[HN Gopher] Ask HN: Is Apple down?
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Ask HN: Is Apple down?
        
       https://developer.apple.com doesn't work App Store doesn't work
       iMessage doesn't work. Not just me - coworkers also struggling.
       Any idea what's going on?
        
       Author : crgt
       Score  : 235 points
       Date   : 2022-03-21 17:03 UTC (5 hours ago)
        
       | spansoa wrote:
       | It's times like this that force us to remind ourselves how
       | reliant we are on critical services like these. On one hand, we
       | can celebrate (Internet snow-day!) but on the other we are forced
       | to shop around for alternatives too.
       | 
       | I often wondered how medieval the world would become if there was
       | a huge sun flare ejection that breached the magnetic field and
       | destroyed a bunch of data-centers. Think of the mess we'd be in!
        
         | [deleted]
        
       | synaesthesisx wrote:
       | Yes. Even developer.apple.com won't load at all for me. Who wants
       | to take bets on DNS as the culprit?
        
       | tshaddox wrote:
       | Yep.
       | 
       | Wife: My Apple Maps isn't working.
       | 
       | Me: Hmm, it's not working for me either. They must be having
       | server problems. You should use Google Maps for now.
       | 
       | Wife: I can't download Google Maps either, the App Store doesn't
       | seem to be working.
        
         | donarb wrote:
         | Both Apple Maps and Google Maps work in the browser, no need
         | for an app.
        
           | rileymat2 wrote:
           | I would not say need, but the connection from the device to
           | carplay is really nice.
        
           | zionic wrote:
           | For turn by turn?
        
           | tshaddox wrote:
           | Probably true, but we wanted it for driving directions via
           | CarPlay and were in a bit of a rush. The car's built-in
           | navigation (which we otherwise never use) ended up working
           | fine, but the browser versions probably would have been my
           | next attempt.
        
         | moepstar wrote:
         | Maps, App Store, iMessage on macOS works
         | 
         | They work on iOS as well - so it seems to be a regional thing?
         | 
         | (Location: Germany)
        
           | traceroute66 wrote:
           | I agree. Regional.
           | 
           | Guessing the issues are centered on North America.
        
           | hamaluik wrote:
           | Maps and iMessage are working for me in Canada, but not
           | music.
        
           | Twisell wrote:
           | On my side in France apple Map only partially work. Basemap
           | are displaying correctly but query and routing function are
           | unreachables. "Domain name not found" (translated from
           | french). So it could be a DNS meltdown?
           | 
           | Usually basemap because they are heavy are served through a
           | separate CDN.
        
           | RandallBrown wrote:
           | Everything in the App Store was working for me except
           | actually downloading apps. Seems to be (mostly) resolved now.
        
             | FinnKuhn wrote:
             | for me the search function also refused to work, but the
             | start page loaded without a problem... downloading an app
             | still seems to not work though...
        
         | asvitkine wrote:
         | Can you use the web version of Google maps?
        
           | jandorn wrote:
           | Yes. I have been doing that for quite some time.
        
         | tormock wrote:
        
           | danaris wrote:
           | Can Android read a .ipa? Or is it illiterate?
           | 
           | Can Linux (natively) read a .exe? Or is it illiterate?
           | 
           | Can Windows read a .app bundle? Or is it illiterate?
        
             | rzzzt wrote:
             | Objdump can read .exe files:                 $ objdump -f
             | rufus.exe            rufus.exe:     file format pei-i386
             | architecture: i386, flags 0x00000103:       HAS_RELOC,
             | EXEC_P, D_PAGED       start address 0x007cfe70
             | 
             | Edit: Windows can list the contents of a macOS .app as a
             | directory, as they are little more than that
        
               | pram wrote:
               | Fun fact: Windows executables have a COFF header which is
               | straight from ancient versions of UNIX.
        
             | tormock wrote:
             | yes yes and yes (to the second questions)
             | 
             | But Linux is not illiterate if you have common sense
        
         | zionic wrote:
         | Yeah I posted about that here (this just bit me)
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30757193 and I was flagged
         | to oblivion.
         | 
         | Looks like I really need to keep a 3rd party nav app installed
         | just in case!
        
           | 8ytecoder wrote:
           | Always. Here maps is a good backup solution. It allows you to
           | download pretty much the entire world - if you have the space
           | in your phone.
        
             | savoytruffle wrote:
             | I always use Apple Maps, but once in a while if I'm in an
             | unfamiliar city and the Apple Maps directions seem
             | suspiciously weird, it is useful to have Google Maps app
             | for a sanity check. (directions to a particular pier at the
             | Seattle waterfront were insanely incorrect via Apple)
        
         | divbzero wrote:
         | Same with my Apple Maps over the course of an hour this
         | morning.
         | 
         | Rough order of events:
         | 
         | 1. Not working (could not find server)
         | 
         | 2. Not working (request timeout)
         | 
         | 3. Restart app
         | 
         | 4. Working
         | 
         | Perhaps DNS was broken for awhile and restarting the app
         | cleared the DNS cache and forced a fresh IP lookup?
        
       | teeray wrote:
       | I had abnormal trouble pulling video I uploaded to iCloud
       | yesterday. Something is up.
        
       | donohoe wrote:
       | You wouldn't think it if you went by this:
       | 
       | https://www.apple.com/support/systemstatus/
        
         | mwnivek wrote:
         | At the bottom of that status page, it says: Looking for
         | developer system status? Find it here:
         | https://developer.apple.com/system-status/
         | 
         | The link is currently not working...
        
           | ninju wrote:
           | Looks like that link is working now...and shows a page of all
           | GREEN :-)
        
             | spyspy wrote:
             | 18 red as of 2:50PM EDT
        
         | ransom1538 wrote:
         | That is just a static github page with html. These are just
         | green dots on a screen.
        
           | Twisell wrote:
           | Well make sense to me to host your status page outside your
           | main infrastructure.
        
         | oxplot wrote:
         | A lot of system status pages are updated by humans who will
         | verify issues before reporting them. Main reason is to avoid
         | overly surface every minor and transitory issue to public view.
        
           | _joel wrote:
           | Quite easy to verify if the entire developer site is down
           | though, non?
        
             | Someone wrote:
             | No. "Doesn't respond for me" doesn't imply "down for lots
             | of people". If you discover that _foo.com_ doesn't respond,
             | it takes a while to figure out whether that's on your
             | system, in your network, in the city, etc.
             | 
             | Yes, you would set up multiple hosts across the world
             | polling that server, but that adds complexity. Maybe, those
             | pollers decide the site is down because of a bug in your
             | network setup, while the rest of the world happily uses
             | your services.
        
               | _joel wrote:
               | Pingdom seem to manage it. Pretty sure one of the FAANGS
               | could to. I appreciate an obscure managed service might
               | be a bit diffcult, but main developer site?
        
               | Someone wrote:
               | My response was to _"Quite easy to verify if the entire
               | developer site is down though, non?"_
               | 
               | I never claimed it's impossible, just that it isn't
               | "quite easy", especially to check that the "entire
               | developer site is down". The home page may be down, with
               | the rest being up, the home page may be up, with the rest
               | being down, etc.
        
             | brianpan wrote:
             | It's very easy, except when it's hard. Also, it's never
             | easy.
             | 
             | Joking, but only somewhat. That's because the easy cases
             | are handled by automation, etc. If you knew it could
             | happen, you probably planned for it. Figuring out what the
             | issue is, if there really is an issue, and the scope of the
             | issue can take some time.
        
         | adwi wrote:
         | I'm sure it wasn't when you posted 10 minutes prior, but FWIW
         | currently listing 11 outages:
         | 
         | > App Store - Outage Today, 12:32 PM - ongoing Some users are
         | affected Users may be experiencing intermittent issues with
         | this service.
         | 
         | Apple Arcade - Outage Today, 12:32 PM - ongoing Some users are
         | affected This service may be slow or unavailable.
         | 
         | Apple Music - Outage Today, 12:32 PM - ongoing Some users are
         | affected This service may be slow or unavailable.
         | 
         | Apple TV+ - Outage Today, 12:32 PM - ongoing Some users are
         | affected Users may be experiencing a problem with Apple TV+. We
         | are investigating this issue.
         | 
         | iTunes Store - Outage Today, 12:32 PM - ongoing Some users are
         | affected This service may be slow or unavailable.
         | 
         | Podcasts - Outage Today, 12:32 PM - ongoing Some users are
         | affected Users are experiencing a problem with this service. We
         | are investigating and will update the status as more
         | information becomes available.
         | 
         | Radio - Outage Today, 12:32 PM - ongoing Some users are
         | affected This service may be slow or unavailable.
         | 
         | Apple Business Manager - Outage Today, 1:14 PM - ongoing Some
         | users are affected Users may be unable to sign in.
         | 
         | Apple School Manager - Outage Today, 1:14 PM - ongoing Some
         | users are affected Users may be unable to sign in.
         | 
         | Device Enrollment Program - Outage Today, 1:14 PM - ongoing
         | Some users are affected Users are experiencing a problem with
         | this service. We are investigating this issue.
         | 
         | Schoolwork - Outage Today, 1:14 PM - ongoing Some users are
         | affected This service may be slow or unavailable.
        
         | nneonneo wrote:
         | Looks like it's been updated. Currently showing 11 services
         | down, some of which have been down for over an hour.
        
       | brown9-2 wrote:
       | the domain name developer.apple.com resolves through a series of
       | CNAMEs to Apple's CDN (applimg.com), which if it was down would
       | explain other things like iMessage also being unavailable.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | variant wrote:
         | Some reports that there were DNSSEC validation issues w/
         | proxy.safebrowsing.apple which CNAMEs to aaplimg.com.
        
         | 1023bytes wrote:
         | Yeah, for me the CNAME chain ends with apple-lr.g.aaplimg.com,
         | which doesn't resolve to anything
        
       | chuinard wrote:
       | My app update was rejected because my Upgrade screen was unable
       | to fetch prices from their servers and instead showed an infinite
       | spinner.
        
         | thih9 wrote:
         | Would an infinite spinner also show up if the server was up but
         | the connection was problematic? If yes, this would be about not
         | handling network errors, which sounds like a decent rejection
         | reason to me.
        
       | [deleted]
        
         | [deleted]
        
       | camhart wrote:
       | https://www.the-sun.com/tech/4944089/apple-maps-down-icloud-...
        
       | rvieira wrote:
       | I picked a terrific time to lose my temper and do a `rm -rf
       | /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools ; xcode-select --install`
       | /facepalm
        
       | Maursault wrote:
       | MobleMe is still down.
       | 
       | https://www.mac.com/
       | 
       | https://www.me.com/
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | sys_64738 wrote:
       | AAPL is down too, today.
        
       | windex wrote:
       | fedora is down.
        
       | tormock wrote:
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | ComputerGuru wrote:
       | It's coinciding with an AWS outage. Probably not unrelated.
        
       | donatj wrote:
       | My Apple Music stopped working mid song and is being weird now.
       | Everything seems to be working fine for my wife. Weirdly spotty.
        
       | jhgb wrote:
       | > Any idea what's going on?
       | 
       | Must be gravity. (Sorry, I had to.)
        
       | vaxman wrote:
       | gotECC?
       | 
       | https://earthsky.org/sun/sun-activity-solar-flares-cme-week-...
       | 
       | LPDDR5 in the SoC doesn't.
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | traceroute66 wrote:
       | Must be regionalised. Nothing wrong here.
        
         | tiahura wrote:
         | Down in French Polynesia.
        
       | selimthegrim wrote:
       | I haven't been able to cancel subscriptions lately. I filed a
       | refund request and complaint to Apple, maybe it didn't get
       | through because of this?
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | SlimyHog wrote:
       | Yeah, I'm seeing anecdotal reports of a bunch of services out
        
       | oxplot wrote:
       | iCloud Private Relay is shown as affected as well. This is an
       | interesting case when it comes to failure behavior. From security
       | perspective, you want your connection to stop working instead of
       | falling back to insecure. Is this the case? Can anyone confirm?
        
         | nyuszika7h wrote:
         | iCloud Private Relay is not designed to be a full-fledged VPN
         | anyway. HTTPS traffic in apps (other than browsers) bypasses it
         | AFAIK.
        
         | mathieuh wrote:
         | It fell back to insecure for me, for about 30 seconds (maybe
         | longer before I noticed) I couldn't connect to the Internet
         | from my iPhone, then I got a notification saying private relay
         | was unavailable and I was able to connect again.
         | 
         | A few minutes later it gave me another notification saying
         | private relay was working again.
        
       | leviathan wrote:
       | I've been struggling with a DNS downtime at Mediatemple all day.
       | Is there a possible more global DNS issue?
        
       | novateg wrote:
       | Down for me via CloudFlare WARP
        
       | Animats wrote:
       | nslookup         > server a.ns.apple.com         Default server:
       | a.ns.apple.com         Address: 2620:149:ae0::53#53
       | Default server: a.ns.apple.com         Address: 17.253.200.1#53
       | > developer.apple.com         Server:  a.ns.apple.com
       | Address: 2620:149:ae0::53#53              developer.apple.com
       | canonical name = developer-cdn.apple.com.akadns.net.         **
       | server can't find developer-cdn.apple.com.akadns.net: REFUSED
       | 
       | Ah. So Apple's own DNS servers are redirecting
       | developer.apple.com to something on "akadns.net", which is
       | operated by Akamai. But Apple's own DNS servers refuse to resolve
       | that, probably because it's not in the apple.com zone.
       | 
       | More:                   nslookup         > developer-
       | cdn.apple.com.akadns.net         Server:  127.0.0.53
       | Address: 127.0.0.53#53              Non-authoritative answer:
       | developer-cdn.apple.com.akadns.net canonical name = world-
       | gen.g.aaplimg.com.         world-gen.g.aaplimg.com canonical name
       | = apple-c.g.aaplimg.com.         apple-c.g.aaplimg.com canonical
       | name = apple-cf.g.aaplimg.com.         apple-cf.g.aaplimg.com
       | canonical name = apple-lr.g.aaplimg.com.         > server
       | a.ns.apple.com         Default server: a.ns.apple.com
       | Address: 2620:149:ae0::53#53         Default server:
       | a.ns.apple.com         Address: 17.253.200.1#53         >
       | developer-cdn.apple.com.akadns.net         Server:
       | a.ns.apple.com         Address: 2620:149:ae0::53#53
       | ** server can't find developer-cdn.apple.com.akadns.net: REFUSED
       | 
       | It's clearly a botched DNS configuration. Not clear what the
       | intent was. Did they really want to point "developer.apple.com",
       | a web site, to "developer-cdn.apple.com.akadns.net", which is a
       | DNS server? Or am I misreading that?
       | 
       | It's generally considered bad form to have all the DNS servers
       | for "example.com" under "example.com", by the way. If you mess up
       | "example.com", or it goes down, getting to it to fix it can be
       | difficult.
       | 
       | Anyway, this looks like an attempt to outsource something to
       | Akamai that went badly wrong.
        
         | variant wrote:
         | I think something with DNSSEC:
         | 
         | https://puck.nether.net/pipermail/outages-discussion/2022-Ma...
        
           | joveian wrote:
           | I noticed a few weeks ago that developer.apple.com was
           | failing DNSSEC and that this had been going on for a while
           | (follow the "previous analysis" links to see earlier errors
           | as well):
           | 
           | https://dnsviz.net/d/developer.apple.com/Yidc2Q/dnssec/
           | 
           | It doesn't seem like many people have noticed or cared, so I
           | doubt many people use DNSSEC at all and the whole system
           | could (and should) be scrapped one day with barely anyone
           | noticing.
           | 
           | lima has an anaylsis of the issue causing trouble:
           | 
           | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30757487
        
         | frays wrote:
         | Works with other DNS servers.                 $ nslookup
         | developer-cdn.apple.com.akadns.net a.ns.apple.com       Server:
         | a.ns.apple.com       Address: 17.253.200.1#53            **
         | server can't find developer-cdn.apple.com.akadns.net: REFUSED
         | $ nslookup developer-cdn.apple.com.akadns.net 1.1.1.1
         | Server:  1.1.1.1       Address: 1.1.1.1#53            Non-
         | authoritative answer:       developer-cdn.apple.com.akadns.net
         | canonical name = world-gen.g.aaplimg.com.       Name: world-
         | gen.g.aaplimg.com       Address: 17.253.121.201       Name:
         | world-gen.g.aaplimg.com       Address: 17.253.121.202
        
           | pul wrote:
           | Now also works on their authoritative DNS servers again:
           | https://www.nslookup.io/dns-records/apple.com#authoritative
        
         | silisili wrote:
         | > Did they really want to point "developer.apple.com", a web
         | site, to "developer-cdn.apple.com.akadns.net", which is a DNS
         | server.
         | 
         | It's just a CNAME, meaning go look that up. It does not
         | indicate that developer-cdn.apple.com.akadns.net is a DNS
         | server.
         | 
         | The above seems to indicate that somewhere in the chain of
         | resolving developer-cdn.apple.com.akadns.net, a DNS server
         | refused the query. A dig +trace should indicate which.
        
         | jonfw wrote:
         | This looks like an Akamai DNS load balancing solution. It will
         | route a user to an endpoint based on a bunch of statistics
         | (think location, availability, latency, and/or load), and will
         | often handle caching and DDOS protection as well
        
         | lima wrote:
         | > Or am I misreading that.
         | 
         | Yes:                   developer.apple.com. 73 IN CNAME
         | developer-cdn.apple.com.akadns.net.         developer-
         | cdn.apple.com.akadns.net. 73 IN CNAME world-gen.g.aaplimg.com.
         | world-gen.g.aaplimg.com. 13 IN CNAME apple-c.g.aaplimg.com.
         | apple-c.g.aaplimg.com. 8 IN CNAME apple-cf.g.aaplimg.com.
         | apple-cf.g.aaplimg.com. 8 IN CNAME apple-lr.g.aaplimg.com.
         | apple-lr.g.aaplimg.com. 14400 IN NS b.gslb.aaplimg.com.
         | apple-lr.g.aaplimg.com. 14400 IN NS a.gslb.aaplimg.com.
         | 
         | The Akamai CNAME just points to a series of aaplimg.com CNAME
         | (eventually ending up with apple-lr.g.aaplimg.com), which is
         | Apple's own CDN domain. The CDN's resolvers (a.gslb.aaplimg.com
         | and b.gslb.aaplimg.com) refused to serve A records for apple-
         | lr.g.aaplimg.com.
         | 
         | They fixed that and now it's back up.
         | 
         | This kind of setup is typically done for flexibility reasons
         | (geographical DNS load balancing or similar, where the Akamai
         | DNS servers serve as the geo LB).
         | 
         | > _It 's generally considered bad form to have the all the DNS
         | servers for "example.com" under "example.com", by the way. If
         | you mess up "example.com", or it goes down, getting to it to
         | fix it can be difficult._
         | 
         | Not necessarily - this is what glue records[1] are for. Many
         | large companies host their authoritative DNS on the same
         | domain, it's not a bad practice when done carefully.
         | 
         | [1]: https://ns1.com/blog/glue-records-and-dedicated-dns
        
         | mnd999 wrote:
         | Can we refer to this as "Doing a Facebook?"
        
           | Karrot_Kream wrote:
           | This has nothing to do with the BGP failures that FB had
           | earlier. This is a DNS configuration problem. It's much
           | simpler to fix.
        
       | barkingcat wrote:
       | maybe their dns expired?
        
       | mariojv wrote:
       | It's a partial outage for me. I was just able to send an
       | iMessage, but directions on Maps are not working. I live in
       | central Texas.
        
       | hit8run wrote:
       | For me in Germany: iMessage up App Store up Developer site down
        
       | rateofclimb wrote:
       | App Store Connect was down for me but appears to be up again now.
        
       | lima wrote:
       | Looks like their DNS servers are responsive, but refuse to serve
       | records:                   $ dig -t NS developer.apple.com
       | [...]         apple-lr.g.aaplimg.com.     14400   IN      NS
       | b.gslb.aaplimg.com.         apple-lr.g.aaplimg.com.     14400
       | IN      NS      a.gslb.aaplimg.com.              $ dig
       | @a.gslb.aaplimg.com developer.apple.com         [...]         ;;
       | ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: REFUSED         ;; flags: qr
       | rd; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 1         ;;
       | WARNING: recursion requested but not available         ;;
       | WARNING: recursion requested but not available
       | 
       | Most likely a configuration mistake that'll be undone as soon as
       | they figured out how to re-deploy their DNS servers while DNS is
       | down.
       | 
       | Unlikely to be BGP shenanigans as some people on Twitter claim.
       | My network has direct peerings to Apple's AS714.
        
       | ragnot wrote:
       | Down for me.
        
       | perihelions wrote:
       | Here's a lot of crowd-sourced anecdata points:
       | 
       | - _" Multiple Apple services are down such as: (Will be updating
       | this list)"_
       | 
       | https://old.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/tjg8tz/megathread_ap... (
       | _" [Megathread] Apple Outages"_)
        
       | alopes wrote:
       | Had a few issues with the App Store with OS 12.3
        
       | chewmieser wrote:
       | Definitely. Downdetector shows a bunch of reports too (e.g.
       | https://downdetector.com/status/apple-music/). I noticed issues
       | with Music and News, seems like a ton of their services are down
        
         | callalex wrote:
         | Downdetector has predicted about 50 of the last 3 outages, and
         | linking to them here just makes the self-fueling cycle even
         | worse.
        
           | cmg wrote:
           | They're fine for knowing that _something_ is going on, but
           | not great for knowing exactly what the cause is.
           | 
           | For example, when Facebook's services went down in October,
           | people were reporting that AT&T and other cell carriers were
           | down because they couldn't open the apps. As far as I know
           | there wasn't an outage with any of the carriers that day.
        
           | chewmieser wrote:
           | I think they're about as useful as any anecdotal data out
           | there. Unusually high numbers of reports when you're seeing
           | issues yourself is about as good as it gets until a status
           | page is updated (which it thankfully has been finally).
        
       | wanderer_ wrote:
       | I noticed a blip in iMessage earlier, but it sorted itself out
       | before too long.
        
       | gunzor wrote:
       | Can't upload an ipa to App Store Connect for an hour.
        
       | samwillis wrote:
       | I chose the perfect time to restore a repaired iPhone, don't seem
       | to be able to fully login to iCloud, it's hanging on the login
       | screen...
       | 
       | Edit: It's also refusing to download any apps, doesn't even show
       | the progress circle. Just a download icon next to the app name on
       | the Home Screen and errors out when you click it.
       | 
       | Edit: Login and app downloads now working as of 6.00GMT
        
       | jcims wrote:
       | I'm sure it's happens more than I'm aware but i have to say that
       | i can't recall an App Store outage since i got back in the
       | platform 3-4 years ago. Not bad!
        
       | Melatonic wrote:
       | It is always DNS ;-D
        
       | T3RMINATED wrote:
        
       | SalimoS wrote:
       | Yes, got a notification that Apple private relay is unavailable
       | 
       | And another notification that it's back online 40min later
        
         | antupis wrote:
         | Yeah had to close private reley because websites didn't load.
        
       | ChrisMarshallNY wrote:
       | They seem to have been having a bit of a lie-down, today. I can't
       | submit TestFlight builds, but now, it is taking longer, before
       | the server throws a nutty, so I guess the fix is on its way.
        
       | spike021 wrote:
       | iMessage texts are working fine for me but an image I sent to a
       | friend is stuck. Music is also down for me.
        
       | gjsman-1000 wrote:
       | MacRumors says Apple is down.
       | 
       | https://www.macrumors.com/2022/03/21/icloud-and-apple-servic...
       | 
       | Big outage... is it some stupid DNS issue again?
        
         | andremedeiros wrote:
         | It could be DNS. I had to disable DNSSEC for the `.apple.com`
         | zone to even work.
        
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       (page generated 2022-03-21 23:02 UTC)