Major Apple services including iMessage, iCloud back online after widespread outage

Apple Music, iMessage, iCloud, and Apple Maps were among a number of Apple services affected by a widespread outage.

The outage lasted several hours, with several of Apple's services gradually coming back online. As of 4:09 p.m. Eastern time, all service outages had been resolved, according to the company's latest update on its System Status page.

The outage impacted popular services including iMessage, iCloud and its digital App Store. The outage also reportedly affected businesses that run on the downed systems, including Apple's own retail stores.

Apple retail stores had been unable to conduct regular business that rely on its systems like product repairs and item pick ups, Business Insider reported. The outage also affected employees at Apple's corporate operations, limiting workers' ability to communicate internally.