Apple Fixes iCloud Private Relay After Extended Outage

[dorje]

Apple has resolved the iCloud Private Relay service outage, restoring full functionality for users around the world after several days of disruption.

The recent iCloud Private Relay outage began at 02:34 AM Eastern Time on Thursday and lasted until 10:59 PM Eastern Time on Saturday. The issue disrupted web browsing for some users for over 48 hours, which is an unusually long period for an Apple service outage. The problem was confirmed by Apple through its System Status webpage, where it noted that the service might have been slow or unavailable.

iCloud Private Relay is a feature available to iCloud+ subscribers, designed to enhance privacy by encrypting browsing data and routing it through two separate relay servers. One of these servers is operated by Apple, while the other is managed by a third party. This setup ensures that neither Apple, internet service providers, nor the websites visited can access users' true browsing information. The service's dual-relay mechanism helps maintain a high level of privacy by separating the user's IP address from their DNS queries, which further obscures the user's online activity.

Users who had disabled iCloud Private Relay to mitigate browsing issues can now go ahead and re-enable the feature to continue utilizing its privacy benefits.

Article Link: Apple Fixes iCloud Private Relay After Extended Outage

For me it's the speed issue. Turned on Private Relay may be secure, but comes with a price - download speed: a measured 80% drop in speed - 1Gb/s [off] to 200 Mb/sec [on]. So... I keep it turned off and use another browser like DuckDuckGo.

 

[katbel]

For me it's the speed issue. Turned on Private Relay may be secure, but comes with a price - download speed: a measured 80% drop in speed - 1Gb/s [off] to 200 Mb/sec [on]. So... I keep it turned off and use another browser like DuckDuckGo.

True, but DuckDuckGo has other privacy issues. I deleted it sometime ago and use it as a search engine in Safari.

DuckDuckGo browser is not as private as you think — here's why

Security audit has revealed that Microsoft trackers are present in DuckDuckGo’s mobile browser

www.tomsguide.com

DuckDuckGo Isn’t as Private as You Think

Plus: A $150 million Twitter fine, a massive leak from a Chinese prison in Xinjiang, and an ISIS plot to assassinate George W. Bush.

www.wired.com

https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/ux9nyi

Nothing is easy and free! Even Safari Technology Preview isn't that safe because on your Mac and mine doesn't use Private Relay at all, go figure!

 

[ppetrovic]

I've re-enabled it a few days ago because I like to have enhanced privacy without too much effort, and since I pay for iCloud storage, I want to get the most out of my money. So far, no performance issues anymore. It looks like they resolved the underlying root cause, whatever it was. I hope it stays this way.