I recently upgraded to Catalina and to iOS 13 on all devices. Since then, there appears to a problem with iCloud notes not syncing and/or extremely slow to sync. For me, I have to constantly restart the app on all devices. Sometimes the sync occurs, sometimes not. I’ve signed in and out of the iCloud on all devices. Same issue. Anyone’s else have this problem?
Solution! I spent almost 2 hours on the phone with Apple support yesterday. No joy. Then, I thought about what I would do if this were a third-party app. I recollected that the problem began with a note on my iPad. So, I simply deleted the app from my iPad. I then went to the App Store and downloaded it again. After this, you need to go into iCloud settings and manually connect Notes to iCloud.
Following this, it took awhile for notes to repopulate on my iPad. However, now that this is complete, synchronization is functioning normally again. Hopefully this is not an aberration.
Actually, sync seems to be working fairly quickly between my iPad and iPhone both running 13.2. It’s the iMac on 10.15.0 that’s taking a long time to sync, in both directions. Hopefully 10.15.1 will fix this when it’s released (theoretically Wednesday).
Dear Customer Support.
iPhone 7 iOS 13.2
I have a MacBook 12" 10.15.1 -- since I downloaded this version I have had issue with syncing Notes between iPhone and Mac
I logged out of my iPhone's iCloud (iOS 13.2 iCloud storage 4.4G of 5GB) and lost all the local data on my iPhone in the Notes App. Then when I logged back in I got a generic error during the process and never finished logging in properly. I had to close the settings window altogether. And now when I open Notes on my iPhone I don't see any of the hundreds of Notes loaded. It is empty! I am a writer and put everything on the iCloud so I won't lose it. Hundreds of notes. All my updates these last few weeks since I updated my Mac are lost... I don't know if they ever made it to iCloud.
Don't log out of iCloud on the iPhone. Or put the data locally on your iPhone. I did not.
There is clearly a sync issue with Notes.
:(
PS. Even when I log into the iCloud web I have lost some Notes completely. Exactly the ones I have written to this last week. :(
I have this same problem. It has nothing to do with internet connection or iCloud storage, since all other apps do sync directly without problems. It just takes forever for Notes to sync, so something else is happening. The trigger for iCloud to sync is not pulled directly. I have noticed that the Note made on the iMac (Catalina) does not sync for ages with iCloud itself. Once it is there, the iPhone (iOs 13) picks it up without problem. So, it is an app specific problem!
Thanks for everyone who chimed in. My internet connection is good, over 100 Mbps and plenty of iCloud storage. I did notice a slight approvement with syncing after the Catalina supplemental update (15Oct19) and iOS 13.1.3. But, after 5 days of using notes, the problem is the same - constantly restarting the Note app on all devices. Sometimes it syncs quickly and other times much later. And these are simple text notes, with no photos, links, etc. But as mentioned before, all of the other syncing services are fine and occur fairly quick.
I have tried all of the suggestions listed below, checked that my system meets all of the requirements, and nothing has changed. Notes can take all day to sync between Mac devices and IOS devices. If anyone has a solution that works please let me know. Otherwise patiently waiting for Apple to get its act together.
Unfortunately, I cannot offer any solution, but I wanted to add that I see the same problem across Catalina, High Sierra and iOS 13.
I have been spending a lot of time trying to different suggestions from this thread https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7720480?page=4. Now that I am basically down to testing with just one note, I can see that the sync is completely random across the devices and iCloud. Some changes are synced others not.
This same issue also affects the Safari Reading List. Very slow, seemingly random syncs. Meanwhile, Bookmarks seem to sync just fine (the Reading List piggybacks on Bookmarks, I believe). Not sure what it is about Notes and Reading List.
Same case here. Syncing between ipad pro, iphone and catalina takes forever. Both to upload to icloud and download from icloud. Apple please fix. Just recenlty moved from Evernote due to syncing problems. Just more of the same sloppy code.
I am now also seeing an issue with syncing photos from iCloud to Catalina. It just says ‘Updating’ without fetching anything.
I guess there is a good chance the issues are related.
Others seem to have that issue as well (link below) but I wonder if anyone on this thread is also experiencing both problems?
And when the going gets tough Apple hides.......this has been an issue now for 2+ weeks. And WHEN (not if) Apple loses it they’ll have only themselves to blame.
My prediction...in less than 10 years somebody else dominates the high end phone/tablet market. The door is certainly ajar.
WAKE UP........APPLE? Never happened under Jobs. Too big to fail? NOT
I am having the same issue. I really wanted to start using Apple Notes, but neither Bear nor Evernote have this problem, and Bear uses iCloud for synchronization!
This is just some more very poorly-tested software released so that we can do "de-bugging in the field." I've just about had it, and Apple's lack of responsiveness is incredible. I guess they put all their money into a big round building rather than software. It would be great if the next keynote highlighted how they are improving the usability of how their software works for people who work (you know, "Pros") rather than highlighting how you can use it to play games--look it can take the place of a tape measure--we have a compass--look there is a laser cannon sitting on my desk.... Fortunately there are still 3rd parties who know how to code. Microsoft software for the iPad is now more functional than Apple software(I cannot believe I'm writing this. Apple should be ashamed....). They haven't revised the poor unintuitive iWork interface in nearly a decade.
Want more examples? In Apple Notes, why do you hit the "share sheet" button to add lines/grids to a page? This comment section has more logical text entry and attachment icons than Apple's dedicated Notes program or Pages! Rather than creating modern drawing tools for shapes and lines Apple gave us, really, a ****** ruler? Maybe we should also go back to the awful "leather-look" Apple calendar too. The super-rich at Apple clearly aren't hungry any more.
Yep! Tough year for Apple. They've really taken a **** all over all of their products. I mean, notes not Syncing between devices? This is some bush-league ********.
My wife and I have had a shared not going on forever for our grocery list. We're back to a pad of paper on the refrigerator. Get it together, Apple.
Same issue, so frustrating because I've come to rely on Apple Notes and the notes syncing between devices, also sharing notes with my wife. I'm running iOS iPadOS 13.2, and macOS 10.15.1. Before iOS 13 and Catalina, Note syncing worked 99.9% of the time for years. Soooo frustrating. Now, sometimes it works fine, then suddenly it stops syncing. Apple PLEASE fix. Thank you.
I have sync issues, but it has more to do with changes that I and my co-workers make on the web version of iCloud Notes. For some reason, the changes made on the web version of iCloud Notes has either stopped syncing or takes hours to sync. Surprisingly, there is no "refresh" option or "update" option to force the web version of iCloud Notes to sync. I have this issues whether I am accessing the web version of iCloud Notes on my Mac or on a PC. Anyone find a solution for this? Prior to updating to Catalina (10.15.x) the sync between the web version and app version was working fine. Please, help as this issue is affecting our ability to collaborate on projects. Thank you.
Yup, seems to have a mind of its own. I’ve had similar trouble trying to pinpoint the origin of this bug. Random.
iCloud notes not syncing or extremely slow
