Randy FitzPatrick

Q: Notes won't sync between iPhone & MacBook Pro.

I'm running OS 10.8.4 and can't seem to get Notes on the Mac to sync with the notes of my iPhone. I've tried signing out of iCloud on both devices and this didn't work.  Here's the weird part... when I signed back in, the Notes on the Mac returned and the Notes on the iPhone returned, but neither device had the same notes.  To clarify, each device had different notes despite being signed into iCloud and having selected to sync Notes.  When I signed out of iCloud, each device was showing no notes at all.  When I signed back in, each device repopulated with it's own previous notes list, but neither synced to each other.  Everything else iCloud related seems to be working fine.  And, yes, I do only have one Apple ID and it is being used on both devices.  Flummoxed! 

iPhone 4, iOS 5.1

Posted on Jul 26, 2013 11:44 PM

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Q: Notes won't sync between iPhone & MacBook Pro.

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  • by elrigby,

    elrigby elrigby Dec 30, 2015 1:47 AM in response to dr.amy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 30, 2015 1:47 AM in response to dr.amy

    I'm honestly starting the think the accounts claiming this was solved for them are fake.

  • by joyfulessence,

    joyfulessence joyfulessence Jan 18, 2016 11:57 PM in response to Randy FitzPatrick
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 18, 2016 11:57 PM in response to Randy FitzPatrick

    What worked for me is finding that on icloud the set of notes that was way more complete, that I had on my iphone, was there. But the limited notes seen on my mac pro, were not. I went on my mac pro to system preferences to icloud and as suggested, deselected notes and immediately rechecked it. It worked!! Suddenly all my iphone notes were downloaded onto my mac pro! Thanks!

  • by pilotguy13,

    pilotguy13 pilotguy13 Mar 8, 2016 10:39 PM in response to Randy FitzPatrick
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mar 8, 2016 10:39 PM in response to Randy FitzPatrick

    Apparently, you have to upgrade to El Capitan if you want your notes to work on the Macbook, and have upgraded to ios 9 on the smaller devices... Ramming it down our throats...

    Before you upgrade your notes - Apple Support   open this in new tab....

  • by pilotguy13,

    pilotguy13 pilotguy13 Mar 8, 2016 10:53 PM in response to Randy FitzPatrick
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mar 8, 2016 10:53 PM in response to Randy FitzPatrick

    El Capitan 'upgrade' is required (aka ios 10.11 to sync notes on to the Macbook from devices running ios9. Most likely, you updated your phone or ipad with the latest ios 9.x and did not update your laptop device.  El Capitan gets great reviews from most of the sites I trust on whether an upgrade is worth doing.

    Before you upgrade your notes - Apple Support

  • by zipporah2023,

    zipporah2023 zipporah2023 Mar 16, 2016 4:12 AM in response to Carolyn Samit
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 16, 2016 4:12 AM in response to Carolyn Samit

    I have read all the different ways of solving the problem but my Mac notes is still not syncing with my iphone and ipad notes. On safari i see only my iphone notes and not my mac

  • by LilyLC,

    LilyLC LilyLC Mar 25, 2016 7:44 PM in response to zipporah2023
    Level 4 (2,743 points)
    Mar 25, 2016 7:44 PM in response to zipporah2023

    zipporah2023 wrote:

    I have read all the different ways of solving the problem but my Mac notes is still not syncing with my iphone and ipad notes. On safari i see only my iphone notes and not my mac

    It's not clear what you have done, so you might have already done a few of the following steps.

    1. On you Mac, launch System Preferences and click on the iCloud icon
    2. Check the ballot box to the left of Notes
    3. Launch the Notes app
    4. From the View menu, select Show Folders List. You should now see a column like below
    5. Screen Shot 2016-03-25 at 7.31.57 PM.jpg
    6. Your "Mac notes" are "On My Mac" that only reside on you Mac.
    7. To get the notes on to iCloud, click on Notes under the On My Mac section.
    8. Click on one of the notes, and then go to the Edit menu and Select All (command = A)
    9. Click and drag them all to Notes under the iCloud section. They should now appear on you iPhone and iPad.

    Going forward on your, create new notes within Notes under iCloud

     

    HTH

  • by pringsmuth,

    pringsmuth pringsmuth Jun 20, 2016 7:31 AM in response to Randy FitzPatrick
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jun 20, 2016 7:31 AM in response to Randy FitzPatrick

    Found a solution to my problem. I'm using El Capitan on my rMBP. IOS 9.3.2 on iPhone.

    Notes created on Mac were not syncing to iPhone.

    It turned out that in Notes on the Mac, in the sidebar on the left, I had selected On My Mac > Notes. I should have selected iCloud > All iCloud when creating new notes.

    So I copied each of the notes one by one from On My Mac, the selected All iCloud, created a new note, and pasted it in there. Each note immediately appeared on my iPhone!

    If you alway want the notes created on the Mac to sync with iPhone, you have to create them with All iCloud notes selected.

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