T-Mobile says disabled Apple Private Relay VPN service is user's own fault

We reported yesterday that many iPhone users were having issues enabling “Private Relay” on their smartphones.

“Private Relay”, which hides your IP address by passing your internet data between Apple’s servers and an additional 3rd party server, meaning the server you are communicating with never know your real IP. This is similar to the Tor system used for secret communication in many repressive states.

When users try to use the feature on cellular data, an error message says:

Your cellular plan doesn’t support iCloud Private Relay. With Private Relay turned off, this network can monitor your internet activity, and your IP address is not hidden from known trackers or websites.

Now in a statement, T-Mobile has blamed a Parental Control feature, saying:

Customers who chose plans and features with content filtering (e.g. parent controls) do not have access to the iCloud Private Relay to allow these services to work as designed. All other customers have no restrictions.

The explanation makes sense, since a VPN service would bypass the carrier’s content filtering service, which blocks access to adult or gambling websites from users. Content Filtering is usually enabled by default, and needs to be disabled by accessing options in your carrier app.

If users are having the issue, try and disable carrier parental control via the carrier app, and let us know if it solves the problem.

via 9to5mac