Problem With Apple Sign In Causes Worrying Among Developers

A recent issue with Apple’s “Sign in with Apple” feature has left many developers and users frustrated, raising serious concerns about relying solely on Apple’s authentication system. The problem began on May 3, 2025, during Apple’s scheduled maintenance, and has since caused major disruptions for services like ASO.dev, a popular app store optimization platform.

Developers at ASO.dev noticed that users who signed up using Apple’s private relay email addresses (ending in @privaterelay.appleid.com) suddenly lost access to their accounts. Apple started returning a completely new userIdentifier for existing Apple IDs, even though users hadn’t changed anything. This broke the link between users and their historical data, making it impossible for the service to recognize returning users.

To make matters worse, the email field now always returns null, and previously issued relay emails no longer accept messages—emails simply bounce back. Many users also reported that ASO.dev had disappeared from their list of authorized apps in their Apple ID settings.

Consequences

For ASO.dev, the impact was immediate and severe. About one-third of their users, those who registered with Apple’s private relay email, became completely unreachable. The company can’t send them login codes, updates, or any other communication. Even worse, there’s no way to restore their access, since the new userIdentifiers don’t match the old accounts.

Sign in with Apple. Image credits: Apple.

The ASO.dev team has reached out to Apple support multiple times but has yet to receive a response or any guidance. In the meantime, they’ve added banners to their site and are encouraging affected users to contact support to update their email addresses.

Community reaction

The incident quickly caught the attention of the developer community, with a lively discussion on Hacker News. Many developers expressed concern about the risks of relying solely on Apple Sign In. Some pointed out that while ASO.dev was lucky to have an alternative sign-in method (email with a one-time code), users who only used Apple’s private relay are now locked out.

One commenter suggested allowing users to temporarily send a one-time sign-in link to another email, but others noted the security risks of verifying identity without the original email. Another developer shared that knowing the private relay email is almost like knowing a password, but it’s not a perfect solution.

Others shared their own frustrations with Apple’s authentication systems, describing bugs and confusing experiences even when setting up new devices or accounts. Some developers reflected on the importance of always having a fallback login method, like a recovery email or phone number, and not outsourcing identity management entirely to third-party providers.

Lessons learned

The ASO.dev team openly admits they didn’t expect Apple to suddenly break their own login system without warning. Their advice to other developers is clear: never rely solely on Apple ID authentication. Always implement a backup sign-in method, and encourage users to update their email addresses or add alternative login options.

As one commenter put it, “If you don’t control your own nominal technologies, the minor benefits will eventually majorly screw you.” The incident serves as a stark reminder that even the biggest tech ecosystems can fail unpredictably, and developers need to be prepared.

For now, ASO.dev and many others are waiting for Apple to respond and hoping for a solution. In the meantime, the developer community is sharing experiences and advice, hoping to prevent similar issues in the future.