After Apple’s iCloud Private Relay suddenly stopped working via cellular connection, carriers like T-Mobile claimed the error was caused by a bug in iOS 15.2. Apple on Wednesday refuted such claims and reaffirmed that no changes were made to Private Relay in iOS 15.2.
Apple’s 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. All of this is done using the latest internet standards to maintain a high-performance browsing experience while protecting your privacy.
In a statement to 9to5Mac, Apple said that none of its carrier partners have blocked iCloud Private Relay, and that there is no bug in iOS 15.2 that would prevent the feature from working.
…No carrier partners have blocked their users from taking advantage of Private Relay. No changes were made to iCloud Private Relay in iOS 15.2 that would have toggled the feature off. Users are encouraged to check their Settings to see if Private Relay is enabled on their device or for a specific network.
T-Mobile also sent a statement to 9to5Mac about the situation. This time, the carrier says that users may see the error message if they previously disabled the “Limit IP Address Tracking” option in the Cellular Data settings.
We wanted to update what we shared earlier. Apple doesn’t change customers’ settings when they update to iOS 15.2. Customers may see an error message if they previously toggled iCloud Private Relay or Limit IP Address Tracking off in their Cellular Data Options Settings. Apple has more details on their support page for this feature here.
MacDailyNews Take: T-Mobile got caught obfuscating, was called on it, and has now backtracked, tail between their legs.
In the future, T-Mobile would do well to remember how well business was going for them before they got the iPhone.
See also: Apple iPhone may have kept T-Mobile USA from losing nearly half a million customers last quarter – August 2, 2013
Please help support MacDailyNews. Click or tap here to support our independent tech blog. Thank you!
