iCloud Is Down: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

iCloud went down for a number of users on July 14 and 15. Read on to learn why iCloud went dark, and how long the outage lasted.

1. iCloud Went Down Due to New Encryption

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The iCloud outage happened after Apple started encrypting iCloud email. Emails addresses that end with @me.com and @mac.com are now protected, but this move does seem to have caused some unexpected issues with the iCloud platform.

You can view the current status of this outage from Apple’s System Status Dashboard. The issue appears to be resolved as of the afternoon of July 15.

2. iCloud Outage Not Affecting All Users

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Not all users are experiencing outages with their iCloud accounts. ZDNet reports that iCloud has over 300 million users, but only 0.1 percent of users have experienced an outage. You can contact Apple if you are still having iCloud-related issues.

3. New iCloud Encryption Has Detractors

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ZDNet cites German site Heise.de, which claims that iCloud uses RC4 encryption. ZDNet’s Charlie Osborn refers to this type of encryption as “far from the most secure option available.”

4. No Other iCloud Services Are Affected

We don't enjoy reporting stuff like this, but seriously, you get what you pay for, and free, is well, free. http://t.co/CAhc0jO1lU

— The Mac Guy (@TheMacGuyStl) July 14, 2014

According to 9 to 5 Mac, the outage has lasted about 18 hours. For now, no other iCloud services seem to be affected.

5. iCloud Outage Could Be Bad News for iCloud Drive

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This fall, Apple is expected to launch their iCloud Drive feature. iCloud Drive makes it easy to work across iOS apps. You can open a photo in one app, move it to another app, edit it, and the changes are saved automatically. iCloud Drive syncs across Macs, and Windows as well.

This cross-platform compatibility might be enough to get some people to ditch other Cloud services like Dropbox or Box…but only if the service is perceived as reliable by its existing user base. If Apple allows iCloud to experience more outages, it could be bad news for iCloud as a product.