iCloud tabs not syncing/working

I know it sure is frustrating. If you call Apple, it is free to talk with an advisor. I worked with a senior advisor, told them the steps I already did. We ran through some more steps and I ended up having to send my diagnostics to their engineers. It took a few days (the engineers work via email only), but they did get mine working. With that being said it took a lot of time and caused heaps of frustration. I made two appointments Apple certified repair locations and they both said it had to do with Apple iCloud servers. So I don’t think you can do anything to fix it, if you already ran through the steps. I think they have to fix it at their end. I had three Apple devices not working. They asked me to clear my device and start again. I refused to do that because there was no way three devices were not working correctly. Also, one of my devices was brand new. I also had an Apple location removed the newest iOS I just put on and replace again, just to see if they could fix it. They could not help me. I’m just trying to save you some time. This is what finally ended up working for me. I hope this helps.

Yes, have it escalated to the engineers. It’s an iCloud problem. The senior advisor can talk you through it. I did have to send them my diagnostics. Then I had to re-create the problem by turning Safari on and off and showing where my iCloud tabs should be. My advisor had me go to settings, tap my name, tap iCloud, then turn Safari on and off. Had to do this 3 to 4 times, then went to where the tabs should be showing up on my device. The tabs were all wrong but they were able to see that. Then the advisor sent that info to their engineers. And after struggling with this issue it got fixed perfectly. I noticed my tabs were changing and in two days they were all fixed. It did take a few days, then the weekend got in the way. But like I said I could see the engineers were working on it.

I had this problem for 4 months along with notes not syncing. I spent hours and hours with techs from Apple and it ended up being not enough bandwidth from my ISP. I installed cable/fibre this week and all my issues were resolved. Everything now works as it should. This might help others the forum. Upgrade if you are able. (We tested on friends’ WiFi and it always was fine so this gave us a clue. ).

So I seem to have found a solution, though time will tell.

For the "offending" device (e.g., in my case, it is on the Mac Safari that is showing old iCloud tabs for the iPhone), I logged off iCloud on the iPhone, meaning I signed out of iCloud from the iPhone. Yes, I know, even though it doesn't seem to be the iPhone that is causing the "offence". Then I re-signed in to iCloud on my iPhone. So far, the iCloud tabs are synced properly.

I guess what this may have done is totally delete all iPhone tabs from iCloud and maybe all local cached copies too. Then, by re-signing in to iCloud from the iPhone, iCloud began with a new set of iPhone cached iCloud tabs. At least, that seems like a logical explanation.

I have an update. What I noted above didn't fully work for me.

After I logged off the iPhone from iCloud, then re-logged on, the problem no longer was experienced on the Mac. But, the problem appeared on the iPad side! And I also noticed that instead of just having old iPhone iCloud tabs show up on the iPad, it was showing one old Mac iCloud tab too!

What I ended up doing was first to make sure on Safari, all my local windows are closed and deleted all reading lists and history. Then, I logged off iCloud from all my devices: iPad , iPhone, and Mac. I also made sure that when asked, I opted NOT to keep copies of any data, trusting that it would be in the cloud.

Then I waited a few minutes.

Then, I first relogged on to iCloud on my phone also having to re-add back all my Credit/Debit and ID cards. Then, I logged the iPad to iCloud and once that was done, went to the Mac to also do the same. All of this took considerable amount of time because my setup isn't as simple as just logging on to iCloud and be done with it. There are certain things I make sure don't sync, and I use a different AppleID for media, books, and podcasts so those have to be set up differently.

But for now, that seems to work. Basically what I was trying to do was from the iCloud end, ask it to basically remove all Safari information it had except the bookmarks. I wish there is an easier and less "destructive" way to do all of this. Having to log off of iCloud is a big pain for me.

I was having the same issues. Just reset network settings on iPhone 11pro max and iPad Air. Everything seems to be working correctly now. Thanks!!!

Thank you. That is what I said on November 23:

"I spoke with Apple tech support today. They acknowledged the issue and said it should be fixed with the next IOS and Mac OS  updates."

It seems to affect users of many versions of Mac OS and IOS and many different devices, so let us wait for the bug fix.

Allright, wow. I Think I fixed the problem!!!!!!!. At least for me. I’m very excited.

I use an ipad and an iPhone. I don’t own a MacBook Pro anymore

I tell you how I have done it.

• turn off battery save on your iPhones
• Go to settings, general, info, change the name of your iphone, iPad and your other iOS and macOS devices. Be sure it’s an username you never chosen before. Then go back to the homescreen.
• Wait for about 2 minutes
• shut down your devices one by one. No sleep mode!
• wait for 1 minute
• start your iPhone. Wait 1 minute after it’s fully booted. Then start the next device. Wait another 1 minute and start the other and so on.
• its magic. I hope this works for you too! Please let me know.

My iPad, iPhone and MacBook Air are now all syncing. Whenever I get a new device I turn off as many settings as I can to conserve power and to keep my devices as private as possible. This includes all the “experimental features” under Safari/Advanced. I turned all those back on except for a few related to ads and things have been syncing fine since.

It worked, until I used the MBP. I think most users are not affected if they don't own a MacOS device, that's my theory right now. I stopped using the MBP for a week and disabled Safari synced tabs and everything worked flawlessly between iPad and iPhone.

I suggest at least you try disabling safari in iCloud on MacOS and see if that fixes sync between any other devices you have (it may take a day or two). By no means is this a solution, but I mainly use chrome on desktop and as default browser, I can rely on continuity from my iOS Safari.

Maybe it’s coincidence but wasn’t working until I reset my device names. it’s working now

Allright, wow. I Think I fixed the problem!!!!!!!. At least for me. I’m very excited.

I use an ipad and an iPhone. I don’t own a MacBook Pro anymore

I tell you how I have done it.

turn off battery save on your iPhones

Go to settings, general, info, change the name of your iphone, iPad and your other iOS and macOS devices. Be sure it’s an username you never chosen before. Then go back to the homescreen.

Wait for about 2 minutes

shut down your devices one by one. No sleep mode!

wait for 1 minute

start your iPhone. Wait 1 minute after it’s fully booted. Then start the next device. Wait another 1 minute and start the other and so on.

its magic. I hope this works for you too! Please let me know.

I can confirm. Seems to be working again, even remote tab closing is working. Nice. But nobody knows what happened 😂 Important for alle affected users: you don't have to do anything on your devices. It is / was an Apple problem related to their infrastructure.

Do you have any certificates or profiles installed? Something you install on Settings which grants you access to an University wifi or some company’s wifi. Try deleting those certificates, rebooting and check if it works

I spoke with Apple tech support today. They acknowledged the issue and said it should be fixed with the next IOS and Mac OS  updates.

Working fine for me again now, they seemed to have changed the behaviour you now need to open a webpage on one device and then close safari, i.e press home button or swipe back to Home Screen and the it syncs in the background. It used to sync when open I guess they changed it to reduce the amount of unnecessary traffic through their servers.