iCloud Windows App Silently Downgraded Making Chrome Extension Useless

Apple has been slowly but surely bringing some of its apps and services on Windows, allowing Apple users to stay within the security of their chosen platform even while on someone else's operating system. Cupertino's latest offer was an extension for the Chrome web browser on Windows that allowed it to access passwords stored on Apple's iCloud. Now that extension is temporarily unusable because the version of the iCloud app on Windows that it requires has been suddenly pulled out.

The iCloud Passwords extension for Chrome doesn't exactly do its magic by itself. One of the reasons why it is available only on Windows is that it requires the iCloud app for Windows to also be installed. Specifically, it required version 12 of the iCloud app, the version that introduced support for that exact feature.

Unfortunately, that version of the iCloud app is no longer available as Apple has suddenly pulled it out. According to The 8-bit, the version currently available on the Microsoft App Store right now is version 11.6.32.0. While the description does still include support for iCloud Passwords on Chrome, it no longer seems to work with the proper version.

The official reason for this sudden change remains unknown but one theory does stand out. According to users, iCloud 12 also introduced bugs that made the app itself unusable. Those range from 2FA glitching to the plugin being unusable altogether.

Given neither Apple nor Microsoft has given word on why the update was pulled, the timeline for its return also remains up in the air. Clearly, Apple doesn't want users running into such bugs until the fix is available. Until then, however, they'll have to live like iCloud Passwords never existed in the first place.