Malcolm Owen
Developers are complaining about problems with iCloud preventing third-party apps from syncing properly with Apple's cloud platform, issues that Apple doesn't appear to be directly addressing.
Developers rely on CloudKit to handle synchronization with iCloud, enabling features such as cross-device synchronization of user data. However, a number of developers have taken to Apple's Developer Forums to complain that the system isn't working.
A two-month-old thread with 722 watchers features developers airing their grievances about CloudKit, which repeatedly displays an HTTP status code 503 "Service Unavailable" when attempts are made to query records or pull data. HTTP 503 means there is a problem specifically with the server, in that it cannot handle the request, meaning it's something wrong on Apple's side.
It's not the only thread about the issue with high numbers of developers watching it.
The appearance of the iCloud sync issue is limited in scope, and seemingly a relatively recent problem for developers. While some have apps that haven't changed any code that affects syncing for quite some time, apps that previously synced normally are now encountering the error.
The problem has even reached a point where developers are attempting to mitigate user queries about the problem. In one thread, a developer started to see the errors and attempted to delete and recreate the CloudKit entitlement, as well as making a new CloudKit container, but to no avail.
The developers of GoodNotes has created a support article specifically for the 503 error. GoodNotes claims it has escalated the problem to Apple Technical Support for investigation, and is aware it's not the only app that it affects.
Meanwhile, Tapbots has added a "Sync Status" feature to its Tweetbot client, to show to users if iCloud syncing is working for them or failing.
Outside of Apple Technical Support queries, there has yet to be any official confirmation of an issue from Apple, that it exists or is being actively investigated.
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
3 Comments
Well, not only apps. Sometimes trying to download a document inside Files app from iCloud to store it locally. It takes ages before it fetches simple PDF file with some 500 kB… and as other apps easily run, send photos etc, it is for sure not the connection issue
Well not just third party developers are having issues with iCloud syncing. I have personally had issues and on top of that still dealing with an issue where my locked Apple Notes are unable to open. The issue started when I upgraded from my old Apple iPhone X to the 13 Pro. It’s an easy migration, done several migrations before, and never had an issue if all your data is synced/backed up in iCloud. Well plenty of people on forums are reporting that once the try an open locked Apple Notes. They can’t. It doesn’t recognize their password and Apple’s Support doesn’t have a solution other than stating you should reset the password. It’s not a forgotten password issue, it’s a corruption in the iCloud Keychain causing locked Apple Notes to not open, even if you reset the password. The only option you have is to try and recover your notes using forensics technology.
iCloud sync has always been flaky for me. That why there's no way in hell I'd trust it as my primary password manager - that's just terrifying.