Apple Services Except iCloud to Stop Working on Some Older Software Versions

Apple services except for iCloud will stop working on some older iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS versions starting in early May, according to information shared by Twitter account @StellaFudge, a source with a proven track record.

Apple One Apps Feature 2
Users will not be able to access any Apple services except for iCloud on these software versions:

  • iOS 11 through iOS 11.2.6
  • macOS 10.13 through macOS 10.13.3
  • watchOS 4 through watchOS 4.2.3
  • tvOS 11 through tvOS 11.2.6

In an internal document, Apple said affected users might receive a push notification prompting them to update their device to a newer software version.

"Some older software versions will no longer support Apple Services like the App Store, Siri, and Maps," said Apple, in a support document published last month. "Update your software to the latest available version to continue using these services."

Apple did not explain why most of its services will stop working with these older software versions, released between late 2017 and early 2018, but the move will affect only a small percentage of users. As of mid-February, for example, Apple said only 8% of actively used iPhones were running iOS 14 or older.

Apple offers a wide range of services, including Apple Music, Apple Arcade, Apple TV+, Apple Fitness+, Apple News+, and others.

We've reached out to Apple for comment and will update this story if we hear back.

Popular Stories

iOS 18

Apple Expected to Release iOS 18.3 Next Week With These New Features

Thursday January 23, 2025 6:41 am PST by
iOS 18.3 should be released to the public next week, following beta testing since mid-December. While the software update is a relatively minor one, it still includes a handful of new features, changes, and bug fixes for iPhones. Below, we recap everything new in iOS 18.3. Notification Summary Changes Examples of inaccurate Apple Intelligence notification summaries Apple Intelligence...
Apple Pay Walmart Feature

Walmart Stands Firm on Why It Doesn't Accept Apple Pay in the U.S.

Thursday January 23, 2025 7:32 am PST by
Walmart still does not accept Apple Pay or other NFC payments at its more than 4,600 stores across the U.S., and it stood firm on its reasoning for that today. A spokesperson for Walmart today informed MacRumors that its position on contactless payments has not changed since we last reached out about the matter in 2022. The big-box retailer said it remains focused on its own convenient...
iOS 18

Here Are Apple's Full Release Notes for iOS 18.3

Tuesday January 21, 2025 4:31 pm PST by
Apple provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate version of iOS 18.3 today, and with it comes release notes confirming what's new. While we knew about several of the features that are in the update, there are some lesser known tweaks and bug fixes. The update adds new Visual Intelligence features for iPhone 16 models, it tweaks Notification summaries on all...
truecaller

Truecaller iOS Update Rolls Out Real-Time Caller ID Support

Wednesday January 22, 2025 2:07 am PST by
Popular caller ID app Truecaller is rolling out an update that brings real-time caller ID support to its iOS subscribers. Apple introduced Live Caller ID Lookup in iOS 18, allowing third-party caller ID apps to securely retrieve information about a caller from their servers, hence today's Truecaller update. iPhone users can enable the Live Caller ID Lookup feature by going to Settings ➝ ...
iPhone 17 Air Size Feature

'iPhone 17 Air' With Rear Camera Bar Allegedly Shown in Leaked Photo

Tuesday January 21, 2025 12:46 pm PST by
A leaker known as "Majin Bu" today shared an alleged image of a component for the rumored, ultra-thin "iPhone 17 Air" model. The blurry, pixelated image shows a pair of rear iPhone shells with a pill-shaped, raised camera bar along the top. On the left side of the bar, there is a circular cutout that appears to be for a single rear camera. On the right side of the bar, there appears to be an ...
apple tv 4k new orange

New Apple TV Launching This Year With These New Features

Wednesday January 22, 2025 6:01 pm PST by
A new Apple TV is expected to be released later this year. In this article, we recap rumored features and changes for the device. The next Apple TV will be equipped with Apple's own combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. He said the chip supports Wi-Fi 6E, which would be an upgrade over the current Apple TV's standard Wi-Fi 6 support. Wi-Fi 6E extends the...
iOS 18

5 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.3

Friday January 24, 2025 1:55 am PST by
Apple is set to release iOS 18.3 next week, bringing further refinements to Apple Intelligence features, a couple of neat new capabilities to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 devices, and bug fixes. While not quite as packed with new features as Apple's preceding iOS 18 point releases, iOS 18.3 still introduces capabilities that aim to make your iPhone smarter and more intuitive. Below, we've...
Generic iOS 19 Feature Mock Light

iOS 19 Leak Reveals All-New Design

Friday January 17, 2025 2:42 pm PST by
iOS 19 is still around six months away from being announced, but a new leak has allegedly revealed a completely redesigned Camera app. Based on footage it obtained, YouTube channel Front Page Tech shared a video showing what the new Camera app will apparently look like, with the key change being translucent menus for camera controls. Overall, the design of these menus looks similar to...
iPhone SE 4 Single Camera Thumb 3

iOS 18.3 Leak Provides Clue About iPhone SE 4, iPad 11, and iPad Air 7 Launch Timing

Wednesday January 22, 2025 9:39 am PST by
New information has surfaced that indicates the rumored iPhone SE 4, iPad 11, and new iPad Air models are nearing launch. A private account on social media platform X today revealed that iOS 18.3 or iPadOS 18.3 will be preinstalled on all of those upcoming devices when they are released. It is still unclear exactly when the devices will launch, but this information suggests that Apple will...

Top Rated Comments

Slix Avatar
24 months ago
Before everyone freaks out, this is first of all, not confirmed yet, and secondly, only affects a small amount of Apple device versions on older versions, and of those versions, only a few before the final version. For example, macOS High Sierra went up to 10.13.6. Why anyone would not be running that version and instead running 10.13.2 at this point, I’m not sure. I’m curious what features will not work, because iCloud covers a lot of services under its umbrella.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
abhibeckert Avatar
24 months ago

I wonder what the full list of services is... I still use an Apple Watch Series 0 frequently for stuff, and I know my mom's iPhone is still on iOS 14 and she uses it for Podcasts all the time. I wonder if basic stuff like Podcasts will stop working?
They only dropped support for WatchOS 4.2. As long as your series zero is running WatchOS 4.3, you'll be fine.

It's the same with all the others - if you're on the latest software that your hardware can run, you're still supported.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jonblatho Avatar
24 months ago

If you have a Mac on 10.13 that isn't capable of updating to 10.14 Mojave, I think Apple should try their best to continue to support it.

That being said, every iOS 11 device can update to iOS 12
Every impacted device stuck on High Sierra can update to macOS 10.13.4 – 10.13.6, which per the documentation should not be impacted.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
randomando Avatar
24 months ago
Makes sense. These OS versions probably use very old API endpoints or possibly rely on certain restrictions / expectations that have since changed on newer OS versions. Best to set a cut off for supporting them since it's infeasible to test back so many versions and removing them would reduce clutter.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bodonnell202 Avatar
24 months ago
So most people who commented here didn’t actually read the article. Sad.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
stephen1108 Avatar
24 months ago

This IS the latest version for many devices. They shouldn’t be disabling basic functionality. Can’t even install apps anymore on some of these iPhones.
It's actually NOT the latest version for any device that may still be on one of these ancient softwares.

Any iOS device that runs iOS 11, runs iOS 12. And the other devices all have newer software updates available.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)