Affiliate Disclosure
If you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Read our ethics policy.

Apple warns iCloud users some services accidentally reactivated with iOS 10.3 [u]

Last updated

Apple is alerting an unknown number of iCloud users to a glitch in iOS 10.3 which can cause connections with apps like Mail and Photos to silently turn back on. [Updated with Apple statement]

"We discovered a bug in the recent iOS 10.3 software update that impacted a small number of iCloud users," Apple said in an email passed along to MacRumors. "This may have inadvertently reenabled some iCloud services that you had previously disabled on your device."

The company's solution is simple, asking people to go into the iCloud menu in the iOS Settings app and toggle off any unwanted services.

Many native iOS apps hook into iCloud, a few examples being Calendars, Contacts, Notes, and Find My iPhone. Some people may not want their data uploaded to to the internet, however. Further, enabling iCloud can have secondary effects, like disabling photo sync with local folders when iCloud Photo Library is turned on.

It's not clear if the bug was fixed in iOS 10.3.1, released Monday. That software did close a Wi-Fi vulnerability, as well as resume over-the-air 10.3.x updates for iPhone 5 and 5c owners.

Released last week, iOS 10.3 introduced the more efficient Apple File System, a new Find My AirPods feature and more.

Update: In a statement to AppleInsider, Apple elaborated that the iCloud problem was indeed fixed in iOS 10.3.1 and that iCloud Photo Library, iCloud Keychain, and Find My iPhone weren't impacted.



6 Comments

6ryph3n 61 comments · 17 Years

10.3 caused my phone to start syncing iCloud Drive over cell data. It burned through 4GB before I tracked down the problem and I had to turn Drive completely off to make it stop. 

bwik 565 comments · 17 Years

iCloud is likely the #1reason why loyal Apply fans leave.  Apple Music is rising in the ranks however.

icoco3 1474 comments · 13 Years

bwik said:
iCloud is likely the #1reason why loyal Apply fans leave.  Apple Music is rising in the ranks however.

Never heard that one.  Got a reference for that?

I use it to backup and sync contacts/calendar between my phone and my wife's.  Excellent feature through icloud.

watto_cobra 99 comments · 8 Years

bwik said:
iCloud is likely the #1reason why loyal Apply fans leave.  Apple Music is rising in the ranks however.

iCloud is one of many reasons I love this ecosystem. 

tallest skil 43086 comments · 14 Years

I'd love it if iCloud Drive actually operated like everything else on every other Apple product. Where's my spotlight search? What good is searching only titles of documents? It feels like I'm back in the '90s.