Apple Says iOS 15.2 Included No Changes That Would Have Toggled iCloud Private Relay Off

Apple said in a statement that there was no bug that turned the iCloud Private Relay off for some users. The statement was in response to T-Mobile's claim that the private relay feature was turned off for some users.

The internet privacy service, called iCloud Private Relay, allows users with an Apple subscription to connect to the internet in a more secure and private way. Private Relay is available in most countries around the world. Users have been able to take advantage of Private Relay without being blocked.
>
There were no changes made to the feature in the latest version of the software. Users are encouraged to check their settings to see if Private Relay is enabled on their device.

T-Mobile has not blocked their users from taking advantage of the iCloud Private Relay feature.

Some T-Mobile subscribers were unable to turn on the feature, which was accused of being disabled by T-Mobile. T-Mobile said that it had discovered that the feature was toggled off in some devices, but Apple said that was not true.

T-Mobile said that customers who have plans and features that use T-Mobile content filters, such as parental controls, do not have access to iCloud Private Relay in order to allow these services to work as designed. It is not clear why some T-Mobile subscribers were having issues, but customers who are not using content filters should be able to use iCloud Private Relay.

It can be turned off on a network basis, which can cause it to state that it is not working on the carrier level. If not enabled in the carrier settings on an Apple device, iCloud Private Relay won't be available for the cellular network or the internet.

To use iCloud Private Relay, users need to make sure that the Limit IP Address Tracking preference is toggled on in their network settings, and Apple has published a support document that explains how to enable it.

T-Mobile revised their statement after learning of the new information from Apple.

We wanted to update what we said. When customers update to the new version of the software, Apple doesn't change their settings. Customers may see an error message if they have previously toggled on the iCloud Private Relay or Limit IP Address Tracking off. Apple has more information on their support page.

Changes were made to the iOS 15.3beta to make it clearer what's going on when the iCloud Private Relay is not working. If the feature is disabled, the messaging advises customers to check their settings.

The wording of the setting in the current version of the software may be related to the confusion over T-Mobile and iCloud Private Relay.

Apple made it clear that no carriers are blocking the feature, after all three U.S. carriers confirmed yesterday that they support it.

There are network setup that could cause the private relay to not work. Private Relay will be blocked by networks that audit traffic or perform network-based filters. This includes enterprise and school networks, which often have traffic monitoring policies, as well as cellular providers that are offering network-based services like Parental Controls, as is the case in T-Mobile's situation.