OS X contacts not syncing. iPhone, iPad and iCloud.com do

Question

Level 1

71 points

OS X contacts not syncing. iPhone, iPad and iCloud.com do

I have a few Apple devices around, and for some reason, contact information I create on my MacBook Pro are not syncing properly.

I create a new contact on my iPad, one on my iPhone, one in iCloud.com and one on my MacBook Pro.

The first three show up on all three devices as I would expect, but the one on the MacBook doesn't show up anywhere else, and none of the first three show up on the MacBook.

I do have my iCloud account set up to sync them, and all four devices use the same Apple ID.

To be up front, I do install OS versions, generally starting around the x.3 releases or higher, but I'm currently on 10.14.2.

Any thoughts on how to :

Get my MacBook Pro to sync to iCloud/iPhone/iPad properly
Not lose any of the changes I've made over time on my Mac

Thanks!

Steve

MacBook Pro Retina (2015 and later)

Posted on Jan 1, 2019 3:39 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

parkerpress Author

Level 1

71 points

Feb 19, 2019 8:48 PM in response to parkerpress

This issue can be closed. What I ended up doing on the iPhone was turning off the sync for each app individually, then deleted my iCloud account on the phone. I rebooted the phone, turned iCloud back on. Then individually, I turned on each app, and checked syncing results. I ended up with a few duplicates in Contacts, Calendars and Reminders. Notes seemed fine.

So after cleaning up the duplicates, I'm back to operational again, hoping that I don't see this happen again. Thanks to the responders for tips and hints.

Steve

Reply

Answer 2

Teddy_B

Community Specialist

Jan 3, 2019 11:39 AM in response to parkerpress

Hello parkerpress,

Thanks for the post in Apple Support Communities. I understand that your Mac doesn't appear to be syncing your contacts.

Do you recall when your contacts last synced on your Mac? Do your other iCloud services, like Calendars or Photos, seem to sync as expected?

If the issue is just with Contacts, try clicking Apple menu () > System Preferences > iCloud. Then, turn Contacts off here. If prompted, you can opt to keep your contacts saved locally. Then, give it a moment and turn Contacts back on.

I have a link with some additional steps to try if you find this doesn't resolve the issue. Check them out under the macOS section here: Get help using iCloud Contacts, Calendars, or Reminders.

I hope this helps you and gets your contacts syncing again. Take care.

Reply

Answer 3

parkerpress Author

Level 1

71 points

Jan 5, 2019 1:53 PM in response to Teddy_B

Things are kind of a mess. I'll list the details below. I created a new contact, note, calendar event and reminder on each of the four devices, and it's kind of a mix which devices see the info from the others.

I'm going to go read through that link in detail and try to find a way to backup on each device, then reattach each of the four devices one at a time. Not sure which one I'll treat as my main/gold copy, and just hoping I don't end up with four of everything everywhere. That would take a LOT of time to clean up.

Steve

OS Versions

* Macbook OS X : 10.14.2

* iPad : 12.1.1

* iPhone : 12.1.1

Contacts

* MacBook sees only Macbook

* iPad sees iCloud, iPhone, iPad

* iPhone sees iCloud, iPhone, iPad

* iCloud sees iCloud, iPhone, iPad

Notes

* Macbook seas Macbook, iCloud, iPhone

* iPad sees Macbook, iPad, iCloud, iPhone

* iPhone sees Macbook, iPad, iCloud, iPhone

* iCloud sees Macbook, iPad, iCloud, iPhone

Calendar

* Macbook sees Macbook, iPad, iCloud

* iPad sees MacBook, iPad, iCloud

* iPhone sees iPhone

* iCloud sees MacBook, iPad, iCloud

Reminders

* Macbook sees Macbook, iPad, iCloud

* iPad sees MacBook, iPad, iCloud

* iPhone sees iPhone

* iCloud sees iCloud

Reply

OS X contacts not syncing. iPhone, iPad and iCloud.com do

Similar questions