iCloud has had service issues on occasion, but the latest issue seems very … specific. Actress and writer Rachel True claims iCloud effectively banned her from her account because of the way her last name was spelled. According to reports, your Mac considered lowercase letters to be “true” for a Boolean (true or false) flag that the iCloud software on the computer caused to capture. The problem had lasted for over six months, she said.
True said she spoke to customer service for hours and Apple never stopped charging her for service. She could switch to the free tier, although otherwise she would also lose most of her online storage.
We asked Apple for a comment.
This is a rare mistake when it works as described. Even if you share the surname True (or False), you have to type it in a certain way to reproduce the problem. Still, the question arises as to how MacOS could confuse a name with a software flag at all. At least it doesn’t seem to respond to direct commands – although you may want a name change if your last name is “rm rf” just to be on the safe side.
Can your programmers get my last name out of iCloud prison?
Got locked out for more than 6 months because of an uncapitalized t in TRUE, my last name, but also a computer command.
Now that, as a layperson, I’ve explained a problem with a huge computer company to you, can you fix it?
– Rachel True (@RachelTrue) March 6, 2021