iCloud Private Relay in Safari down for hours - no info from Apple
Since early Wednesday evening, there have been reports of a problem with Apple's IP obfuscation service. The bug was fixed during the night.
Settings menu for iCloud Private Relay: Only switching off helped.
(Image: Apple / Mac & i)
Subscribers to Apple's iCloud+ cloud package have access to a useful function: they can use the pseudo VPN service iCloud Private Relay for apps and in the Safari browser on iPhone, iPad and Mac. This means that data traffic is routed via two hops so that servers cannot see which IP address the user has - even Apple itself should not be able to do this. The problem: If iCloud Private Relay fails, you can no longer surf the web or use apps. This is exactly what happened early Wednesday evening and lasted for several hours.
"No such file or directory"
However, only some iCloud+ customers seem to have been affected - and not on all platforms. But those affected were unnerved, as can be read on IsDown and X, for example, and one computer in the Mac & i editorial team was also affected. Apple itself provided no information about the problem and happily displayed "All Systems Go" on its System Status website- and is still doing so in retrospect. The direct effects of the problem were particularly evident in the Safari browser on the Mac (where other browsers such as Chrome or Firefox are not covered by iCloud Private Relay) and in Apple Mail.
It was no longer possible to access websites in Safari. After trying to access a website, the message appeared that iCloud Private Relay could not be reached. The error was anything but informative: "The operation couldn't be completed. No such file or directory" (NSPOSIXErrorDomain:2)" There was no hint as to what to do. The only thing that helped was to turn off iCloud Private Relay in the iCloud menu in the system settings. Particularly annoying: Safari also loses the URL entered when the above error occurs. If you simply restart Safari, you may also lose the current tab.
Reports also from iPhone and iPad
As iCloud Private Relay is also available on iPhone and iPad, as mentioned above, there have also been reports from these platforms. "Why isn't Safari working?", was one of the messages on X. Some reported that they could not reach YouTube, but this was only a consequence of the failed pseudo VPN. On iPhone and iPad, the outage is even worse, as all app traffic is routed through it when iCloud Private Relay is active. However, there were hardly any reports of app outages, so it seems likely that the problem was between Safari and Apple's servers. In Apple Mail- on all platforms - there were issues reloading content in emails. Its traffic is also redirected via iCloud Private Relay on request.
By Thursday morning, the problem had been resolved: Safari opened websites as usual and the error no longer occurred. IP inspection services that can recognize Apple's network can be used to verify that you are really surfing via iCloud Private Relay. The service also allows you to specify whether your own city or only your own country is transmitted.
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