WARNING for 13.1 users: If you have a third-party VPN app installed and Private Relay enabled, it will break entire iCloud section in System Settings

[sniffies]

Prior to 13.1:

It's a known fact that running certain third-party VPN apps would automatically disable Private Relay, but they would never break the entire iCloud section in System Settings. To re-enable Private Relay, one would simply have to restart Mac.


After 13.1:

Now with certain third-party VPN apps installed and Private Relay enabled, the entire iCloud section in System Settings becomes unresponsive. It freezes and eventually crashes (appears blank).

Now to fix this mess, restarting Mac is not enough. Not only do you have to turn off the VPN app, you also have to uninstall/move it to trash, then restart Mac. Alternatively, you could turn off Private Relay. But good luck doing that while the iCloud section is unresponsive.

Could 13.1 be to blame since my VPN app never broke the iCloud section in previous versions of macOS 13? Who knows.

Edit: NordVPN users don't seem to be affected.

 

[fisherking]

not for everyone! tell us details, ask for help... since the sky is not falling...

 

[fwmireault]

Yes it's very laggy. Maybe it's a different story on Intel Macs, but almost unusable on M1

 

[hovscorpion12]

I suggest waiting a few hours for the OS update to fully index. I suggest looking at Task manager to see if MacOS is using high resources such as CPU, GPU, RAM, disk.

Disk usage can be high after an update.

 

[fisherking]

Yes it's very laggy. Maybe it's a different story on Intel Macs, but almost unusable on M1

not here (on my intel mac, OR my M2 air...)

 

[Mike Boreham]

not here (on my intel mac, OR my M2 air...)

Nor here on M1 MBA and 16" M1 Pro MBP.

 

[SenorWhyMe]

been on dev beta the whole time no issues; how about list specs; restart your Mac

 

[Bodhitree]

Just checked, didn’t see any signs of this on my M1 iMac.

 

[hovscorpion12]

OOOOOH. Yeah. With the edit made by the OP this has been the case for years. VPN has always had an effect on iCloud until disconnected. Not sure why, but iCloud requires Local Wi-fi.

 

[elvisimprsntr]

I use the built in IPSec option so nothing broke

 

[Nermal]

not for everyone! tell us details, ask for help... since the sky is not falling...

Indeed, more details required. What is "the VPN app" for starters? Apple's built-in VPN support isn't a separate app.

 

[hovscorpion12]

For me, it was FortiClient VPN that had issues with Settings app. Did not test NordVPN

 

[fisherking]

The only way to fix it is to trash the VPN app, empty trash, then restart Mac.

you've changed the thread title AND your initial post. better to leave things as they are, and update within the thread itself in the future, so the conversation makes sense...

 

[fanboy-ish]

It's happening to me too, when I upgraded to Ventura 13.1 I had this problem, I have Mullvad installed but wasn't running, then, right after my Mac rebooted after it had completed the installation of Ventura 13.1, it immediately displayed the message that Private Relay was unavailable due to incompatible system settings, even though I didn't touch any setting, when I open the System Settings app, and go to my Apple ID section, said section doesn't load, it tries to load with the cooling fan spinning at full speed, the UI of the section is not responsive and after a couple of minutes the fan stops spinning, and the Apple ID section is completely blank.

Edit: I've tried the workaround in the first post of this thread and it fixes things.

2nd edit, adding details: I'm using a 2020 Intel MacBook Air and the VPN app I had installed - but not running at the time of the upgrade - was Mullvad.

 

[Mike Boreham]

Nor here on M1 MBA and 16" M1 Pro MBP.

I don't have a VPN so my reply is not relevant since the OP changed the title to include VPN.

Forum rules should prevent edits once there have been replies, as many forums do.

 

[sniffies]

Indeed, more details required. What is "the VPN app" for starters? Apple's built-in VPN support isn't a separate app.

Updated my original post to make things clearer. Hope this helps.

 

[zakarhino]

Thanks for making this thread. I’ve been lurking this forum section waiting for an indication that upgrading to 13.X from 12 is okay but looks like I have to wait another 6 months. By that time we’ll already be close to the 14 beta.

It’s pathetic how macOS dictates that anybody using anything outside of the basic built in app suite has to wait for 6+ months just to upgrade. So many issues.

macOS 14 announced? Looks like macOS 12 users can upgrade to macOS 13.

 

[Apple_Robert]

MacOS has been updated to fix bugs and institute new security and the OP blames MacOS, even though the VPN’s have yet to update and account for the new and important Mac update.

Something is backwards with that conclusion.

 

[Smoothie]

I don't want to tempt fate, but I just finally updated my 2021 16-inch M1 MBP which had been running Monterey. I'm currently posting this via my VPN (Proton VPN), and I haven't see the bug described by the OP.

 

[immature]

Hi I registered just to post this, I was experiencing this and it seems like it is an issue with some VPN apps and Private Relay. You don't have to uninstall your VPN apps, but what I did to fix it was: killed the VPN app(s) and spam clicked my way thru the laggy Apple ID/iCloud menus until it eventually let me get far enough to disable Private Relay. After that, the lag pretty much went away but my VPN app wouldn't work properly so it took another restart after that and everything seems fine now.

Make sure to disable Private Relay before upgrading to 13.1 if you use VPN's I guess?

EDIT: I had Mullvad and Tailscale running, not sure if just one, or both of them caused the issue, but I'm not too interested in putting myself through the issue again.

 

[gilby101]

Make sure to disable private relay before upgrading to 13.1 if you use VPN's I guess?

Private Relay has never been compatible with most VPNs. Nothing new.

 

[immature]

Private Relay has never been compatible with most VPNs. Nothing new.

Obviously not? The issue is it lagging out the entire Apple ID section of System Preferences.

 

[bogdanw]

Now with certain third-party VPN apps installed (tested 10 popular VPN apps), the entire iCloud section in System Settings becomes unresponsive, not just Private Relay. The iCloud section freezes and eventually crashes (appears blank).
Now to fix this mess, restarting Mac is not enough. Not only do you have to disable the VPN app, you also have to trash it, then empty trash, then restart Mac.

The problem is most likely caused by the “kill” function in VPN apps, that prevents connecting when the VPN is off. As Apple’s iCloud and related services always spy on the user and try to phone home, they freeze when the connection is denied.
Potential solutions:
- disable the “kill” switch/function in VPN apps
- disable Apple’s iCloud spyware

MacOS has been updated to fix bugs and institute new security and the OP blames MacOS, even though the VPN’s have yet to update and account for the new and important Mac update. Something is backwards with that conclusion.

Your logic is. The OS should freeze the unresponsive app, not freeze its settings.

 

[abhsnad]

Prior to 13.1:

Certain third-party VPN apps would break Private Relay, but never the entire iCloud section in System Settings. To re-enable Private Relay, one would have to restart Mac.




After 13.1:

Now with certain third-party VPN apps installed (tested 10 popular VPN apps), the entire iCloud section in System Settings becomes unresponsive, not just Private Relay. The iCloud section freezes and eventually crashes (appears blank).

Now to fix this mess, restarting Mac is not enough. Not only do you have to disable the VPN app, you also have to trash it, then empty trash, then restart Mac.

Could 13.1 update be to blame since my VPN app didn’t break anything in previous versions of macOS 13? Who knows.

This is happening with my M1 Macbook Pro too. The iCloud section in System settings just freezes while all other sections work perfectly fine. Restarted numerous times....doesnt help. Only after reading this forum I got to know the solution. I had to uninstall the 3rd Party VPN...then and only then the issue for fixed. Really weird as before this update of 13.1 everything was working fine. Hope apple releases the fix asap.

 

[aoyos]

One way I found without uninstalling all VPN apps is to turn off iCloud Private Relay.