iCloud is now used for key services including notarization checks. For XProtect updates, it should be quicker and simpler, so long as you mind the pinniped.
CloudKit
All you need to know about the main services in iCloud, the limits imposed on them by Apple, and how access to them can be controlled.
You’ve got a good Internet connection and iCloud should be working fine, but won’t sync data between your Mac and devices. Could it be throttled?
How iCloud Drive, concerned with sharing files, and CloudKit, supporting databases shared in iCloud, have changed in Sonoma.
Its documentation consists almost entirely of how-to recipes. Is there nothing more conceptual so we can understand its apparently random behaviour?
Differences between CloudKit and iCloud Drive, what each does, and how it works. New version of Cirrus to test and check iCloud function.
Full details of 27 subsystems in macOS that TCC gave access to CloudKit despite there being no Apple ID or iCloud account.
When does macOS decide to download new and changed items in iCloud Drive? This steps through the process from decision to completion.
How does macOS learn of changes which have taken place in iCloud Drive, such as the uploading of files from another system? Here the process is taken apart, and points of failure highlighted.
When you upload a file to iCloud Drive, the steps involved are complex. They’re outlined and diagrammed here, with pointers to how to diagnose and resolve problems.
The Eclectic Light Company 