Earlier this week, it was reported that T-Mobile was blocking iCloud Private Relay for some iPhone users on its network in the US. On trying to enable the feature, users were greeted with an error saying their cellular plan does not support iCloud Private Relay. Initially, it was believed that the Un-carrier was blocking the feature on its network, but it later blamed a bug in iOS 15.2 for this. Apple, however, has now clarified that there’s no such bug that’s disabling iCloud Private Relay for iPhone users.
The issue seems to be a case of confusion. Apple issued a statement to 9to5Mac suggesting users to check they have not disabled the Limit IP Address tracking feature on cellular data, as doing so could prevent them from enabling iCloud Private Relay. The company has also updated the wording of the error message in the latest iOS 15.3 beta to make this clearer instead of just blaming the carrier. Additionally, Apple has updated its support page to reflect this.
Private Relay is turned off for your cellular plan.
Private Relay is either not supported by your cellular plan or has been turned off in Cellular Settings. With Private Relay turned off, this network can monitor your internet activity, and your IP address is not hidden from known trackers or websites.
You can disable iCloud Private Relay for specific Wi-Fi or mobile data networks which could then show the error that the feature is unavailable. In such cases, you need to ensure you have not toggled off the Limit IP Address Tracking option under Mobile Data on your iPhone. Additionally, note that T-Mobile’s Web Guard and other similar content filtering services are incompatible with iCloud Private Relay. In such scenarios, you won’t be able to turn on the feature.
You can read more about iCloud Private Relay and how it works in our guide.