Is iMessage Down? Is iCloud Down? How to Check Apple Services Status

Many Apple device owners depend heavily on iCloud, iMessage, FaceTime, Apple ID, Siri, the App Stores, and the other myriad of Apple online services for their Mac, iPhone, iPad, iPod, and Apple TV to work as intended, whether it’s backing up to iCloud or sending messages to friends and families, using iTunes, or logging into the online stores, or authenticating an Apple ID. Thus, it’s not too surprising that potential downtime or issues with these Apple services can lead to user problems, with various error messages and failures to perform otherwise simple tasks. While sometimes issues with such services are user created, other times the problems are on Apple’s end, and so for troubleshooting purposes it can be very helpful to quickly find out if Apple services are online or if they down.

How to Check if Apple Services Are Down or Up

Rather than wondering if a particular service is working or not, you can check directly with Apple with a simple status overview board. Here is how any user can quickly check to see if iMessage, iCloud, iTunes, Siri and any other Apple online service is down and offline, or up and online as intended:

1. Open a web browser on any device if you haven’t done so already, it does not need to be a Mac or iOS device, it can be Windows or Android too
2. Click here to check the Apple Support System Status Page official web page, this is the official Apple status board for every one of their online services
3. Locate the service(s) name you are looking to see if they are up or down based on color

Do you see green next to the service name(s) you want to check? Then the service is working as intended, it is up and functioning.

Do you see red, yellow, or orange next to the service name(s) you are checking? If you see anything other than green, the service is likely disrupted, down, or not functioning as intended, thus you may be encountering service disruption issues.

Here is what the Apple System Service Status webpage looks like when everything is online and working as intended:

Every customer facing Apple online service is shown on the status board page, including each of the following Apple services:

App Store

iCloud Backup

iTunes Store

Apple ID

iCloud Bookmarks & Tabs

iTunes U

Apple Music

iCloud Calendar

iWork for iCloud

Apple Online Store

iCloud Contacts

Mac App Store

Apple Pay

iCloud Drive

Mail Drop

Apple TV

iCloud Keychain

Maps

Back to My Mac

iCloud Mail

News

Beats 1

iCloud Notes

OS X Software Update

Dictation

iCloud Reminders

Photo Print Products

Documents in the Cloud

iCloud Storage Upgrades

Photos

FaceTime

iCloud Web Apps (iCloud.com)

Radio

Find My Friends

iMessage

Siri

Find My iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac

iMovie Theater

SMS Text Forwarding

Game Center

iOS Device Activation

Spotlight suggestions

iBooks Store

iPhone Calls to iPad and Mac

Volume Purchase Program

iChat

iTunes in the Cloud

iCloud Account & Sign In

iTunes Match

This can be invaluable for troubleshooting purposes, because if everything on the Apple System Status switchboard is showing as online and green but a user is still experiencing problems with a particular service, it suggests the issue is not with Apple but with the device trying to connect to the Apple service. Common solutions to simple connectivity issues are rebooting an iOS device, force rebooting a Mac, disconnecting and reconnecting from the internet service (wi-fi or otherwise) by toggling the service off and on again, checking the router / gateway, checking that the internet connection is working in general, and, sometimes, installing software updates that may be lingering around for compatibility. There are many possible reasons that a device may not be connecting to an Apple service, but usually those simple tricks will resolve the problem as long as the Apple service is actually online and working as intended.

So, when in doubt, just load up the Apple System Status webpage and check yourself, no need to ask if iCloud is down or if iMessage is not working, you can find out quickly yourself directly from Apple.