iCloud

For the first time, starting in iOS 18.1, Apple will allow users to change their iCloud email address entirely. Previously, users could set an alias to send emails from, but there was no way to outright change or remove whatever you first set your iCloud email as. Now, you can.

Apple is rolling out a design refresh to iCloud.com today. The update includes support for Dark Mode, more customization options, changes to iCloud Photos, and more. Head below for the full details.

A lengthy iCloud Private Relay outage was finally resolved on Sunday morning, according to Apple’s status page – but problems with XCode Cloud remain.

Many users had to disable iCloud Private Relay when the service became slow or completely unusable, with Safari unable to display websites …

If you’re experiencing issues browsing the web on your Apple devices this Thursday night, you’re not alone. iCloud Private Relay is experiencing an outage that may cause the service to become slow or unavailable.

The Apple CSAM controversy doesn’t appear to be going away, as a British children’s charity accused the company of under-reporting incidents on its platforms.

However, the report appears to be based at least in part on a failure to understand how end-to-end encryption works …

Apple users are being warned to be alert to smishing texts – the name given to phishing attacks carried out by sending SMS messages – trying to capture login credentials for Apple IDs.

The links direct to a fake iCloud page, and for 9to5Mac readers this is really one to warn your friends about …

Apple first introduced iCloud at WWDC 2011, with Steve Jobs touting it as the best way to store documents, mail, backups, and more in the cloud. One thing that has infamously stayed the same since that 2011 launch: Apple gives you just 5GB of iCloud storage for free.

Nearly 13 years later, how does iCloud’s free storage offer – and paid upgrade plans – compare to the competition?

A newly-proposed class action lawsuit alleges that Apple has “marked up its iCloud prices to the point where the service is generating almost pure profit.” As reported first by Bloomberg Law, the plaintiffs accuse Apple of “rigging the competitive playing field” by only allowing iCloud to manage device backups and other storage needs.

“Apple device holders are given 5GB of free iCloud storage space, but as Apple’s iCloud revenues attest, most users find this insufficient for their storage needs and purchase a supplemental iCloud storage plan,” the lawsuit says.

Infamously, the free tier of iCloud has remained limited to 5GB of storage since it was introduced by Steve Jobs at WWDC 2011.

Apple has been in the process of discontinuing iTunes for almost five years. It’s a process that is still ongoing with Windows PCs today. Starting today, Apple Music and Apple TV apps on Windows are no longer in a preview state. iTunes, however, still has a role on the platform. Separately, Apple has redesigned the iCloud for Windows app experience.

With iOS 17 and macOS Sonoma complete, Apple has turned its attention iCloud on the web. Apple’s web apps for Mail, Calendar, and more have been updated to gain feature compatibility with the iPhone, iPad, and Mac versions.

Security researchers have highlighted a couple of potential iCloud Keychain issues you may want to be aware of in iOS 17 and macOS Sonoma.

One is that upgrading may switch the feature on if you previously had it off, while the second arises if you have the feature enabled and then toggle it off …

Apple on Monday released multiple software updates, including iOS 17, tvOS 17, and watchOS 10. But there’s another update coming from Apple today, and this one is for iCloud. From now on, iCloud users can subscribe to the new 6TB and 12TB iCloud+ plans to get more storage for photos, videos, documents, and data.

Currently, if you’re deeply embedded in the Apple ecosystem, you likely have a huge range of data stored on iCloud – contacts, messages, calendars, photos, videos, mail, notes, documents, device backups, and more. Moving data from iCloud to a different cloud service (because of a price increase, say) is non-trivial, and that’s something a new law aims to change.

While Apple is committed to the principle of data portability, it doesn’t yet go out of its way to make the process easy for non-techy users …

Apple announced last month that it plans to discontinue its My Photo Stream service this summer. Today marks the deadline for media uploads using the free iCloud feature. This effectively ends the service after more than a decade of providing a basic sync solution at no cost to Apple device users.

It may be news to many that Apple’s “My Photo Stream” feature was still alive and kicking, but the real news today is that Apple is pulling the plug on the free iCloud feature this summer.

Earlier this week, the Apple Weather app went offline for hours. And even after Apple said the problem had been fixed, users have been complaining that the app is taking too long to show updated information. Now it seems that multiple Apple services like iCloud and iMessage are experiencing slowdowns and outages.

Update: Apple confirmed the outage and said that the issues have now been fixed. You can read the original article below.

Apple is set to lose another top executive this spring, this time the company’s chief of cloud services. The change comes after Apple lost one of its top services executives, Peter Stern, at the end of January this year.

There have been numerous examples of people losing a lifetime’s worth of photos after being locked out of their iCloud account. The Apple account recovery process often proves impossible, especially in cases where an iPhone has been stolen and its owner forced to unlock it.

Just yesterday there was a fresh example, where an unlocked iPhone was stolen at gunpoint by seemingly tech-savvy thieves …

Apple launched a big security enhancement with iOS 16.2 that brings the long-requested feature of full encryption for iMessage in iCloud, iPhone backups, and eight other apps/categories. As part of the process, you’ll need to set up a recovery contact/key – here’s how to turn on iPhone end-to-end encryption for iMessage, iCloud, device backups, Notes, Safari, Photos, and more.

Some of Apple’s services are currently down for some users around the world. Apple has confirmed the ongoing outage, which affects Find My, iCloud Calendar, iCloud Mail, the iCloud website, and even the Screen Time feature.

Apple on Wednesday announced new iCloud security features to strengthen users’ privacy. This includes Advanced Data Protection with end-to-end encryption for all data saved in the cloud, as well as support for physical security keys. In an interview with WSJ’s Joanna Stern, Apple’s SVP of software, Craig Federighi, shared some details about what led the company to introduce such features to iCloud.