iCloud for Windows Users Complain of Corrupted Videos, Photos From Strangers

Apple's iCloud for Windows software appears to experiencing serious issues for some users, with complaints on the MacRumors forums about corrupted videos and images from strangers appearing in Photo Libraries.

iCloud General Feature
There are a handful of complaints from customers who are running into complications with iPhone 13 Pro and ‌iPhone‌ 14 Pro models. Videos recorded on an ‌iPhone‌ and then synced with ‌iCloud‌ for Windows are turning black with scan lines, rendering the videos unwatchable.

More worryingly, some users are seeing strange photos and videos that do not belong to them appearing in their libraries when they attempt to watch these corrupted videos. MacRumors reader sleeping_ghost explains:

iCloud for Windows is corrupting videos recorded from an iPhone 14 pro max resulting in black videos with scan lines. On rare occasions, it is inserting stills into videos from unknown sources, possibly other's iCloud accounts. I've been shown photos of other people's families I've never seen in my life, soccer games, and other random photos. Obviously, this is extremely concerning and does not exactly make me feel safe using iCloud.

It is not clear if the photos are images from other ‌iCloud‌ users, but it appears possible. From the thread, users have seen random families, children, soccer games, and other similar photo content.

Deleting the ‌iCloud‌ for Windows app does not appear to fix the issue, as it may be server side, and several people have reported it to Apple, so the company may be aware. Windows 11 and Windows 10 both appear to be impacted, and it may only be affecting devices with certain settings like HDR and HEVC enabled.

Popular Stories

iOS 26 Feature

iOS 26 Available Tomorrow With These 8 New Features

Sunday September 14, 2025 8:46 am PDT by
Following three months of beta testing, iOS 26 will be released this Monday, September 15. The update is compatible with the iPhone 11 series and newer, and it will be available to install via the Settings app, under General → Software Update. Below, we have highlighted eight new features included in iOS 26. Even more new features and changes are outlined in Apple's release notes for the...
Tim Cook Rainbow

Apple Reportedly Plans to Launch These 10 Products in 'Coming Months'

Sunday September 14, 2025 8:45 am PDT by
Apple's annual September event is now in the rearview mirror, with the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, iPhone Air, Apple Watch Series 11, Apple Watch Ultra 3, Apple Watch SE 3, and AirPods Pro 3 set to launch this Friday, September 19. As always, there is more to come. In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple plans to release many products in the...
apple n1 chip

Apple's New N1 Chip in iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone Air Has a Wi-Fi 7 Limitation

Saturday September 13, 2025 10:01 am PDT by
The latest iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and iPhone Air models are equipped with Apple's all-new N1 chip for Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread connectivity. However, the chip has a Wi-Fi 7 bandwidth limitation. According to FCC documents reviewed by MacRumors, the N1 chip in all of the new iPhone models supports up to 160 MHz channel bandwidth for Wi-Fi 7, short of the...
iPhone 17 Pro Colors

Didn't Pre-Order a New iPhone Yet? Here's How Long the Wait is Now

Friday September 12, 2025 6:11 am PDT by
iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and iPhone Air pre-orders began at 5 a.m. Pacific Time in the U.S. and many other countries today. If you have yet to place a pre-order, you might face a longer wait now, depending on your desired configuration. As of shortly after 6 a.m. Pacific Time today, nearly all iPhone 17 Pro Max configurations on Apple's online store in the U.S. are facing ...
airpods translate

AirPods Live Translation Blocked for EU Users With EU Apple Accounts

Thursday September 11, 2025 4:01 am PDT by
Apple's new Live Translation feature for AirPods will be off-limits to millions of European users when it arrives next week, with strict EU regulations likely holding back its rollout. Apple says on its feature availability webpage that "Apple Intelligence: Live Translation with AirPods" won't be available if both the user is physically in the EU and their Apple Account region is in the EU....
iphone 17 lineup

iPhone 17 Models Launch on September 19 With These New Features

Friday September 12, 2025 7:58 am PDT by
Apple will launch its new iPhone 17 lineup and ultra-thin iPhone Air in stores on Friday, September 19, and the company has already shown off the new devices at its fall event, which ran with the the tagline "Awe dropping." The iPhone 17 series brings a host of new features and enhancements. Here's a rundown of the biggest upgrades and changes: iPhone 17 Display Changes The iPhone...
iphone air all colors

iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro Now Facing Extended Delivery Estimates

Saturday September 13, 2025 11:43 am PDT by
iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and iPhone Air pre-orders began on Friday in the U.S. and many other countries. iPhone 17 Pro Max delivery estimates quickly slipped beyond the Friday, September 19 launch day for those who had yet to place an order, and now the rest of the new models have started to follow suit. As of shortly after 11:30 a.m. Pacific Time today, select iPhone 17, ...
iOS 26 on iPhone Feature

Here's When iOS 26 Rolls Out Today in Every Time Zone

Monday September 15, 2025 12:00 am PDT by
Today's the day. Apple is about to release iOS 26, which will deliver the biggest redesign since iOS 7 and bring a range of new features and improvements to iPhones worldwide. It's Apple's biggest software update of the year, and Apple announced at last week's iPhone event that it will be releasing iOS 26 sometime today – Monday, September 15. Based on past releases, the update is likely...
iPhone 17 Pro Colors

iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro Models Are eSIM-Only in These Countries

Tuesday September 9, 2025 12:23 pm PDT by
Apple continues to phase out the physical SIM card tray on iPhones, with the latest models relying solely on eSIM technology in more countries. The new iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max support eSIMs only in these countries and regions, according to Apple: Bahrain Canada Guam Japan Kuwait Mexico Oman Qatar Saudi Arabia United Arab Emirates Un...
iPhone 17 Air Battery

Apple Reveals iPhone Air Battery Replacement and Repair Fees

Friday September 12, 2025 9:33 am PDT by
Apple today disclosed its out-of-warranty repair fees for all of the iPhone 17 and iPhone Air models, ahead of the devices launching next week. First and foremost, Apple's battery replacement fees did not increase for the latest iPhone models in the U.S., with Apple charging a flat $119 to replace the battery inside an iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, or iPhone Air. This is the same fee it...

Top Rated Comments

idktbh Avatar
37 months ago
Images from strangers appearing in Photo Libraries? are you ****ing kidding me?
Score: 84 Votes (Like | Disagree)
antiprotest Avatar
37 months ago
Apple has done it again. The is alarming and law-suit worthy. But I have come to expect such things from Apple.

By the way, Apple is the one lecturing us about child safety and CSAM? And other users are all like "What do you have to hide"? It's just that some of us know better than to trust Apple.

Edit: Oh, come on, man: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/icloud-for-windows-corrupting-videos-downloading-other-peoples-photos.2370666/?post=31743286#post-31743286
Score: 58 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sirozha Avatar
37 months ago
I love the feature of images from strangers. How do I subscribe to it?
Score: 38 Votes (Like | Disagree)
0112862 Avatar
37 months ago

I’m going to blame Microsoft Windows for that. Reminds me of Microsoft Vista.
Are you for real!?! This is 100% Apple fault. Apple is backend and Microsoft frontend in this story. On top of this, Apple 1st party and Microsoft 3rd. A third-party frontend accessing unauthorized content from a firstparty backend is a big effing deal. It prove one thing, their architecture is garbage. This should be prevented by design so random bug doesn't trigger this. My feeling, they have a backdoor into iCloud and this bug exploit something around the backdoor.
Score: 36 Votes (Like | Disagree)
wallaby Avatar
37 months ago
They must be trying out the Pied Piper algorithm.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
icanhazmac Avatar
37 months ago
New Apple service? iFap? OnlyAppleFans? New images daily!
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)