AppleInsider Staff
An unknown number of users have been affected by an outage of Apple's iMessage and FaceTime messaging services, with downtime reaching nearly an hour.
Apple has confirmed the service interruption on its iCloud System Status webpage, noting that some iMessage and FaceTime users are unable to send messages or make video calls. The root of the problem is unknown at this time.
Tuesday's troubles add to a list of sporadic iCloud service outages that have cropped up recently. The issues are usually resolved within one to two hours.
Most recently, Apple's iCloud account authentication system went down immediately after the company rolled out the OS X 10.8.3 maintenance update, causing some users to be left without a number of services.
Update: As of 5:20 p.m. PST, all issues have been resolved. The outage lasted for a little over five hours.
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28 Comments
I've never had any issues with iMessage or Facetime that I can recall. They've always been reliable for me(and iMessage is working fine atm). The only issue I have with iCloud is its propensity to wipe out my contact list. It would just disappear randomly for seemingly no reason. Finally had to turn the sync off and do it manually.
I just tried to resolve my iMessage issues by toggling AirPort, then erasing my network settings, then rebooting. So annoying! If the program can't reach the iMessage, FaceTime, or some other iCloud service server it should then try to access a simple URL where it can see if that particular service is functioning properly or not. If it can get to that site that means there is an internet connection. If that app sees that some users can't access said service it could at least inform the user that there could be a problem, even trying periodically and then letting you know when it's available. [IMG ALT=""]http://forums.appleinsider.com/content/type/61/id/23312/width/500/height/1000[/IMG]
The Messages app on my desktop never sends the first message to other iMessage users. The second message almost always goes through. This is not unique to me; other users are struggling with the same issue. 10.8.3 doesn't resolve the long-standing issue. :-(
Mine's down now in NYC.
*sighs* Apple just plain sucks at cloud stuff.