Notes not syncing or uploading to iCloud After iOS 13 Update

Update: It works now! It's syncing on all devices and working as normal. The first time to sync across platforms took about an hour, so give it time the first few times when you update notes on a device and are waiting for it to show on another device(s).

All I did was exit/quit my notes on all the devices, shut down (not restart) the devices, turned them back on, and then opened up notes. From here I created a new note on each device and called it "New Note From [device]" to see if it would populate on the other devices. It did. Then I typed in each of the bodies using a different device to see if it would sync in the reverse order. For example, a note created from iPhone was titled "New Note From iPhone" was updated in the body of that note from the MacBook. I just wrote "this sentence is written from the MacBook." Then I saw it update on the iPhone and iPad accordingly. This first update took an hour but now new updates are syncing within minutes.

If the shut down and turn on method described above does not work for you then I suggest logging out of your iCloud accounts on all your devices and then proceed with to exit notes, shut down the device, turn it back on, re-log into iCloud, open up notes, let it populate the notes from the cloud, and then test out the syncing with the method aforementioned.

I hope this works for you too. Good luck!

From notes, I simply went to "Notes" - "Accounts". In the iCloud internet account I un-checked notes and reminders. Save and quit Notes app. Open back up and re-check notes and reminders. Both apps synced immediately.

I found this sorted my sync issue..

Make sure the notes aren't being stored locally on your iPhone

If you have chosen to store the notes locally on your iPhone, the notes will be uploaded to iCloud neither can you view you the notes on your Mac even with the same iCloud account.

Go to "Settings" on your iPhone > scroll down to find "Notes" > disable "On My iPhone" by toggling switch.

IOS Notes not syncing to iCloud - I had same problem as mentioned above. Mac notes go to ipad and iPhone xs max, but not vice-versa. Twice in last 8 months after major apple os upgrades. I tried all of the above and spent probably 4 x 2 hr sessions w support. Last support person indicated I should in addition to above suggestions about logging out and back into apple cloud to to

SETTINGS>GENERAL>SCROLL DOWN TO RESET> RESET NETWORK SETTINGS.

Then it took about 6-8 hrs for my 2400 iOS notes w attachments to sync.

They work great now, without sluggish syncs, on Mac, iPad Pro 11" iPhone Xs Max - all w current updated OS's . Thanks to the forum and the patience at Apple support

Hey I solved my issue perfectly last night.

This bug really ruins my daily workflow...

From previous discussion I guess this issue comes with new Catalina.

What I did is:

1. Log out the iCloud account on my macbooks
2. Go to Note on my iPhone, Move all notes to “On my iPhone” folder
3. Go to iPhone setting- iCloud- manage storage- then delete data of Note.
4. Then notes app on all devices will show icloud note not available, do you want to create a new note.
5. Then drag all the note back to icloud again on my iphone.

Done! Now my iphone and ipad are syncing seamlessly just like before.

But I did not test what will happen if I log into icloud on my macbook....I will just wait for further update. And Now I just use airdrop to transfer note between ios and mac.

Hi all,

I have resolved the issue.

I have had the same problem as everyone  - Notes not syncing between my iPhone, iPad, MBA - all with the latest OS. I tried everything recommended and ended transferring all my notes to sit on my iPhone - then deleted all notes out of the iPad and MBA and switched iCloud off for Reminders and Notes on all three devices.

I then backed up my phone so at least I had a copy of my notes (I used iexplorer to look into the backup to make sure all of my Notes were there).

I periodically switched iCloud back on in the iPad and iPhone and attempted to create notes and see if they would sync. They did not. My wife created a note on her phone and shared it with me - and that synced as we both made changes, although it was not instant as it had been prior to the iOS upgrades.

So until yesterday things were still not working.

Then I did the following:

• switched off iCloud again on all devices.
• deleted all notes on the iPad, MBA and deleted any notes in the 'recently deleted folder'.
• logged into the iCloud account to access Notes via the browser and deleted all notes/folders - including notes in the recently deleted folder.
• The only notes left were the 480 notes I'd transferred to the 'On my iPhone' folder on my iPhone. If you don't have this option in Notes you have to go to Settings/Notes and switch it on.
• Then I did this (this is what I think resolved the issue). I went to Settings/Passwords & Accounts/iCloud/iCloud/Manage Storage - and I looked down the list to see how much data Notes had stored in iCloud (obviously it should be zero as I had deleted all Notes out of iCloud). It was 2.2GB - ranked 5th after iCloud Drive, Photos, Messages, Backups. Obviously something was jammed in there.
• So I swiped left and the option comes up to Delete Data. I hit that option and I think it says 'This will delete all Notes in iCloud and on you iPhone' - I say yes or OK or whatever it asked. It didn't delete the Notes I had 'On my IPhone' - but I guess it deleted whatever was stuck in iCloud.
• I waited for 30 minutes. Then switched on iCloud on my phone, and tested making notes on my phone, and in iCloud via the browser and it all synced immediately. I then added my iPad - and the same - all synced immediately - then added my MBA and notes synced immediately between all four. I then copied a folder from my 'On my iPhone' folder - to the iCloud folder - and it immediately synced the folder and all the notes it contained between all my phone, iPad, MBA and iCloud. I then copied all the folders - and all other notes have now synced between all devices. Each account has 480 notes.
• If you are going to follow these instructions the only thing I would do differently is use my MBA to hold all the notes in the 'On My Mac' folder. If you don't have this folder you have to switch it on in Preferences. It is easier to use a mouse to move folders around.

I'll report back if I have any problems, but it seems I have resolved this issue.

Good luck all.

I had this issue, and may have stumbled upon a solution.

First, the problem:

iPhone synced everywhere

iCloud.com only synced to iPhone

iPad synced nowhere

I moved all notes back to the default Notes folder using my iPhone. (To clarify, the default Notes folder is the one you cannot delete). I verified that this move worked on iCloud.com, then removed all the folders I had created.

This resulted in no folder structure on iPhone or iCloud.com, but full folder structure was still on iPad an hour or so later. (Aha!).

I then removed all folders from iPad, switched off iCloud sync for Notes on iPad, deleted the Notes app... and after a few minutes, downloaded the app and switched on iCloud sync for Notes again. I then waited for all notes to sync back.

I then created my original folder structure on iPhone and WAITED FOR IT TO SYNC across all devices.

Once that happened, I moved all notes to the right folders and then it just started working well.

I hope this can help someone else!

Believe or not this worked for me. Actually, I think Reminders syncing, not the app itself, is what was required, sort of “kicking the plumbing”. So I went to iCloud configuration, disabled Reminders syncing, restarted the phone (just in case) and re-enabled Reminders. Listo!! When I looked back to Notes, it was hard at work syncing.

I did find a solution that worked for me. I have three devices that use Notes via iCloud: iPhone, iPad, MacBook (all on latest OS versions). It seems my MacBook was the ultimate culprit. My experience troubleshooting this seemed to point to a sync conflict between the three devices. It was almost as if the devices were competing for which one had the latest version of my Notes.

I removed all three devices from accessing my iCloud Notes via Settings on each device. I then restarted all three devices. I then powered on the iPad and turned Notes back on via Settings and waited for my Notes to sync from iCloud. This took longer than usual. I then tested to see if everything was syncing correctly by making changes to Notes via iCloud.com on a browser and making changes on the iPad to see if they were reflected on iCloud.com. Everything was working, albeit the sync was painfully slow. I then powered on my iPhone and repeated the steps.

I then tested the sync by making a change on the iPhone and it did reflect on the iPad, and vice versa. I never turned Notes back on with the MacBook because while testing, every time I brought the MacBook into the environment it broke everything. Hope that helps.

After updating my iOS devices to 13.1.3 and macOS devices to 10.15 supplemental, my iCloud Notes are syncing again! I made sure to updates all my devices (multiple iPhone, iPad, Macs) and shut them off immediately. They started them back up. At first, typing on iOS didn't sync over to the Mac. But after a few device restarts, it started up again.

If these updates don't work for you, a potential work around that I was using (prior to the update) was Handoff. For example, when I was updating iCloud Notes on my Mac and wanted it to sync on my iPhone, I'd open that up--the little Notes icon would show up on my Mac dock. I'd click on that icon and then my iPhone Notes would update. Not ideal but at least you're getting your notes updated.

I managed to solve it by unchecking notes box on every gadget (Mac and IOS) and then turning on iCloud sync back again. I lost the un-synced ones, so be careful with that (maybe creating a local folder an copying the un-synced notes)

Finally got Notes syncing from iPhone to iCloud again after a few weeks. Thanks Bidule200 for instructions. When trying the first time, I got stuck because of several "old" notes were hanging in the iCloud and I was not being able to delete them. The Notes web app (using iCloud via web browser) kept crashing on me every time I tried to open it in the web browser.

Then more or less by accident I discovered an option to delete all Notes data in iCloud from iPhone (Settings/iCloud/Manage Storage/Notes-swiping right-delete)... once empty in iCloud I turned on Notes on iPhone and they work again.

BTW: I have made backup of Notes to my local storage on my Mac prior to deleting them in iCloud (see Bidule200 instructions):

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250713674?answerId=251516953022#251516953022

Hi smccorkle13,

I had problems with my notes and reminders syncing correctly post-update. I fixed it by closing all the apps on all of my devices, signing out of iCloud on all of my devices at the same time, restarting them all off/on, then resigning into iCloud on all of them and making sure my iCloud settings were on. It was a logistics hassle but everything works perfectly now!

I also have this issue. Here are my devices:

MacBook Pro (10.15.1 Catalina)

Mac mini (10.14.6 Mojave)

iPad Pro (13.2)

iPhone 11 (13.2)

For me specifically, I had been creating notes on my MacBook Pro (Catalina) over the past few weeks without even noticing that they weren't syncing until recently. My Mac mini, iPad, and iPhone had none of the notes I created in Catalina. They were all able to sync together, and were all in the same state: creating a note on one would show up on the other. They just weren't able to see any notes I created in Catalina.

I turned off Notes from iCloud settings for my Mac mini, iPad Pro, and iPhone, and then turned them back on - which did nothing; they were all in the same state after re-fetching as before. I didn't want to turn off Notes in Catalina because I thought I'd lose the 20+ notes I created there.

Here's what worked for me: Hand-off. I opened a note on Catalina that didn't exist on any other device. I then went to my Mac mini (running Mojave) and clicked on the Note hand-off icon to open the note that was open in Catalina. It failed, showing a blank note, and then Notes crashed. When it re-opened though, it started pulling down all the notes from Catalina! So apparently the notes *were* in iCloud and my three non-Catalina devices were not pulling them down.

I then opened Notes on my iOS devices and they started pulling them down too.

Maybe this is related to Kottke's force-close solution above?

Hopefully this works for someone else until Apple fixes the problem!

Thanks @pg2001! You legend. I owe you a beer or two mate!

Your suggestion to delete Notes from Accounts/iCloud/iCloud/Manage Storage has fixed the iCloud sync issue on my MBP.

Notes are syncing instantly now.

Prior to the purge, Notes was showing 2.3gb of iCloud usage. After purging the Notes iCloud data and re-syncing it with my notes backup on my MBP, iCloud usage is now showing 1.1gb utilisation.

So it seems like my Notes in iCloud was clogged up with 1.2gb of crap and a good 'ole dump has fixed it (for now...)

Jokes aside, Apple should still fix the underlying root cause of this problem.

I've also noticed Voice Memo app has a similar iCloud sync issue. I wonder what other iCloud apps may be caused by the same underlying iCloud root problem?