iCloud

App and iTunes Stores down for some people [U: working again]

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 12, 2016

Some owners of iPhone and iPad devices may experience difficulty purchasing apps and media from Apple's digital content stores because they've been experiencing issues since about 12:30pm Pacific / 3:30pm Eastern Time. According to Apple's iCloud Status Page, some folks may be unable to make purchases in the iTunes Store, Mac App Store and App Store. We'll update the post as soon as these problems have been resolved.

Update 3.15pm PT: everything is working again, according to Apple.

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You can now report calendar spam on iCloud.com, support for iOS devices coming soon

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 11, 2016

A new kind of spamming technique relying on iCloud Calendar has caused and continues to cause a lot of pain as these unwanted invites hit users' email inboxes and trigger a notification. As noted on Reddit, the iCloud Calendar web app seems to have gained a new link for reporting spammy calendar invites and blocking their senders.

This feature will be rolling out to the stock Calendar app on iOS devices soon, an Apple representative allegedly told a disgruntled customer.

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iCloud account & sign in services and web apps are down [U: resolved]

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 5, 2016

According to multiple reports on Twitter that have since been officially acknowledged on Apple's own System Status dashboard webpage, some iCloud services are currently down for an unknown number of customers, including Account & Sign In services and web apps available through iCloud.com.

Login issues seem to have been affecting users since at 8am Pacific time, according to Apple. Is your device putting up a prompt repeatedly saying it cannot sign in to iCloud? Well, now you know why.

UPDATE 2:45pm Pacific: All iCloud services are now operational.

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iCloud Photos web app is gaining a sidebar and thumbnail scrubber

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 5, 2016

As first noted by Brazilian outlet MacMagazine.br, Apple is readying some notable updates for its Photos app on the web at iCloud.com/#photos. In addition to a slightly overhauled appearance, the web app is gaining a pair of new features found on the desktop Photos app for the Mac: a sidebar and a thumbnail scrubber. The web app is currently being beta-tested at beta.icloud.com.

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Infuse 5 is out: Up Next, Split View, PiP, iCloud sync, cloud streaming & more

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 21, 2016

aTV Flash Black developer Firecore today released Infuse 5, a major new version of his versatile media player for the Apple TV, iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. It's the single biggest Infuse update Firecore ever released and they've been working on it for the better part of the year.

Infuse 5 packs in a bunch of goodies, including iCloud sync, a new “Up Next” discovery list for the Apple TV, Split View and Picture in Picture support on compatible iPads, cloud streaming and much more.

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iOS 10 found to store call logs for up to 4 months, Apple explains

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 17, 2016

iOS 10's been found to upload missed call logs from apps like WhatsApp and Skype to servers, as well as near-real time FaceTime call logs—even if iCloud backup has been turned off, according to a Russian company called Elcomsoft which makes iPhone forensic tools aimed at law enforcement agencies.

Elcomsoft CEO Vladimir Katalov suspects in an interview with Forbes that this is most likely a result of iOS 10's expanded scope of call logging due to the new CallKit framework which was designed to make VoIP calls from apps like Viber, WhatsApp and Skype behave like cellular calls and integrate with Phone's Recents and Favorites.

According to Apple itself, call log syncing through iCloud is a convenient feature that elevates user experience by allowing customers to easily return calls from VoIP apps.

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