Dear Apple Engineering Team,
I am experiencing catastrophic data loss affecting years of documents after a routine iPhone-to-iPhone iCloud synchronization. Standard Apple Support has been unable to resolve this issue, and I urgently need engineering-level assistance.
INCIDENT SUMMARY:
- Date: August 9, 2025
- Action: Synced iCloud from iPhone 16 to iPhone 12 mini
- Result: ALL files in iCloud Drive on Mac disappeared
- Data lost: Multiple years of documents including critical PDF files
- Support Case #: [Your case number if you have one]
TECHNICAL DETAILS:
- Mac: MacBook Pro running macOS Sonoma 14.6.1
- Source: iPhone 16
- Destination: iPhone 12 mini
- iCloud account: [Your Apple ID]
WHAT HAPPENED:
- Had fully populated iCloud Drive on Mac and iPhone 16
- Signed into iCloud on iPhone 12 mini to sync data
- After sync completion, Mac's iCloud Drive became completely empty
- Desktop and Documents folders show in structure but contain no files
- iCloud.com shows empty folders
- "Recently Deleted" in iCloud.com is also empty
ATTEMPTED RECOVERY:
- Checked ~/Library/Mobile Documents/ - only folder structure remains
- Verified with 'brctl dump' - shows folders but no documents
- Checked all trash locations - empty
- No Time Machine backup available
- Apple Support unable to recover server-side backups
CRITICAL QUESTIONS:
- Does Apple maintain point-in-time snapshots of iCloud data that engineering can access?
- Can you check server logs for my Apple ID around August 9, 2025?
- Is there a known issue with iPhone 16 to iPhone 12 mini iCloud sync?
- Can you restore my iCloud Drive to its state before August 9, 2025?
This appears to be a serious sync bug that caused newer device's empty state to overwrite existing data rather than merging. I have not touched the affected devices to preserve any forensic data.
I urgently need someone from the iCloud engineering team to investigate server-side recovery options. This is years of irreplaceable personal and professional data.
Please escalate this to the appropriate engineering team immediately. I am available 24/7 for any diagnostic information needed.
Thank you for your urgent attention to this matter.
Heejin Jo +82 10-6879-2647