Apple says it fixed the iCloud sync issues that plagued developers and apps

What you need to know

Apple says it has fixed iCloud sync and CloudKit problems that have been an issue for developers.
Third-party apps have been suffering from sync issues for some time thanks to iCloud instability.
Developers have been told that the issues have been fixed.

Things got so bad that developers started putting iCloud status screens into their apps.

Apple says that it has fixed an iCloud sync and CloudKit issue that caused third-party apps to suffer from syncing instability. That instability often caused apps to be unable to sync data which users saw as a problem with the app itself. As a result, some developers went so far as to add new pages to their apps that showed whether iCloud was functioning correctly, or not.

Despite developers reporting the problem to Apple on numerous occasions, nothing seemed to improve. However, following media reports of the problem in recent days it seems Apple has taken notice and fixed whatever was causing the problem. As one developer noted on Twitter, sometimes running to the press does work after all.

Regarding the recent iCloud sync issue, I received a very kind and detailed response from Apple indicating that the underlying issue causing the 503 errors/sync failures has been fixed! 🎉 (Please share!)

— Becky Hansmeyer (@bhansmeyer) January 26, 2022

Apple isn’t specifically saying what it did to fix the issue, nor what it was in the first place, but developers are unlikely to care too much. Having sync working once more is a big deal, especially for those who had users complain of missing data due to sync being unreliable.

The integration of iCloud is one of the best iPhone features that Android doesn’t quite match, but it isn’t perfect. Issues like this show how opaque Apple can be when problems crop up and, like in this instance, persist with seemingly no sign of a resolution. It’s unfortunate that it took the story appearing in the media for Apple to take note.