Apple Private Relay error on Plusnet connection

[#1]

Hi all, everyone who has an Apple device and connects to my home WiFi is getting “Private relay unavailable. Private relay will automatically turn in when it is available”.

My research suggests that as everyone is getting this issue, it is a Plusnet broadband or router setting that is causing this.

I do not have Plusnet Safeguard activated, nor Plusnet Protect.

I have restarted the router several times, but the problem persists. I had the issue a few months ago - it cleared up but has now reoccurred.

Please note the issue does not occur if I connect to another WiFi so it must be something on my router or account settings that is causing this. And as I say it happens for everyone who connects to my WiFi connection.

Any tips greatly appreciated! Thank you.

[#2]

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@Paul_Bantams wrote:

... everyone who has an Apple device and connects to my home WiFi is getting
"Private relay unavailable. Private relay will automatically turn in when it is available”.

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I've never seen this before and had to look it up !

For anyone else that this is new to, this is what Grok suggests -

It means iCloud Private Relay (an iCloud+ privacy feature) is currently unable to run on that connection, but your device will try to re-enable it automatically when the conditions allow it. Your regular internet access still works; only the extra privacy protection is paused.

What Private Relay does

Private Relay routes Safari (and some other) traffic through two separate relays so that:

• Your network provider can’t see the websites you visit.
• Websites can’t see your real IP address or exact location.

It requires an active iCloud+ subscription and is not available in every country/region.

Why you see the message on home Wi-Fi

Common reasons include:

• Temporary service issue on Apple’s side (check Apple’s System Status page for “iCloud Private Relay”).
• Network incompatibility or blocking — Some home routers, ISP setups, parental controls, DNS filters (e.g., Pi-hole), security software, or traffic-inspection features interfere with the relays. Certain ISPs or setups (including some satellite/CGNAT networks) can also trigger this.
• Region restrictions — If you’re in (or the network appears to be in) an unsupported country/region, Private Relay turns off automatically and turns back on when you return to a supported area.
• VPN, firewall, or security apps interfering.
• Per-network setting — “Limit IP Address Tracking” may have been turned off for that specific Wi-Fi network.

The exact message (“Private Relay unavailable. Private Relay will automatically turn on when it is available”) is Apple’s standard notification that the feature has been suspended and will resume on its own when possible.

Is it a problem?

Usually no. Your device stays online normally. You just lose the Private Relay privacy layer for Safari browsing while the message is active. When the obstruction clears (service recovers, you change networks, or the network becomes compatible), it should re-enable automatically.

What you can do

1. Check Apple’s System Status for any outage.
2. Confirm Private Relay is enabled overall: Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Private Relay.
3. For the home Wi-Fi specifically: Settings > Wi-Fi > (i) next to your network and make sure Limit IP Address Tracking is on. (Turning it off disables Private Relay only on that network.)
4. Temporarily disable any VPN, DNS filter, or security app and restart the device/router.
5. Test on cellular data — if it works there, the issue is specific to your home network.
6. If it bothers you, you can turn Private Relay off entirely (or “Until Tomorrow”) in the same iCloud settings, or leave the per-network toggle off for home Wi-Fi.

In most cases on home Wi-Fi it resolves on its own or after a simple network restart / setting check.

[#3]

@Paul_Bantams 

Have you tried manually setting the Plusnet Hub's DNS values to some thing different, such as 9.9.9.9 and 1.1.1.1 ?

.

[#4]

Apple Relay is a VPN. 

Perhaps this is blocked by Parental Controls as it affects more that one iPhone but only on your Hub/Router.

[#5]

Check your Hub / Router's DNS returns eight IPv4 & eight IPv6 IPs for each of : 

mask.icloud.com

and

mask-h2.icloud.com

[#6]

Just tested this and it works fine.  Hub Two with a static IP address.

Clutching as straws I would suspect an issue with the geolocation data for your WAN IP address.  What are the first three Octets of your external IP address?

[#7]

Hi, thanks for the suggestion. I have logged into my router and gone into the DNS page under Advanced Settings > Broadband > Internet, and there appears to be no way to change the primary and secondary DNS (these are in uneditable fields). 

I think I am in the right place?

[#8]

I don't have any parental controls applied to my account.

[#9 · Accepted solution]

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@Paul_Bantams wrote:

... there appears to be no way to change the primary and secondary DNS (these are in uneditable fields). 

I think I am in the right place?

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@Paul_Bantams 

I don't have a Hub Two to try, but previously others here have said that this works -

         https://community.plus.net/t5/My-Router/Plusnet-Hub-Two-with-Cloudflare-DNS/m-p/1925841#M35519 

.

[#10]

Ah great, thank you - I have done the and restarted my router - will see how I get on! Will report back later

[#11]

Thank you for this - the first three octets are 104.28.40

[#12]

@ExForce9 I have marked the post as "This fixed my problem".

Since changing the DNS addresses in my router settings and restarting the router, the Apple Private Relay error has not occurred.

This bodes well as I am sure it would have occurred by now. 

Thank you again!

ps Force 9 customer since 1996!

[#13]

@Paul_Bantams 

Thanks for the "This fixed my problem" !

For the next person with this problem reading this topic looking for help, what DNS values did you use that worked ?

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@Paul_Bantams wrote:

ps Force 9 customer since 1996!

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That's unlikely given that Force9 was created in February 1997 - unless you worked for them before the launch ?

I was with Force9 since November 1999, and later with Plusnet until 5th September 2023 (PSTN "stop sell" day).

.

[#14]

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@Paul_Bantams wrote:

Thank you for this - the first three octets are 104.28.40

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Something is not right here.  Where did you get that address from and when in relation to the points mentioned in this thread.  The address needs to come from the router admin page.

That IP address is in iCloud’s private relay space.  Therefore your issue might not be what you thought it was - not getting a connection to the iCloud private relay.

Changing the DNS suggests a rather different issue to that in the title.

[#15]

@ExForce9 I am sure I first went online in 1996 and I am sure it was Force 9... The Wikipedia page suggests Force9 were around in some form in 1996. Maybe it was 1997 when I first got "hooked up".

I used the DNS values in the screen grab in the post you linked up, 1.1.1.3 and 1.0.0.3 (Cloudflare).

@Townman I got the IP address from using whatsmyipaddress.com on my phone... Perhaps that was incorrect. Where do I need to look for the IP address you're querying? Under Broadband IP address the first three sets of numbers at 84.92.97

ps The Private Relay error has still not occurred some 7 hours after I changed the DNS addresses on my router,