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Level 1

74 points

Notes not syncing or uploading to iCloud After iOS 13 Update

I'm having an issue where, after updating my devices to iOS 13, notes from the Apple Notes app are either not syncing, randomly syncing, or syncing only after a prolonged delay (e.g. days) between my iPhone and iPad. I've tried signing out and back in to iCloud and have removed and reinstalled the Notes app on both devices. I've ensured that the OS on both devices has been updated to the current version. Interestingly, If I have the notes app open on my iPhone, I still get the notification in the dock on my iPad that the notes app is open on my phone, but the notes still fail to sync, or at best, some notes randomly sync hours or days later, between the two devices. I noticed that if I create a note in the notes app through the iCloud website, the note downloads to both my devices immediately, but notes created on my devices fail to upload.

Has anyone else had this issue and found a solution? Is this a known bug in iOS 13, similar to one with the Reminders app (which I don't seem to be having)?

Posted on Oct 8, 2019 3:55 AM

Best reply

pg2001

Level 1

19 points

Posted on Oct 31, 2019 6:12 PM

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.

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537 replies

harabou

Level 1

4 points

Oct 27, 2019 10:18 AM in response to smccorkle13

Same issue for me for more than a week.

Just spent 1,5 hours on the phone with Apple support team: solution found!

I had to create a new user on the MacBook (just call it "test"), connect to iCloud, and sync the notes.
It reenables the lost connection from the MacBook.
Once it works you can go back to your normal user and try again. And you can delete the "test" user.

Hope it works for you too.

Oct 29, 2019 6:11 AM in response to paulidj

As some users suggested, I fixed my broken sync by :

Transferring all my main notes database from iCloud to "On my Mac" (just one drag and drop, very fast)
Transfer all not-synced notes from my iPhone and iPad to "On my iPhone" and "On my iPad".
Disable iCloud note syncing on my three devices.
Deleting all notes and folders from iCloud.com (took a couple hours to flush everything, including folders and empty the cloud bin).
Enable iCloud Note Syncing on my three devices.
Recreating my notes folders on iCloud. They synced instantly.
Drag and drop my 170 notes from "On my Mac" to their respective folders on iCloud. They synced instantly.
Adding the mobile missing notes from the iPhone and iPad. They synced instantly.
Deleting all local notes be disabling "Notes On my Mac" "Notes on my iPhone" and "Notes on my iPad".

Everything seems to work perfectly for now, but boy, what a hassle! Shame on Apple for this terrible user experience.

Oct 29, 2019 7:21 AM in response to smccorkle13

It can work without a Mac. You just have to transfer your notes to "On my iPhone" (and other iOS devices), purge iCloud, then putting them back.

Here are the shortcomings :

You can't select all notes in one go with the Shift Key, you have to tap EVERY note to select them all. Pain in the a** but doable.
You can't COPY notes to another location, only MOVE them. So it's a riskier process since you will not have a duplicated database during the transfer.

But then, you definitely can try, I think it will work, since the key seems to disable cloud sync on every device, then purge iCloud completely, and enable cloud sync from a virgin database.

pg2001

Level 1

19 points

Oct 31, 2019 10:56 PM in response to Chengera

Thinking about each device:

iPhone: Notes was running.
iPad: not sure. I'd updated the OS recently, but I'm not sure if I'd restarted notes.
MBA: Notes was not running and had not been open for a day - and also I have updated the OS so I probably opened Notes for the first time AFTER I cleared out the 2.2GB of mystery files in iCloud.

Nov 1, 2019 9:08 AM in response to smccorkle13

Had almost the same problem: Notes synced into MacOS downstream, but not synced from MacOS upstream. So my cut-off device was the MacBook not an iOS device, but same symptoms.

What I did to resolve the issue (at least for now it looks like it is properly syncing again bidirectional on MacOS) was:

Ensure the latest versions of all Notes are on your iOS device (hence cross-check iCloud.com). If some are missing or older manually copy & paste each content from MacOS Notes to some iOS or iCloud.com note. The idea is to have the latest state on some iOS or iCloud.com device.
Backup your MacOS (just in case you might realize that some note is missing)
Go into preferences on MacOS and click on "Apple-ID" and click on iCloud entry (left side) and uncheck the checkbox to use iCloud for Notes. Then close the preferences pane.
Open Notes on MacOS and wait for all your notes to disappear... (I had to click on some zombie entries, but after all it was empty then).
Again open the preferences pane and re-check the checkbook to use iCloud for Notes.
Open Notes on MacOS again and wait (might take some time) for all notes to download.

After that, all changes I did to Notes so far on MacOS are almost instantly synced upstream again ... ;) Hope it helps for you as well...

SpangleB

Level 1

4 points

Nov 2, 2019 11:41 AM in response to jcabaleiro

Thank you jcabaleiro

I'm glad you posted, otherwise I might have lost all my notes.

Somehow I do have my iPhone syncing again.

What I did:

turned off iCloud Notes on all computers
on my iPhone, followed the previous post to go to iCloud Storage and deselect Notes, which removes iCloud Notes from iPhone.

At this point, only iCloud via web had any Notes.

Turning on iCloud notes one at a time across devices re-synced and with testing, I'm seeing iPhone notes updates in iCloud and other devices which has not been the case since Cataline and iOS 13.

I think the truck for my iPhone was to remove Notes via iCloud Storage, and not via Account.

And as I'm typing this, I got a prompt to install a Catalina update. Ugh.

Mordasov

Level 1

8 points

Nov 4, 2019 6:18 PM in response to pg2001

Looks like data integrity issue...

No need to switch-off iCloud accounts completely, just Notes...

Enable Notes on My Mac (Notes-Preferences-Enable on My Mac) to save locally first.
Select All iCloud notes (Command-A), click (keep clicked) and slowly drag into On My Mac, Notes will freeze for a while till transfer complete, so all notes will be in On My Mac (To preserve folders, must create same folders in On My Mac and drag folder by folder.)
Disable Notes switch in iCloud on Mac and all devices so iCloud records disappear from Notes
Then in Apple-ID -> iCloud -> Manage Storage -> Notes ...Delete all data
Then enable iCloud Notes switch on Mac
Then repeat drag back into iCloud (must be empty = 0)
Then enable iCloud Notes switch on all devices so all notes become in sync again

Nov 5, 2019 4:25 PM in response to smccorkle13

I've read through this entire thread. I am very technical and thus followed through the excellent workarounds proposed here with ease. I've done exhaustive tests in every which direction. Unfortunately, I must say that even the best iteration of the best workaround (@Mordasov's November 4th post, building off of @pg2001's "solving" answer) did not continue to work after more than just a few minutes for me. My advice for anyone at this point would be to:

Backup and protect your data in the best way you can
Stop using iCloud for Notes until there is an official fix from Apple
Keep calling Apple support and kicking up a fuss

parvd

Level 1

19 points

Nov 23, 2019 4:20 PM in response to smccorkle13

Here's what worked for me:

On the iPhone, go to Passwords & Accounts
Under Accounts, go to iCloud
Select iCloud
For Notes, disable (move slider to left) and enable again (slider to right, turns green)

My Notes immediately synced up on my laptop. Hopefully it helps you too.

May 28, 2020 12:35 PM in response to smccorkle13

Here's how I fixed it and got the NOTES to upload to iCloud.

Go to notes and select the folder with the notes.
Top right three dots select it... Select Notes.
Select Move All.
Move them to the Notes folder. Boom done.

Sep 7, 2020 4:11 PM in response to m4stertech

This was very easy to fix once I saw the solution posted by m4stertech.

Go into Notes and keep hitting the left arrow at the top until you get to Folders, if the notes are under ON MY IPHONE, then they are stored only on your phone, not in iCloud, hence they cannot be synced with other devices.

You must move them to ICLOUD, which is very quick and easy.

Go into Notes
Go into the folder with the notes.
Select the ... icon in the upper right corner
Select "Select Notes..."
Select "Move All"
Select the iCloud folder

If you have hundreds of notes it may take a moment to finish.

You can watch the number of notes rapidly going up on your other device.

When the number stops going up, it's done.

Oct 25, 2019 4:28 AM in response to Chengera

I'm still seeing delays in replication, most times nothing happens until I restart Notes on my Mac. Still not getting the spinning wheel so looks like it's not syncing often if at all.

While looking at Notes in icloud.com on the web using a browser I also noticed a strange graphic on the note which has synced, which I've never seen before and is only on the Notes I've updated since Catalina. Trying to insert here ...

It looks like some sort of page icon and appears at the start of a fresh update. In this case and update on my Mac which eventually made it to iCloud and then to my iPhone

Oct 27, 2019 12:07 PM in response to snoone

I can’t take it anymore. Do they really think I am going to spend another 2 hours on the phone trying to fix a problem I can’t possibly correct. This is just embarrassing. Shame on Apple for this whole OS debacle this year.

smccorkle13 Author

Level 1

74 points

Oct 9, 2019 3:40 AM in response to Pescatore58

Just to be clear, the original issue of my post was actually referring to notes from iOS Notes app and not the Reminders, and was only between my iPhone, iPad, and iCloud.com. Reminders does seem to be syncing between my devices (knock on wood). I do not have a mac computer, so can't say if Catalina is affected.

To me it seems like the issue is that the iOS devices are not uploading the notes to iCloud.

Another issue I'm noticing is that hand drawn notes, while named on my iOS devices, are simply named "New Note" on iCloud.com.

Oct 9, 2019 9:39 AM in response to smccorkle13

Same here. iOS13 on ipad pro and iphone X are not syncing with MacOS Catalina Mac pro. I've signed out of icloud on all devices and signed back in, resynced all notes and that did not resolve the issue.

Also, Reminders had already performed its upgrade prior to this issue so Reminders upgrade is not the root cause of this issue.

Notes not syncing or uploading to iCloud After iOS 13 Update