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Several Apple Services are Experiencing Outages

62 points by asclepi 9y ago

Isamu 9y ago
App stores and Apple TV.
cryptoz 9y ago
Based on this reddit thread in r/apple [0], it seems it is more than just service outages. iPhone users are actively being interrupted from unrelated work and forced to deal with popups it sounds like. Not just outages for App Store etc, but massive usability bugs in iOS are appearing and making iOS sound awful to use right now. [0] https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/87lafa/issue_with_appstore/ https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/87lafa/issue_with_ap... Edit: Aside Rant: At what point does the OS need to get out of the way and stop trying to earn money but just let the user use it? Bugs like what people describe in r/apple sounds completely unacceptable from an OS-user standpoint. Here's a quote from a user in that thread, > I had to turn off my phone. I am getting it every ~15 seconds. It's infuriating.
- oflannabhra 9y ago
  You're being downvoted, but I agree. This reminds me of the system level UIAlertView's that used to pop up regarding iCloud, at seemingly random times. I'm glad Apple re-worked that flow, but it sounds like several types of (previously) rarely occurring errors trigger similar behavior.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
- phobius 9y ago
  may be complete coincidence, but about 8-9hrs ago my friend's iphone started acting up; emails vanishing while they were reading them, sub-routes in apps silently failing back to main screen... even if this is unrelated - disconcerting to hear that the unit's usability is so closely tied to online services
- rconti 9y ago
  Agreed. Nobody in my office is having issues, but I know one guy whose cowork space is full of pop-ups on their computers, complaining over and over again about not being able to access iTunes or something -- when they're not actively trying to use any service. I'm guessing maybe that cowork space NATs out as the same IP which is why all workers in one office would have issues but I haven't heard of these issues in my own office or other friends' workplaces. Hopefully this fiasco teaches them a little about being less obtrusive with such messages. In the past, it likely could be chalked up to a user misconfiguration, so they can blame a PEBKAC issue and push it on the user. When the failure is on Apple's end, and it affects many users at once, they'll hear pretty loud and clear that these need to go away.
- mr_toad 9y ago
  > At what point does the OS need to get out of the way and stop trying to earn money but just let the user use it? ~45 online services, and most of them are free. Extra cloud storage and third party content are the only things you pay for.
godzillabrennus 9y ago
My iPhone started telling me that the app I wanted couldn't be downloaded. I wasn't trying to download anything. I rebooted it. Turned on my Apple TV an hour later and it said the same thing. Figured at that point it was an issue with Apple web services.
- cryptoz 9y ago
  Regardless if there is an issue with Apple Services or not, there was also an issue with your phone and TV. No phone or TV should ever do that, regardless of the state of Apple web services.
  - olig15 9y ago
    Mine and my girlfriends iPhone showed this message every time we switched apps an hour or so ago. Seems to have stopped showing the message now.
  - jayrhynas 9y ago
    Maybe automatic updates were turned on?
  - freehunter 9y ago
    Both of mine and also my wife's did the same thing. Certainly not something wrong with the phone.
    - cryptoz 9y ago
      If your phone showed annoying popups like that out of nowhere for no reason then yes there is something wrong with your phone! It sounds like your wife's phone and your phone both have the same issue, the same bugs.
      - freehunter 9y ago
        To be clear: there is nothing wrong with my iPhone vs anyone else's iPhone. I understand you're going for the "lawl iPhone sux" kind of thing but it's really not appreciated. You can take that somewhere else.
ams6110 9y ago
"Experiencing outages" Kind of a weasely way to say "are down," or "are having problems," or "are not working." Like the outage is some kind of external thing. Hey we were just sitting here minding our own business and a random outage came by and jumped into our system.
- existencebox 9y ago
  At the risk of a more glib comment than I usually try to make: Having had my systems variously backhoed, struck by lightning, physically unplugged (backup and primary) by a sysadmin (cough who may have on another occasion been me not properly counting the rack I was on cough), and left without mains power for multiple weeks after an electrical fire in a substation, an outage is indeed something that can sneak up on you despite best intentions. (yes yes "distribute" "build for failure" "it's apple we should expect more" are all valid answers, but wanted to make a tongue in cheek response to your wording.)
  - ams6110 9y ago
    Of course you are right. But it just comes off as a passive voice, dismissive, "not our fault, sorry" kind of way to phrase it.
- eridius 9y ago
  I disagree. "Experiencing outages" means something more than any of the other phrases you used. It's also more professional. "are down" doesn't tell you whether it's intentional or not (whereas "outages" is a word that people don't use for expected downtime). "are having problems" and "are not working" don't even tell you anything about the symptoms. But "experiencing outages" means the service is partially or completely interrupted, and that it wasn't expected downtime.
  - sitkack 9y ago
    An affluent store near me has a sign that reads, "please allow us to serve you at a different teller", it could also say, "Closed".

62 points by asclepi 9y ago

App stores and Apple TV.

Based on this reddit thread in r/apple [0], it seems it is more than just service outages. iPhone users are actively being interrupted from unrelated work and forced to deal with popups it sounds like. Not just outages for App Store etc, but massive usability bugs in iOS are appearing and making iOS sound awful to use right now. [0] https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/87lafa/issue_with_appstore/ https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/87lafa/issue_with_ap... Edit: Aside Rant: At what point does the OS need to get out of the way and stop trying to earn money but just let the user use it? Bugs like what people describe in r/apple sounds completely unacceptable from an OS-user standpoint. Here's a quote from a user in that thread, > I had to turn off my phone. I am getting it every ~15 seconds. It's infuriating.

oflannabhra 9y ago
You're being downvoted, but I agree. This reminds me of the system level UIAlertView's that used to pop up regarding iCloud, at seemingly random times. I'm glad Apple re-worked that flow, but it sounds like several types of (previously) rarely occurring errors trigger similar behavior.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
phobius 9y ago
may be complete coincidence, but about 8-9hrs ago my friend's iphone started acting up; emails vanishing while they were reading them, sub-routes in apps silently failing back to main screen... even if this is unrelated - disconcerting to hear that the unit's usability is so closely tied to online services
rconti 9y ago
Agreed. Nobody in my office is having issues, but I know one guy whose cowork space is full of pop-ups on their computers, complaining over and over again about not being able to access iTunes or something -- when they're not actively trying to use any service. I'm guessing maybe that cowork space NATs out as the same IP which is why all workers in one office would have issues but I haven't heard of these issues in my own office or other friends' workplaces. Hopefully this fiasco teaches them a little about being less obtrusive with such messages. In the past, it likely could be chalked up to a user misconfiguration, so they can blame a PEBKAC issue and push it on the user. When the failure is on Apple's end, and it affects many users at once, they'll hear pretty loud and clear that these need to go away.
mr_toad 9y ago
> At what point does the OS need to get out of the way and stop trying to earn money but just let the user use it? ~45 online services, and most of them are free. Extra cloud storage and third party content are the only things you pay for.

godzillabrennus 9y ago

My iPhone started telling me that the app I wanted couldn't be downloaded. I wasn't trying to download anything. I rebooted it. Turned on my Apple TV an hour later and it said the same thing. Figured at that point it was an issue with Apple web services.

cryptoz 9y ago
Regardless if there is an issue with Apple Services or not, there was also an issue with your phone and TV. No phone or TV should ever do that, regardless of the state of Apple web services.
- olig15 9y ago
  Mine and my girlfriends iPhone showed this message every time we switched apps an hour or so ago. Seems to have stopped showing the message now.
- jayrhynas 9y ago
  Maybe automatic updates were turned on?
- freehunter 9y ago
  Both of mine and also my wife's did the same thing. Certainly not something wrong with the phone.
  - cryptoz 9y ago
    If your phone showed annoying popups like that out of nowhere for no reason then yes there is something wrong with your phone! It sounds like your wife's phone and your phone both have the same issue, the same bugs.
    - freehunter 9y ago
      To be clear: there is nothing wrong with my iPhone vs anyone else's iPhone. I understand you're going for the "lawl iPhone sux" kind of thing but it's really not appreciated. You can take that somewhere else.

ams6110 9y ago

"Experiencing outages" Kind of a weasely way to say "are down," or "are having problems," or "are not working." Like the outage is some kind of external thing. Hey we were just sitting here minding our own business and a random outage came by and jumped into our system.

existencebox 9y ago
At the risk of a more glib comment than I usually try to make: Having had my systems variously backhoed, struck by lightning, physically unplugged (backup and primary) by a sysadmin (cough who may have on another occasion been me not properly counting the rack I was on cough), and left without mains power for multiple weeks after an electrical fire in a substation, an outage is indeed something that can sneak up on you despite best intentions. (yes yes "distribute" "build for failure" "it's apple we should expect more" are all valid answers, but wanted to make a tongue in cheek response to your wording.)
- ams6110 9y ago
  Of course you are right. But it just comes off as a passive voice, dismissive, "not our fault, sorry" kind of way to phrase it.
eridius 9y ago
I disagree. "Experiencing outages" means something more than any of the other phrases you used. It's also more professional. "are down" doesn't tell you whether it's intentional or not (whereas "outages" is a word that people don't use for expected downtime). "are having problems" and "are not working" don't even tell you anything about the symptoms. But "experiencing outages" means the service is partially or completely interrupted, and that it wasn't expected downtime.
- sitkack 9y ago
  An affluent store near me has a sign that reads, "please allow us to serve you at a different teller", it could also say, "Closed".