WTF?! Setting your iPhone to back up itself to iCloud is the best syncing experience as it happens in the background in real-time. However, some people want to have more control over their backups and choose to use iCloud app. Unfortunately, a new bug appears to be disrupting the process for Windows users and endangering the privacy of all other iCloud users.
Apple recently updated its iCloud website, giving it a more modern look and more features. However, Cupertino also seems to have blocked the operation of the iCloud for Windows app. It’s unclear if the two changes are related, but the Windows app has troubling issues.
Some users have reported to MacRumors that if their videos are synced to iCloud via the Windows app, they become corrupted and become unviewable. iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro customers say that when trying to sync video captured to their phone, the capture appears black with scan lines.
Other users submit even more troublesome issues. Some say that while trying to watch the corrupted videos, extra stranger’s pictures and videos appear in their iCloud library or in the corrupted video itself.
“iCloud for Windows corrupts videos captured by an iPhone 14 pro max, resulting in black videos with scan lines,” said a MacRumors forum poster. “On rare occasions, still images are inserted into videos from unknown sources, possibly from someone else’s iCloud accounts. I was shown photos of other people’s families that I’ve never seen in my life, soccer games, and other random photos. Obviously this is extremely concerning and doesn’t exactly make me feel safe using iCloud.”
If photos and videos from other iCloud users are randomly mixed into other people’s accounts, Apple has a serious privacy problem. Even though it’s isolated from the Windows iCloud app, the implications for users in general are worrying. When random pictures appear in Windows users’ accounts, how can Mac users be sure their pictures aren’t being shared?
We’ve reached out to Apple for comment, but haven’t received a response yet. We’ll update this story when it has more details.
On the plus side, a search of Apple’s dedicated iCloud support community hasn’t found any recent posts about this issue, although MacRumors forum users say they’ve reported it. Likewise, users on Twitter are silent aside from tweeting coverage of the issue. So far the only reports seem to be coming from MacRumors forums. The whole thing could be a bad joke from someone snowballing and spiraling out of control, but until Apple responds, be careful backing up your phone.
