T-Mobile Says iOS 15.2 Bug Turning Off iCloud Private Relay for Some Users

T-Mobile has not disabled iCloud Private Relay for its subscribers, in contrast to recent reports suggesting the carrier was preventing iPhone users from enabling the feature.

tmobilelogo
In a statement to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, T-Mobile said that iOS 15.2 device settings that default to the feature being toggled off, and that Apple has been contacted. T-Mobile explicitly says that ‌iCloud‌ relay has not been blocked.

Overnight our team identified that in the 15.2 iOS release, some device settings default to the feature being toggled off. We have shared this with Apple. This is not specific to T-Mobile. Again though, we have not broadly blocked iCloud Private

Yesterday morning, 9to5Mac published a story that said T-Mobile was preventing subscribers from enabling ‌iCloud‌ Private Relay in the United States, and this was a function that was rolling out to all ‌iPhone‌ users.

The article was based on a handful of reports from T-Mobile users who were unable to turn on ‌iCloud‌ Private Relay, and were receiving a message that it was disabled for their carrier.

T-Mobile has since informed 9to5Mac that some subscribers who are using plans and features with content filtering are not able to access ‌iCloud‌ Private Relay, though 9to5Mac claims that some of the users unable to access ‌iCloud‌ Private Relay do not have content filtering enabled.

Customers who chose plans and features with content filtering (e.g. parent controls) do not have access to the iCloud Private Relay to allow these services to work as designed. All other customers have no restrictions.

Based on what T-Mobile has said, it appears the issue is linked to content filtering and a problem with certain features being disabled by default, but the company has now made it clear that ‌iCloud‌ Private Relay is not being explicitly blocked for T-Mobile subscribers.

Apple today updated its iCloud Private Relay support document to clarify how users can make sure that ‌iCloud‌ Private Relay is enabled for a cellular network in iOS 15.2 by going to Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data Options and ensuring that "Limit IP Address Tracking" is turned on.

ios 15 2 beta 3 limit ip address tracking
There was instant concern about T-Mobile's intentions following the reports yesterday because European carriers banded together to call for ‌iCloud‌ Private Relay to be restricted because it prevents "networks and servers from accessing vital network data and metadata, including those operators in charge of the connectivity."

In the U.S., AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile have not spoken out against ‌iCloud‌ Private Relay nor have they suggested U.S. networks won't support the feature.

Related Forum: iOS 15

Popular Stories

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...
2024 iPhone Boxes Feature

Apple Changes Trade-In Values for iPhones, iPads, Macs, and More

Thursday January 16, 2025 6:45 am PST by
Apple today adjusted estimated trade-in values for select iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch models in the U.S., according to its website. Some values increased, while others decreased. The changes were not too significant, with most values rising or dropping by $5 to $50. We have outlined some examples below: Device New Value Old Value iPhone 15 Pro Max Up to $630 U ...
2024 App Store Awards

Apple Explains Why It Removed TikTok From the App Store in the U.S.

Sunday January 19, 2025 6:58 am PST by
Apple on late Saturday removed TikTok from the App Store in the U.S., and it has now explained why it was required to take this action. Last year, the U.S. passed a law that required Chinese company ByteDance to divest its ownership of TikTok due to potential national security risks, or else the platform would be banned. That law went into effect today, and companies like Apple and Google...
Generic iOS 18

Everything New in iOS 18.3 Beta 3

Thursday January 16, 2025 12:39 pm PST by
Apple provided the third beta of iOS 18.3 to developers today, and while the betas have so far been light on new features, the third beta makes some major changes to Notification Summaries and also tweaks a few other features. Notification Summary Changes Apple made multiple changes to Notification Summaries in response to complaints about inaccurate summaries of news headlines. For...
iOS 19 Roundup Feature

iOS 19 Rumored to Be Compatible With These iPhones

Saturday January 18, 2025 10:28 am PST by
iOS 19 will not drop support for any iPhone models, according to French website iPhoneSoft.fr. The report cited a source who said iOS 19 will be compatible with any iPhone that can run iOS 18, which would mean the following models: iPhone 16 iPhone 16 Plus iPhone 16 Pro iPhone 16 Pro Max iPhone 15 iPhone 15 Plus iPhone 15 Pro iPhone 15 Pro Max iPhone 14 iPhon...
iPad Pro vs iPhone 17 Air Feature

Here's How Thin the iPhone 17 Air Might Be

Friday January 17, 2025 3:38 pm PST by
For the last several months, we've been hearing rumors about a redesigned version of the iPhone 17 that Apple might call the iPhone 17 "Air," or something along those lines. It's going to replace the iPhone 17 Plus as Apple's fourth iPhone option, and it will be offered alongside the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max. We know the iPhone 17 Air is going to be super slim, but...
apple power beats pro 2

Powerbeats Pro 2 Coming Soon: Apple to Announce Them 'Imminently'

Sunday January 19, 2025 8:25 am PST by
In September, Apple said that it would be launching Powerbeats Pro 2 in 2025, and it appears the wireless earbuds are coming very soon. Powerbeats Pro 2 images found in iOS 18 code In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the Powerbeats Pro 2 are "due imminently." In addition to Apple filing the Powerbeats Pro 2 in regulatory databases last month, Gurman said Apple is...
mail categories macos

Apple's Redesigned Mail App is Expanding to the Mac — Here's When

Sunday January 19, 2025 6:02 am PST by
Apple plans to expand the iPhone's redesigned Mail app to the Mac starting with macOS 15.4, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. The first macOS 15.4 beta should be made available in the coming weeks, and Apple has previously suggested that the iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, and macOS 15.4 series of software updates will be released to the public in April. The revamped Mail app debuted on all...

Top Rated Comments

britboyj Avatar
40 months ago

Hahahaha. Okay. So T-Mobile blocks things when they can't understand them. That's a poor policy and not what's stated in their policy for the function. It would also indicate that they need to read far more into what's being sent than they let on.
T-Mobile cannot block content it cannot see. It needs to be able to see traffic in order to filter it.

To make this a metaphor: A traffic cop cannot direct traffic with a blindfold on.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sw1tcher Avatar
40 months ago

hahahaha yeah right. they got caught being scummy and threw apple under the bus in efforts to salvage PR
Proof to back up your claim that this is T-Mobile's fault?
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
clevins Avatar
40 months ago

This is all on T-Mobile. It's not an Apple issue at all. Read the article. T-Mobile is blocking the use of iCloud Private Relay if the T-Mobiel account has content filtering enabled. They're the ones blocking it based on their own inability to analyze the content because it's hidden from them.

T-Mobile needs to remedy this issue, not Apple.
There's nothing TO remedy. Customer says 'Hey T-Mobile, please filter content". At that point T-Mobile has to be able to see the traffic so it can do what the customer asked them to do. If the customer wants to use Private Relay, they need to turn off content filtering. You cannot have both things.

Some of you really need to stop commenting on things that you clearly don't understand just to whine about a corporation.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
clevins Avatar
40 months ago



So T-Mobile is blocking the use of iCloud Private Relay if people have content filtering turned on. That's on T-Mobile. They're the ones blocking such.
Of COURSE they are. If someone has content filtering turned on, they have to in order to do what the customer ASKED FOR. Think before you post next time.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Taz Mangus Avatar
40 months ago

Learn to read.
Before you start sniping at others, maybe it would be good to understand there really is nothing wrong with what T-Mobile has done. You can’t have Private Relay turned on and content filtering on at the same time, otherwise how would T-Mobile know what content to filter. It is a case of 2 different things creating a mutual exclusive case.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
0924487 Avatar
40 months ago
“Bug”
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)