Apple’s iCloud services experienced a late-night outage on Friday, leaving some iPhone and Mac users unable to access files for several hours. The disruption began around 11:55 p.m. Eastern (4:55 a.m. BST) and lasted until approximately 2:45 a.m. Eastern (7:45 a.m. BST).
The Apple System Status page confirmed issues with both “iCloud Account & Sign In” and “iCloud Web Apps (iCloud.com).” While Apple marked the problems as resolved, the company noted only that “some users were affected,” without clarifying whether it was a complete outage or a partial service disruption.
User Reports and Reactions
Affected customers quickly turned to social media platform X to report the issue. Many shared screenshots of error messages reading, “Verification Failed” and “An unknown error occurred.” However, reports on outage tracking site DownDetector peaked at just 682 submissions, suggesting the problem impacted a relatively small percentage of Apple’s user base.
Because the outage occurred during late-night hours in the U.S., the timing likely limited the number of people affected. Even so, the interruption proved frustrating for those who rely on iCloud for real-time access to files, documents, and synced data.
Not the First Incident This Year
This event follows a similar downtime in June when Apple Intelligence suffered an outage, preventing users from accessing Siri and related AI services. That incident also lasted several hours before Apple engineers resolved the bottleneck.
Such disruptions, while rare, highlight the reliance of Apple customers on cloud-based services. Even a short period of downtime can cause disruptions for professionals, students, and casual users alike.
Apple’s Response
Apple has not provided details on the cause of Friday’s iCloud outage. The lack of transparency leaves open questions about what triggered the issue and what steps, if any, the company is taking to prevent future occurrences.
For now, the service is fully operational, and Apple users can once again access their iCloud data without interruption. However, the incident serves as a reminder of the potential vulnerabilities in always-online services, even from a tech giant like Apple.
