path route, enterprises using Apple need to consider it in their device management. So let’s dive into what impact it’s likely to make.

Apple on Wednesday released an update to the iCloud Utility for Windows, which lets PC users have some of the features of Apple’s cloud service. With the latest version of iCloud for Windows, the company has added a built-in password generator, support for ProRAW and ProRes codecs, and more.

Following the release of iOS 15.2 beta 2 to developers on Tuesday, Apple confirmed that the update enables child communication safety features in iMessage. However, the update also adds the “Hide My Email” option directly in the Mail app for iCloud+ subscribers.

According to Apple’s System Status webpage, the iCloud Private Relay service is currently down. This means that users who have iCloud Private Relay enabled on their devices could face issues loading webpages and more on their iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg last month announced that WhatsApp end-to-end encrypted backups were on the way for those who like to store backups on cloud services like iCloud and Google Drive. That privacy feature is now “slowly” rolling out for both iOS and Android users.

Actual WhatsApp chats are always end-to-end encrypted, but this new feature means that any backups you choose to make get the same level of protection …

The password manager gurus at 1Password are launching a new password sharing feature that adds security to a common practice. Password Secure Sharing Tool, or Psst! for short, lets you share specific passwords with a simple link. The recipient of your password doesn’t even need to be a 1Password user.

The Italian antitrust regulator has found that Apple’s iCloud terms and conditions are unreasonable and unfair to consumers, and may breach consumer protection laws. It’s the latest in a long line of antitrust investigations and lawsuits faced by the Cupertino company.

An investigation and public consultation was carried out following complaints, and a number of Apple’s terms were considered unlawful.