Apple has finally resolved the extended iCloud Private Relay service outage after several days of outage, restoring the full use of the service for users around the globe.
The outage, which began at 02:34 AM Eastern Time on Thursday, lasted until 10:59 PM Eastern Time on Saturday. The issue disrupted web browsing for some users for over 48 hours, which is an unusually long period for an Apple service outage. Apple did alert users via its System Status webpage, where it noted that the service might have been slow or unavailable. The page now notes that the issue has been resolved.
Private Relay is an internet privacy service that hides your IP address in Safari and protects your unencrypted traffic. When it’s on, you can browse the web more securely and privately.
How Private Relay works
Normally when you browse the web, information contained in your web traffic, such as your DNS records and IP address, can be seen by your network provider and the websites you visit. This information could be used to determine your identity and build a profile of your location and browsing history over time.
iCloud Private Relay is designed to protect your privacy by ensuring that when you browse the web in Safari, no single party — not even Apple — can see both who you are and what sites you’re visiting.
When Private Relay is enabled, your requests are sent through two separate, secure internet relays.
Your IP address is visible to your network provider and to the first relay, which is operated by Apple. Your DNS records are encrypted, so neither party can see the address of the website you’re trying to visit.
The second relay, which is operated by a third-party content provider, generates a temporary IP address, decrypts the name of the website you requested, and connects you to the site.
iCloud Private Relay is available to anyone with a paid iCloud account.
If you disabled iCloud Private Relay to allow you to browse, you can now go ahead and re-enable the feature.