Apple's iCloud, TV+ and other services resume after going offline

Apple Maps, Music, iMessage and other apps also went offline for many users

Thousands of users reported issues with a number of Apple services. AP

Apple suffered a widespread interruption on Monday, with a range of apps knocked offline for several hours before services resumed.

The company's official system status page confirmed interruptions to services such as Apple Music, iCloud and App Store services.

Interruptions to the company's Podcasts, iTunes and Radio services as well as many educational platforms were also reported.

Many services such as the App Store, Apple Music, Podcasts, Apple TV+, Apple Business Manager and various other apps went down, the company’s website said.

By about 4.20pm EST, services resumed.

As the day progressed, the Apple systems status page showed several services marked with a “Resolved Outage” label.

Downdetector, a website that tracks service interruptions, reported that the interruption started at about 11.20am EST and by 12.08pm, there were more than 1,200 consumer complaints.

At least 7,000 reports were filed by users who were having trouble using Apple Maps. In some cases, it was opening but for others, users were unable to get specific directions.

Alphabet-owned Google Maps also suffered a comparable global cut last week, when users were unable to get directions.

Other Apple services were disrupted as well, such as iMessage, Apple News and customer support. Many users complained they were unable to send links on iMessage or log in to their iCloud accounts.

Some users also had issues with the Find My iPhone feature.

Apple’s developers’ page was also temporarily down but came back online after a time. However, it kept facing interruptions.

The interruption has also affected the company’s internal services for corporate and retail employees, and has delayed product repairs, swaps and goods pickups, Bloomberg reported.

Apple reportedly told employees that the problem had been caused by some unknown domain name system problems. Store employees were seen using pen and paper to track service requests.

This month, Apple launched a series of new products including its cheapest iPhone, an improved tablet, the company’s most powerful chip for personal computers and a new Mac Studio for professional users.

Developers have earned more than $260 billion through the sale of digital goods and services on Apple’s App Store since the launch of the platform in 2008, company data show.

Last year, they earned $60bn on App Store, almost $15bn or over 33.3 per cent more than the earnings of 2020.

In January, the Cupertino-based company posted record quarterly sales and net profit in the holiday quarter — ended on December 25 — despite supply chain challenges.

Net profit increased more than 20 per cent to about $35bn from the same period in the previous year. It was up by about 68 per cent from the preceding quarter.

Sales rose 11.2 per cent a year to more than $123.9bn during the quarter, exceeding analysts’ estimates of $118.6bn.

Industry experts said an extended interruption could affect the company’s sales and global reputation.

Apple did not respond immediately to The National's request for comment.