Apple iOS 16.3 is causing iCloud sync issues for iPhone owners, putting their data at risk. Here’s everything we know so far.
First reported by AppleInsider, reports are mounting on Reddit, Apple Communities and social networks of users find their iCloud backups disabled after updating to iOS 16.3. Trying to re-enable iCloud results in pop-ups saying “An unknown error has occurred” or “An unexpected error has occurred. Please try again later.”
AppleiOS 16
Apple
iCloud backs up Apple Photos, Files, Notes, Mail and more, as well as popular third-party apps like WhatsApp. When iCloud is not enabled, all data on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac will be lost if the device is lost, broken, or stolen. Indeed, your safety net is gone.
In terms of the fix, some users found that enabling two-factor authentication (2FA) started backups, but it didn’t work for everyone. Especially considering that some affected devices are already using 2FA.
Apple has made 2FA a requirement for all new Apple IDs. So it may be a bug related to that for legacy users. If you haven’t already enabled 2FA, I strongly recommend that you do. If a password leaks, hackers still can’t access your account without secondary authentication via email, SMS, in-app notification, etc. It’s a vital extra layer.
Ironically, security was a key focus of iOS 16.3. It added support for security keys and contained 13 security updates fixing core elements of the operating system. You can read the full breakdown in my iOS 16.3 upgrade guide.
For affected users, help may soon be at hand. MacRumors reports that iOS 16.3.1 started showing up in its website crawl logs, which also foreshadowed iOS 16.0.3 and iOS 16.1.1 releases. Whether iOS 16.3.1 brings a fix or is related to another issue remains to be seen, but if you haven’t updated to iOS 16.3, you might want to wait for iOS 16.3.1.
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