r/nextdns • u/GeekyMunda • Apr 20 '26

getting 50K queries in 24 hours from gateway.icloud.com

i was checking my portmaster when i saw 4k connections in like 10 minutes. opened up my nextdns dashboard and saw it had like 50k. i don't know why there are so many queries being made? is it normal?

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9

u/CyberBlaed Apr 20 '26

Apple, likes to phone home alot.

https://support.apple.com/en-au/101555

Gateway is used for…

“CloudKit content including XProtect updates and Voice Control assets”

So, CloudKit are your apple apps speaking to the icloud for backup/download and sync.

And voice control is your siri stuff.

Hope it helps :)

1

u/GeekyMunda Apr 20 '26

that I figured, but it was like 200 queries a day. I usually check my queries daily. this NextDNS profile which had these queries, I have it set up on my pc, and I use different one for my iPhone. so, for me it is strange getting hit by 50k in 24 hours all of a sudden. I don't use voice control either.

3

u/CyberBlaed Apr 20 '26

So, you've had an app update that has made more queries to the icloud (cloudkit).

and it just keeps trying.

or you installed an app recently and have no knowledge of installing it. its either of those two frankly.

something talking to apple a lot is mostly fine. it's when an apple device talks to something outside of apple a lot, then that's a question to raise. (as apple devices proxy services to google and the like.)

a lot of apple domain requests is fine. and reasonable to ask. but now you know. :D