Apple has recently confirmed an ongoing outage affecting its iCloud Private Relay service, leading to slow or unavailable service for some users. The issue, which began on July 26th at 2:34 PM Eastern Time, has caused disruptions in the Safari browser’s performance, with many users reporting difficulties in browsing or experiencing slow loading times.
iCloud Private Relay is a privacy feature included in Apple’s iCloud Plus subscription. It enhances online privacy by masking users’ IP addresses and encrypting DNS records, ensuring that no single party can identify both the user’s identity and the websites they visit. This process involves routing internet traffic through two separate, secure internet relays—one controlled by Apple and the other by a third party. The aim is to prevent even Apple from knowing the user’s identity or the content they are accessing online.
The current outage has particularly affected users who rely on Safari, Apple’s web browser, with reports indicating that some users find the browser becomes stuck when attempting to type in search requests or website URLs. This issue appears more prevalent on iPhones, though it is unclear if it affects other Apple devices to the same extent.
For those experiencing difficulties, Apple has suggested a temporary fix: disabling iCloud Private Relay. This can be done through the device’s settings under iCloud. Users have the option to turn off the feature temporarily, which will reactivate automatically the following day, or to turn it off completely, requiring manual reactivation once the issue is resolved.
How to disable iCloud Private Relay
- Go to Settings
- Tap your name at the top.
- Tap iCloud > Private Relay.
Now you can either turn off iCloud Private Relay temporarily by tapping Turn Off Until Tomorrow. Or, turn off iCloud Private Relay completely by tapping Turn Off Private Relay.
The outage does not seem to impact all iCloud users uniformly, as some are experiencing only minor slowdowns, while others cannot browse the web at all without turning off Private Relay. Apple has acknowledged the issue on its System Status page, noting that the service may be slow or unavailable for some users. However, the company has not provided an estimate for when the service will be fully restored.
Read more:
