Apple says iCloud China data migration notice sent to some users in error

Apple says that an email sent to users with Apple IDs with locations not set to China that their iCloud data was being moved to a Chinese company’s servers was done so accidentally.

The Cupertino tech giant had announced Wednesday that next month it will begin the process of moving Chinese users’ iCloud data to servers hosted in China by state-owned Guizhou-Cloud Big Data (GCBD) as it complies with recent legislation in the company that mandates that cloud services are operated by Chinese companies. Apple sent details to affected users, but TechCrunch discovered reports that a number of users with U.S. Apple IDs had received notification that their data was also being moved.

In a separate email sent this evening, Apple has informed users that these emails were sent in error, reiterating that only users with their Apple ID country set to China will have their iCloud data migrated to GCBD servers.

The email, obtained by TechCrunch, reads in part: “We are very sorry that you received this email. This email was intended only for customers whose Apple ID country is China. A very small number of our customers whose Apple ID country is not China also received this email by mistake.”

Apple verified the contents of the email but didn’t offer further comment.

The specific phrasing of the email is important, as it notes that users who have their location not set to China in their iCloud account are not currently subject to the data migration process that Apple has announced. A subtle but important detail for users in China and elsewhere.

Article updated to reflect Apple ID location info in email