why is iCloud so so slow

Same here. It takes forever to load my inbox (and there aren't that many messages in there anyway - only about 30) and I'm on a 20 MB DSL line. Everything else lightning fast and iCloud isn't almost like dialup, it's worse. When I started looking for a thread in discussions about other experiencing similar problems I've also tried to switch from my Inbox to Sent mailbox - it is still not opened!

.Mac and MobileMe were speed monsters compared to iCloud and unless Apple does something about it I am out (been a member of .Mac / MobileMe / iCloud since June 2000) - this is simply unacceptable.

It is getting a real issue lately.

APPLE DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS WE PAY FOR THESE SERVICES.

iCloud mail is slow, sync on different devices creates a mess, iTunes match is slow, .... BAD PATTERN.

Like your hardware, stripit back down to the essentials and focus again on user friendlyness!

Indeed, iCloud performance has skidded, at least one area. I develop a Mac app which, among other things, syncs Safari bookmarks in iCloud with other web browsers on the Mac. So, I've spent many hours testing iCloud, at least, the Safari Bookmarks syncing.

Some weeks back, in late November, when I first dabbled in iCloud, I was impressed! I have the same iCloud on two Mac accounts. When I'd change a bookmark in Safari in one Mac account, Safari on the other Mac would have it within 10 seconds. I was working on this project full time for a week or more and must have tested that a hundred times. The new iCloud was rock solid, fast, predictable.

Yesterday, however, after receiving a trouble report from a user, I retested and found that, at least with Safari bookmarks, iCloud has reverted to pushing once every 15 minutes. I think that this was the MobileMe behavior. Pushes are occurring at X minutes past each quarter hour, where X is a number between 0 and 15, and is different on each Mac account or Mac. I would suspect that it resets whenever you log in or restart your Mac. Anyhow, this means the lag is variable, from 1-16 minutes. For example, if X for a particular Mac account is 13 minutes, and I change a bookmark in Mac A at time 10:04, Mac B will get it 9 minutes later, at 10:13. If I change one at 10:25, Mac B will get it 3 minutes later, at 10:28.

Of course, a 16-minute delay in getting a bookmark is not going to kill anyone. Bookmarks are certainly a low priority compared to, say, email messages or even document data. It is quite possible that Apple is still pushing other data types immediately, or on a schedule more frequent than every 15 minutes.

I hope this information helps decode the behavior for some of you, and if anyone else has discovered anything interesting about iCloud behavior please post it here.

Jerry Krinock

Developer, "BookMacster"

Yep, iCloud's webmail is absolutely ludacrous when it comes to it's speed. Don't try searching for a specific e-mail via webmail; it won't finish finding the e-mail until after you've already had lunch and dinner.

That is, if it doesn't just seem to freeze up anyway. It shouldn't take 10 minutes just to find an e-mail I got earlier that day. Sometimes It's like that when using it on the iPhone too.

It's really a shame. =/

Yeah, icloud.com in general ***** in comparison to someone who is used to using Google for email, calendars, and contacts. I mean "in the browser" Google just stomps all over iCloud that it's almost laughable. Don't get me wrong, I WANT to like iCloud. In fact, I switched from Android to the iPhone when I first heard about iCloud... however, this is just a joke. Why do they feel the need to load up all sorts of graphic heavy images on icloud.com in the browser? I understand Apple's point - just use all iOS devices and you'll never need to login through the browser... however, what about people who HAVE to use Windows at work all day long? That's what I hate about Apple. They just don't "get" that part sometimes... we don't live in world where EVERY device you use is an Apple device (yet!). Oh well, I'll continue to use Google as an exchange account until they get this cloud crap figured out...

I agree Icloud mail is painfully slow. I use Safari, Firefox and Google Chrome. I have cable modem at home and a very fast T3 connection at my office. It doesn't matter which Browser I use, it's the same issue. I also have Gmail it flys regardless of Browser at home or office. I bring up my .mac mail on Icloud on one tab and Gmail on another tab to test. Gmail fly's, Icloud is very slow. Apple either needs more servers to support Icloud or it's the software anybodies guess. I love Apple, but Icloud is painful to use.

dj

Amen. I have the same problems. I, too, joined Mac.com in 2000 and am dissatisfied.

AM_Kidd - Really, that's your response to a complaint? Trust me, if Apple doesn't fix this, their reputation and profits will suffer. Waiting for minutes to see your inbox messages is just not acceptable for a service I have been paying for. And it was never a problem with mobileme! It seems Apple is becoming more and more like another Microsoft.

I was a MobileMe subscriber and used it just to sync my calendar with iPhone. All my email was in GMail.

After the launch of iCloud I ditched my Windows notebook and bought a Macbook Pro and migrated all my mail over so that everything was in the Apple ecosystem. Great concept but unfortunately iCloud just isn't up to it. Compared with GMail, iCloud webmail is excruciatingly slow and kludgy. Searching for mail inside folders is so slow it's glacial.

Please fix this Apple. You have more cash than you know what to do with so put some decent resources into iCloud and make it world's best. At present it is a very distant second (or perhaps worse) to Google's cloud services.

hepkat63 wrote:

you're correct, iCloud is ridicously slow. At least once a week, my email bogs down to almost a dialup speed connection. I have an ultrafast DSL connection,

That's the best laugh so far, DSL, fast, 😁

I posted the first question of this discussion thread. "Why is iCloud so slow?" While it is still an issue, I have found that it has improved somewhat. As before, when you try to reply, forward, or create an email it takes forever for the new pane to come up! But I have discovered that while it is searching (the agonizingly long wait, staring at the little hypnotic circle going round and round), if I click on the address bar, it pops right up. This has helped tremendously. I might not dump iCloud after all.

Now, if I could just get my curser to stop jumping around while I type emails in iCloud, I would be grateful.

iCloud is still slow to load mail and switch between applications (mail, calendar etc). and it is not really optional if you have a .mac or .me account because they removed services from mobileme.

But i have a new problem: when i delete email while in iCloud it disappears!! It is a real problem. It does not exist anywhere that I can figure out. I have searched and tried rebuilding my mailbox, it's not on my phone, it's not on a server anywhere. Posts I read said to check my settings to make sure deleted email goes into the trash and it all my settings are correct on all my devices. ***?

This is like an abusive relationship. For decades I've been a major Mac fan. I love the hardware and I could deal with the Apple's obsession with passwords and keychains and Apple Stores that feel like the last 10 minutes on the Titanic. But being forced to use Icloud is the last straw for me. Even now, my email is "temporarily unavailable"...again!!!

Iclould is slow and inefficient and I don't have the luxury of waiting for Apple to get its act together. I depend on email for my living, and Apple is now officially messing with my income. Truly, I've had it. Today I'm shopping for, gulp, PC!

Yes indeed, same for me here in Europe!

The iCloud system (particularly mail) is incredibly slow since a few days.

Please FIX this issue.

Is someone from Apple reading these messages? I hope they do....

Let's stay updated here.

Getting and sending mail on my iphone is aceptable if slowish but that's to be expected. On my MacBook Pro running Lion, email from three accounts, including Gmail and iCloud/.Mac is typically glacial and this evenng I've waited nearly 30 minutes and a simle test mail won't go and it wont load a dozen emails that have been on my phone for the past few hours.

There's no point in asking Apple anymore to sort these issues out. Their arrogance matches their wealth. I've used Macs for 15 years and flown the Apple flag. Embarasingly two good friends, formally PC users who I convinced to get MacBook Pros for their reliability are very dissapointed and feel somewhat conned.

If Apple owned up to their problems I'd find it more acceptable but they don't and surely wont. Like any global corporation thaey framkly don't care less.

I'm ditchng them as soon as I can afford to do so.