Facing iPhone glitch today? Apple outage to blame

If your iPhone was acting up, this Apple outage is likely to blame for glitch.

Apple iCloud faced international service outage, disrupting access to iPhone users. (HT Web)

iPhone users may have faced some serious issues with their handsets today. It would have been a worrying and time wasting thing. Reportedly, iPhone glitch was caused by Apple iCloud outage resulting in disruption to services globally on January 26. A multitude of reports and complaints have appeared on Twitter stating Apple iCloud is down. iPhone users also stated that the outage is affecting Apple ID authentication services. However, Apple's System Status Page shows that the glitch has been resolved now. The outage lasted around 5 hours starting at 4:30 AM IST and ending at 9:50 AM IST.

This iCloud outage affected iCloud Backup, iCloud Mail, iCloud‌ Storage Upgrades, iCloud.com, iMessage, and Game Center, according to a report by MacRumors. Further, some users were also facing challenges in accessing the iCloud website and connecting to Apple ID servers. The reports indicated that the issue was occurring in a single location but affected multiple countries.

iPhone iCloud outage: The timeline

It all began in the early hours of January 26, as India was gearing up for its annual Republic day parade. The official Twitter account of Netblocks, a watchdog organization monitoring cybersecurity and the governance of the Internet, tweeted that Apple iCloud is experiencing service outage. Soon after, many iPhone users and websites started reporting similar iCloud outages from all around the world, highlighting that it was not a regional issue.

Later, Netblocks posted a screenshot of Apple's System Status Page which reflected that there were issues in certain iCloud services. The page warned that “Some users are affected” and that “Users may be unable” to backup their data/ access iCloud mail/ iCloud Photos.

Later on, Netblocks again reported that Apple iCloud outage and disruption to its ID authentication has also caused issues on Netflix. The streaming platform experienced service request outage and displayed NSES - 500 error code, which highlights an issue with Netflix server connection. The issue was affecting only users with iPhone or other Apple devices.

Some also tried to guess the reason behind the outage. While nothing is known at the moment, this did not stop some iPhone users in coming up with their own theories. Twitter user Lizzy MacDonald who goes by the username @Lizzard899 said, “maybe they are fixing the icloud backup issue. Where when u delete your backup the toggle doesn't turn off (and) u have to turn it off manually. Or maybe they are fixing the part where the security questions asks u the questions multiple times as if your answers are wrong”.

Apple got onto the issue quickly and before 10 AM IST, the issue said "resolved" on Apple's System Status Page. Apple is yet to make a statement regarding the issue and explain the reason behind this system failure.