Apple Warns iCloud Users Some Disabled Services Were Accidentally Re-enabled in iOS 10.3

[Sill]

I wonder what was different about this update that got Apple to admit what they've been doing all along? This has happened to me with just about every system update for the past three years. Right after the update I had to race to the Settings to turn off all the tracking/data collection stuff. Each update happily flipped the switch to 'ON' for Location Services, Contact/Calendar cloud sync (but not Notes, oddly), and iCloud Photo Library and PhotoStream and whatever the other snooping iPhoto "feature" is called. The last update to 9.3.5 was the only one, iirc, that didn't do this to my phone. Several times I've revisited the Settings to confirm things are off, and they mysteriously turn back on.

I haven't done any of the 10.x updates, for both security and aesthetic reasons, and this article gives me one more reason not to.
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I don't know 10.3 because I did not tried it, but 10.3.1 is impressive, very fast and very smooth on my iPad Air 1. Much better than on iOS 10.2.

I'm eager to see how it performs on my SE!!!

Let me know how it is on battery life. While I haven't installed 10.x on my iPhone 6s, it installed itself on my bedside 5 via the "click here to install later" trick that they've been pulling. The battery life has been horrendously bad since then, barely getting one day of use/standby out of it.

Interesting that they have an opt-in on the 10.x update notification asking if you want to download the update, yet if you click 'no' the thing will eventually download on its own. Several times the 10.x update has found its way onto my iPhone 6s where they tried the same trick that caught me on the iPhone 5. I've been able to catch it each time and then delete it from my 6s phone storage.

 

[MaSx]

After updating to 10.3.1 all my keyboard text replacements disappeared. Never received an email from Apple. Great, Thanks Apple. Let's see what else I find.

 

[C DM]

I haven't done any of the 10.x updates, for both security and aesthetic reasons, and this article gives me one more reason not to.

Security reasons? Wouldn't that go the other way around?

 

[Sill]

Security reasons? Wouldn't that go the other way around?

Kinda, kinda not. Yes I won't have the most up to date security fixes, but lately it appears that those fixes clean up things that were broken by earlier 10.x updates.

 

[freddiecable]

and google offers 15 GB for free.

They really should. A lot of people don't have a backup of their phone because they've exceeded the 5GB allowed and never bothered to upgrade.

Yes, it's only $1 a month, but it's still a psychological barrier of "why should I have to pay for this?" that's really hard to get past in a lot of people.

 

[macs4nw]

These screw-ups happen to everyone nowadays, no matter if it's Google, Apple or Microsoft.

What kinda pisses me off is wording like "a small number of users" which could easily mean a fife or aix digit amount of users.

I seriously question that too. PR spin maybe, since we'll probably never know how widespread this issue really is.

 

[AshleyHredone]

Good on Apple for being proactive and emailing those who might have been affected.

I received no email from Apple but noticed many features disabled shortly after the update. Support were dreadful but did sort the issue after just a few hours of my reporting it to them. For best part of a day I was unable to remotely access cloud documents, photos, Find iPhone or have my calendars (inc shared) updated. I was also unable to sign out of iCloud on any device.

 

[Tech198]

Remember: Its a feature, not a bug

 

[hello1984]

This isn't really a "break". Likely it would've had very little impact to anyone affected. A break would be something that does not function as intended, and none of these iCloud services were broken, just enabled by mistake.

Can we just have people be thankful for Apple working hard to give us the best devices, online and mobile experiences possible? When has someone stopped and said "Thanks, Apple, for your hard work and commitment to excellence." Things are going always going to be perfect, but at least they do try.

Actually, this IS a "break" - a serious one causing loss of data. I have spent the past 6 days on the phone with Apple Senior Advisors attempting to fix systemic iCloud issues caused by this iOS 10.3 update.

After the update, my iCloud apps reverted to an older state on my iPhone 7 Plus, and syncing became incomplete and erratic across different devices. For example, information is there one minute and is gone the next. Changes appear, then disappear.

I pay $499.00 per year for an Apple Joint Venture business support. Estimated time on the phone with Apple so far troubleshooting this issue caused by a lame update: 22 hours.

 

[dewski]

This has been happening for years for us. We disable all icloud services except drive and find my iphone, then restrict all accounts so nothing can be changed. After an updates, icloud mail is on for about half our users.

 

[nt5672]

Well, nothing is actually broken in this case. Some settings got changed, which isn't good certainly, but it's a ways off from something being broken or anything like that.

Not broken, but it is a clear indication that Apple does not care about its users. Why would there be any code in the upgrade to change users settings? But, in reality Apple does this all the time. Why? Because they think they are smarter than their users don't care, and think no one will notice. Oh, and more importantly management does not care about how these things effect users. Cook probably does not even know about this issue.

 

[xSeaside]

I was affected by this bug but not e-mailed by Apple. Thanks for the heads-up MR.

If anybody is wondering: I updated directly from iOS 10.2.1 to 10.3.1

Edited for clarity.

 

[Bamff]

I received the email last night after I noticed the iCloud "bug" earlier in the day after I updated and after I read about it here. Strange thing after that my phones signal started cutting out as well. Everything signal related would blink on and off, then to no service, then would take a while to come back on after I toggled airplane mode. This never happened before on any of the devices that I've used throughout the years.

 

[C DM]

Actually, this IS a "break" - a serious one causing loss of data. I have spent the past 6 days on the phone with Apple Senior Advisors attempting to fix systemic iCloud issues caused by this iOS 10.3 update.

After the update, my iCloud apps reverted to an older state on my iPhone 7 Plus, and syncing became incomplete and erratic across different devices. For example, information is there one minute and is gone the next. Changes appear, then disappear.

I pay $499.00 per year for an Apple Joint Venture business support. Estimated time on the phone with Apple so far troubleshooting this issue caused by a lame update: 22 hours.

Sounds like a somewhat different/separate issue.
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Not broken, but it is a clear indication that Apple does not care about its users. Why would there be any code in the upgrade to change users settings? But, in reality Apple does this all the time. Why? Because they think they are smarter than their users don't care, and think no one will notice. Oh, and more importantly management does not care about how these things effect users. Cook probably does not even know about this issue.

Right, they don't care about their users so much that they fix the issue pretty quickly and make a public statement about it. Clearly no one knows about the issue or cares about it or wants to do anything about it.

 

[knweiss]

Update: According to Apple, iCloud Photo Library, iCloud Keychain, and Find My iPhone were not affected by the issue.

Then there's another issue because the iOS 10.3.0 update enabled iCloud Keychain on both my iPhone 6 and my iPad Air 2.

 

[smorrissey]

Bravo, after all those beta releases....sigh

and now how do i know which were my original icloud settings??? sigh...

 

[C DM]

Bravo, after all those beta releases....sigh

and now how do i know which were my original icloud settings??? sigh...

You basically make sure and if needed set them to what you expect or want them to be.