Roughly 15,000 Apple TV+ users in the US and Canada were left staring at error messages as a major outage disrupted the highly anticipated debut of the new series Pluribus.
Quick Summary – TLDR:
- Apple TV+, Music, and Arcade experienced a multi-hour outage on November 6, affecting thousands across North America
- The disruption began minutes after the premiere of Pluribus, a new show from the Breaking Bad creator
- Downdetector reported over 13,000 complaints, with most users facing server connection issues
- Apple acknowledged the issue but has not provided an official explanation
What Happened?
On the night of November 6, Apple’s streaming services encountered a rare technical hiccup. The problem started around 10:30 p.m. ET, just after Pluribus, one of Apple TV+’s most heavily promoted original series, premiered. Users across Apple TV+, Apple Music, and Apple Arcade reported widespread disruptions, particularly in the US and Canada.
Apple TV goes down on premier night of new show Pluribus. Many users reporting the issue. Haven’t seen the service go down like this before. pic.twitter.com/91YQSQkXuy
— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) November 7, 2025
A Rough Night for Apple’s Streaming Ambitions
Thousands of subscribers faced the error message “There’s a problem loading this content”, cutting them off from watching Pluribus and other shows. The outage spanned across multiple platforms including iPhones, iPads, Apple TV devices, and web browsers.
Outage Details and Scope
- Downdetector recorded nearly 13,000 user complaints within the first few hours of the outage.
- 64% of reports were about server connection issues.
- 34% faced app-related problems, and 2% noted download failures.
- Affected cities included Houston, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Minneapolis.
Apple acknowledged the incident via its system status page, stating it was investigating the issue. While some users began to see partial restoration of services overnight, intermittent problems persisted into the early hours of November 7.
Spotlight on ‘Pluribus’
The glitch couldn’t have come at a worse time. Apple was counting on Pluribus, created by the mastermind behind Breaking Bad, to draw attention and boost subscriptions. The first two episodes debuted to strong anticipation, but many fans were unable to tune in due to the crash.
Although Apple has not confirmed a direct link between the show’s launch and the service disruption, the timing has sparked speculation that a sudden surge in viewership may have overloaded the servers.
Prominent tech journalist Mark Gurman tweeted,
Bigger Picture for Apple’s Services Division
The outage arrives at a time when Apple is aggressively growing its services business, which includes Apple TV+, Apple Music, and Apple Arcade. The division reported a record $28.8 billion in revenue in the September quarter. Events like this, while rare, highlight vulnerabilities during peak traffic events and the pressure on infrastructure to keep up.
Apple has yet to issue a formal explanation or a preventive roadmap to avoid similar incidents in the future.
Daily Research News Takeaway
Honestly, this is a tough look for Apple. The company has been hyping Pluribus as a major content play, and then the lights go out right as the show drops? That’s a painful first impression. As someone who keeps a close eye on tech reliability, I see this as a real wake-up call for Apple’s streaming backend. You can’t afford glitches during primetime premieres, especially when you’re competing with giants like Netflix and Disney+. Apple will need to do more than just restore service. It needs to restore confidence.
