Early last evening, the Mac App Store and iTunes App Store began having intermittent connectivity problems that we originally reported on our Mac Blog. The issues were widely reported by our readers in many geographic areas though the problems came and went for individuals. Reports of problems, however, have persisted all night, representing one of the longest durations of connection issues with the App Store ever.
Late this evening, Apple has started emailing developers to let them know that their developer portal iTunes Connect will be undergoing maintenance throughout the day on Wednesday (emphasis ours):
iTunes Connect will be undergoing scheduled maintenance on Wednesday, July 13 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. PDT.
During this time, iTunes Connect will still be available. However, pricing changes made between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. PDT will cause the app to become unavailable for purchase until maintenance is complete, at which point the app will become available at the new price. To avoid interruptions to the availability of your apps, do not make price changes during this time.
Lastly, customers may not be able to purchase apps in the Mexico, U.K., Australia, Switzerland, Japan or Norway storefronts during the scheduled maintenance.
Regards, The App Store team
It's not entirely clear if the maintenance is related to the downtime, but it seems likely given the short notice. The window of time covers the entire day and Apple says it could actually affect customer purchasing in many geographic areas.
While Apple is expected to also release OS X Lion to the App Store in July, the duration and scope of this maintenance seem beyond what might be considered normal downtime.
Thursday June 19, 2025 11:28 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
In select U.S. states, residents can add their driver's license or state ID to the Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch, providing a convenient and contactless way to display proof of identity or age at select airports and businesses, and in select apps.
Unfortunately, this feature continues to roll out very slowly since it was announced in 2021, with only nine U.S. states and Puerto...
Last week, we reported that iOS 26 introduces an opt-in Adaptive Power Mode on the iPhone, alongside the existing Low Power Mode.
Apple says that Adaptive Power Mode can make "small performance adjustments" when necessary to extend an iPhone's battery life, including slightly lowering the display brightness or allowing some activities to "take a little longer."
The full description of...
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices.
Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of June 2025:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X through iPhone 14 Pro have a...
Apple is hiding a new ringtone within iOS 26.
The new ringtone is an alternative version of the existing Reflection ringtone, which has been the default ringtone since the iPhone X was released in 2017. It was discovered within the code for the first developer beta of iOS 26, but it remains hidden, so you will not find it in the list of ringtones available in the Settings app for now.
It...
Apple will finally deliver the Apple Watch Ultra 3 sometime this year, according to analyst Jeff Pu of GF Securities Hong Kong (via @jukanlosreve).
The analyst expects both the Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3 to arrive this year (likely alongside the new iPhone 17 lineup, if previous launches are anything to go by), according to his latest product roadmap shared with...
Wednesday June 18, 2025 10:24 am PDT by Juli Clover
Apple today seeded the first betas of upcoming iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 updates to public beta testers, with the betas coming just a few days after Apple provided the betas to developers.
Testers who have signed up for beta updates through Apple's beta site can download iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software Update.
When the...
Spotify appears to be gearing up to launch its long-awaited lossless music tier.
Chris Messina (via TechCrunch) and Spicetify (via The Verge) spotted new lossless references within the code for Spotify's desktop app and web player.
With assistance from Aaron Perris, MacRumors has confirmed that the latest beta of the Spotify app for the iPhone also contains new lossless-related code....
iOS 26 is gaining two new Wi-Fi features, including Captive Assist and Wi-Fi Aware.
MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris discovered a reference to Captive Assist within the code for the first iOS 26 developer beta, but Apple has yet to enable the feature. It should be available by the time the software update is released later this year.
In his Power On newsletter last month, Bloomberg's...
Apple is running a new promotion that offers free AirPods to qualifying customers.
Now through September 30, college and university students in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Singapore can receive free AirPods 4 when they purchase an eligible new Mac or iPad from Apple. AirPods Pro 2 are also available at a discount.
If you do not want AirPods, the promotion also offers various other...
I know that none of you will believe me. I messaged @Lulsec on twitter (not expecting a response). Asking if they where DDOS ing Apple. They came back and said "depends who's asking" So I replied"just a geek" And they relied "we confirm"
If anyone at Mac Rumours wants to PM an email adress, I can send you the screenshot from my twitter.
My twitter account is @karlnicholson
It's because you're talking to some nobody. You got a reply from lulsec, not lulzsec.
Could be a maintenance / preparation gone wrong...?
Perhaps.
I really hope Lulzsec hasn't decided to attack Apple. It probably has the most credit card numbers stored, next to the credit card companies themselves. And going after emails and passwords has been their modus operandi in the past.
No one has claimed it, so seems unlikely. I'd expect if someone was responsible for it, they would be bragging about it.
Considering this article from InformationWeek earlier this week there's a lot at stake for Apple:
Beneath the all-digital release, there's a bigger goal, sources told BYTE. The all-digital launch of the 6GB Lion downoad to a giant, broad base of users is really designed to see how well Apple will deliver its even more ambitious iCloud service to a new generation of multi-touch, non-optical drive Macs and notebooks. Apple plans to debut them in August and ship September, sources say.
Digital delivery -- and the Maiden facility is key to this -- must work well for Apple to declare a success for Lion and continue along with its more ambitious plans later.
The Maiden, NC facility won't operate alone, sources say. For OS X Lion, Maiden will operate in concert with Apple's second-largest facility, the 110,000 sq. foot center in Newark, CA, its Cupertino, CA facility and likely those of third-party partners such as Akamai, sources say.
Apple needs to find out in a large scale test, and Lion is that test, if iCloud services really will work the way people will expect on current devices and the new Macs and notebooks coming in September, sources tell BYTE.
Thus, it would be very plausible to perform extensive maintenance. Apple would not necessarily have to move content over to other farms, but they would want to spread the load as much as possible, perhaps per region.
Biggest design overhaul since iOS 7 with Liquid Glass, plus new Apple Intelligence features and improvements to Messages, Phone, Safari, Shortcuts, and more. Developer beta available now ahead of public beta in July.
