Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Anybody else get spam in the reminders app as well?

I have had notifications in calendar, photos and reminders now. Had to disable notifications in reminders, turn off photo sharing and keep moving calendar ones to a "junk" folder before deleting. Used to use all of these features
 
Is anyone finding this problem stopped as abruptly as it began? I got these for only one day, last Friday. Several, on that one day, and nothing since. I did shift to email notifications but that's the only change I made, and I am seeing none of those either.

My experience, is it keeps happening in intervals. I see it and then a week goes by where it's not occurring. I have heard this from multiple iPhone users.
 


.... Because iCloud calendar invites are sent to an iCloud calendar automatically by default and there's no easy way to ignore them, there's no clear way to stop the spam.....
Article Link: Apple Working to Put a Stop to iCloud Calendar Spam


No easy way?? Easy, drag the calendar app to the trash. Right now, for me the app is far worse than useless. I suspect I am not the only person to think of this solution.

Google Calendar works just fine, no spam.

I had reported this to Apple support and also suggested maybe a half dozen ways they could fix this. One I like is a universal "blacklist" where if I get a communications I don't like via text message, email, voice phone, calendar or now also Photos invites I can with one click "blacklist" the sender from all my Apple devices. So if I get a Robot-Call on my iPhone There is a "kill" button to hit so it blocks on my phone BUT ALSO sends the data to Apple. If Apple sees a bunch of "kills" then Apple's servers can blacklist the guy for everyone. So the spammer or telemarketer only gets the first 100 or so Apple users then is cut off from the other millions.

Yes "voice spam" is even worse than email spam.
[doublepost=1480582323][/doublepost]
Apple has been hacked but by whom?

And tell us please, when did you stop beating your wife?

Questions that make a wrong assumption seem kind is silly don't they? You assume Apple was hacked which we just have no reason to think is true.
 
Or, just use a decent calendar service like the one from Google and disable iCloud calendar. It get some may like this service but there really are better options out there....
 
Is this issue exclusive to Sierra? It only started happening when I "upgraded".

I'm reverting to El Capitan anyway (Sierra made my Sync software obsolete), and would like to know if this'll continue on that OS version.
Why do users always blame updates for everything. It has nothing to do with updates. Doesnt matter what OS you are on...
 
If so then it's a compromise. Apple has been hacked before, at least I haven't forgot.

Yes, Apple, or rather some iCloud accounts, were 'hacked' as you put it before, but that vulnerability was closed a long time ago. This everyone knows. Anyone Spamming you through your Calendar has no more information on you than they did before, just a new slightly sneaky way of using it. You haven't been 'Hacked'.

Spouting some conspiracy that this is an attack on Apple and iCloud is preposterous grandstanding. It's Spam. It's no different than someone spamming your email or text messages. It's annoying, but that's what Spam is.

It's a hole that will be filled, and then the spammers will find new ways of getting into your email, text, calendars, and letter box. Until then, if you don't like it you now have an option to delete the offending articles or otherwise shut down your whole online life, because that's the only way you will remove Spam from your day to day.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Wondercow
I've had this too for last few weeks. Michael lots sunglasses seem to be the favourite- thought it was just me too
 
I already get these spam invites in my dayjob – people sending meeting invites for just about anything, even non-essential "sharing" sessions. This is particularly annoying with a smartwatch since my wrist buzzes for these spam invites. Since I'm working in a global company, this also caused some sleep deprivation because of meetings that happens midnight in my time zone.

Due to this I turn off invitation alerts and review invites the same way I go through other e-mail.
  1. Open Settings app
  2. Go to "Notifications"
  3. Look for "Calendar" and open it.
  4. Open section "Invitations"
  5. Set "Show in Notification Centre" to off.
  6. Set "Sounds" to "None"
  7. Set "Badge App Icon" to off
  8. Optionally set "Show on Lock Screen" to off.
 
  • Like
Reactions: IJ Reilly
hurry up please, this is a joke,maybe need something like a report as span option. (that will not send anything back to the sender, causing more spam).
 
I don't think i'd like a "Maybe" option, that basically is saying u'r un-ceratin.... Would actually confuse the whole system more.

I would say invites should never be automatically accepted.


How would u feel is every one who friended u on facebook was automatically added ? it would be chaos..

Decline/accept on iCloud invites should be mandatory and no option to switch that off. Apple confirms just about everything, asks your repetitive (sometimes too repetitive) for passwords, so i'm surprised this one stands out. I'd also image one could just get too many invites (spam) requests at well

oh well... welcome to twitter-verse, Apple.


No easy way?? Easy, drag the calendar app to the trash. Right now, for me the app is far worse than useless. I suspect I am not the only person to think of this solution.

Google Calendar works just fine, no spam.

Google only works because of collaborative spam filtering. Not sure how that works with calendar, but i would think same way as email.
 
Last edited:
"...choosing "Maybe" on an incoming iCloud invite lets an iCloud email address is valid..."

what
 
He is the captain of the ship, so he is responsible for its lousy filter. I get tons of things everyday that a simple filter could catch. Apple just isn't into high grade spam filtering...and it's because Tim is too busy saving the world from political correctness to see an issue with a core service that isn't a watchband.
Fantastic hyperbole and rhetoric. Carry on.
 
What interests me, is that the calendar spam was sent to my @icloud.com address. I have literally never used that address. So how did it end up in the spammers database? Do apps have the ability to gather information like icloud.com addresses?
 
This affected me too. This isn't a hacker, it's just how Apple's system works. There is no way to stop invites and anyone can invite you, which is like heaven for spammers. A simple checkmark "disable event invitations" would fix it. Or even "only allow my contacts to send me event invitations".
 
  • Like
Reactions: ardchoille50
Anybody else get spam in the reminders app as well?

I have had notifications in calendar, photos and reminders now. Had to disable notifications in reminders, turn off photo sharing and keep moving calendar ones to a "junk" folder before deleting. Used to use all of these features

Yup, that's pretty much what I had to do as well. Makes the whole "reminding" thing kinda useless!
 
What interests me, is that the calendar spam was sent to my @icloud.com address. I have literally never used that address. So how did it end up in the spammers database? Do apps have the ability to gather information like icloud.com addresses?

They used brute force. When I opened the invitation, I saw that it was sent to dozens of @icloud email addresses, and they were all slight variations of mine. All they had to do is run a script that sends invites to millions of randomly generated @icloud addresses, it takes no time. Then when you "decline" it they record which address the "decline" came from, and they know it's a valid email address. Then although you've never used it, now someone in China will be able to sell a list of confirmed, valid email addresses to some guy in Russia who can then start working on remote locking these accounts in exchange for a ransom or something. And so on...
 
  • Like
Reactions: adib and Mikey44
They used brute force. When I opened the invitation, I saw that it was sent to dozens of @icloud email addresses, and they were all slight variations of mine. All they had to do is run a script that sends invites to millions of randomly generated @icloud addresses, it takes no time. Then when you "decline" it they record which address the "decline" came from, and they know it's a valid email address. Then although you've never used it, now someone in China will be able to sell a list of confirmed, valid email addresses to some guy in Russia who can then start working on remote locking these accounts in exchange for a ransom or something. And so on...
Pretty much how email spam has been done for ages essentially.
[doublepost=1480602624][/doublepost]
This affected me too. This isn't a hacker, it's just how Apple's system works. There is no way to stop invites and anyone can invite you, which is like heaven for spammers. A simple checkmark "disable event invitations" would fix it. Or even "only allow my contacts to send me event invitations".
Well, the suggested checkmark in calendar preferences to receive invites by email more or less does that to some degree.
 
I wish Apple would put a stop to its own spam.

On Black Friday, the song I was listening to on I-Tunes cut off suddenly, I was like WT...F and checked my screen .
There was an Apple ad for Black Friday sales at the Apple Store. It played for five seconds,
counting down each second in the upper right hand corner.

I can suffer the suggestion ads, but intruding into my private space by actually pausing my song and locking up I-tunes while forcing me to watch their ad? That's beyond the pail.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.