Apple services outage hits iCloud, Game Center, Find My, and more

Syncing your data with iCloud was temporarily unavailable, as an outage has affected multiple Apple services, causing issues for developers and users alike.

Virtually everything on an iPhone or iPad can be uploaded to iCloud and synced across compatible devices. However, the services that power this functionality can sometimes become unresponsive, which is what happened on August 18.

According to Apple’s System Status page, several Apple Services were affected by an outage. At around 3:30 PM Eastern Time on Tuesday, users began experiencing difficulties with iCloud and its associated features, including contact, calendar, and photo syncing, along with iCloud Mail, iWork for iCloud, and more.

Game Center Was experiencing issues as well, which means iOS and macOS gamers may have difficulty syncing achievements, game scores, and more. Other Apple-branded services, such as the iOS App Store and iCloud, seem to be unaffected.

iCloud and Game Center services resumed normal operation at 5:38 p.m. ET.

Apple’s Find My, which lets you keep track of compatible devices tied to your iCloud account, is also among the services affected. This means it might be difficult to locate an iPhone, iPad, or Mac via Find My, for the time being.

The Find My issue is still ongoing as of 6:15 p.m. ET.

Developers who rely on the Apple News API and News Publisher might encounter problems as well. Apple’s Xcode Cloud service is down too. The company said an Xcode Cloud outage began at 3:59 PM Eastern Time, and its teams are working to resolve the issue.

Apple hasn’t provided any details as to what caused the issues with its services, nor has it said when the remaining problems might be resolved. These sorts of outages rarely last more than a few hours, though, and we’re monitoring the situation.

Updated August 18, 6:15 p.m. ET: Outages around iCloud and Game Center have been resolved.