iCloud tabs not syncing/working

I got an answer from my support guy, he told me, it was a server issue and its solved now!

goaway7 wrote:

Also having the same issue. Started happening when I got iphone 12. All software up to date. Tried turning safari on and off on icloud. Restarted everything. Please fix this vital feature!!

I did the same thing. Also having trouble with iCloud tabs.

I noticed the issue too when I purchased the iPhone 12 Pro. However, at the same time when I got this new phone, macOS was moving away from Catalina into Big Sur (I haven't upgraded to Big Sur yet). I don't know if this is a result of having a new phone or Big Sur.

I'm leaning towards this might have something to do with the mix of Big Sur and iCloud.

I have an iPad Pro which also isn't seeing iCloud tabs either from my phone or Mac.

Adding to the list here. It seems iPhone 12 new devices are the culprit and resetting network settings on older devices fixes the issue. As far as the environment I’m working with:

iphone 12 pro max 14.2.1, MacBook Pro 2018 on Sur 11.0.1, and iPad Pro 2020 on 14.2. I’ve setup my MacBook as new for Big Sur, along with my iPhone 12 pro max last week since it was such a huge update and I ran into multiple restore issues with iOS (finder and cloud backups). I’ve reset network settings and ever since I’ve been on Big Sur, the iCloud tabs as delayed and don’t even show up on my iPhone. Mac and iPad are about a day behind. Weird issue. Strange side note Google Chrome tabs sync fine, but I prefer safari on iOS any day over chrome’s mobile interface. Guessing this fix will come in the form of an update, probably on the OS side?

This started happening right after installing iOS 14.2 for me. I updated the day it was released.

iOS 14.3 and macOS Big Sur 11.1 did not fix the issue. iCloud Tabs still take several hours/days to sync up, and sometimes disappear entirely.

Contacting Apple Support is a complete waste of time, as always, since they’re are unaware of the issue and therefore deny that it exists in the first place.

That’s the strage thing. The toggle is on is on but no joy. I installed the update to 11.1. It worked iCloud taps appeared and connected to my other device. But when i quit Safari and reopened it stoped working again

Switching to Chrome here. Really annoying since I like tab syncing on Safari, but it is completely broken.

Chrome is a breeze, even faster syncing tabs and that is without any iCloud integration.

Apple needs to step up, no privacy mumbo jumbo can compensate such an important feature.

I left feedback as others suggested, hope it gets addressed soon.

same here. everything else works perfectly with iCloud. There are a ton of macrumour's website readers with same problem. I've wiped both my iPhones, iPad, and MacBook and no luck..Cleared all website cache, website data, turned safari iCloud off on all devices and deleted data, rebooted, turned back on...It's def. a server side issue, IMHO. Too many having the same problem. There's not many iPhone related troubleshooting I haven't figured out in the since 2007, but this one I haven't.

Just noticed my new iPhone (the one i added before noticing issues with Safari's tabs) does not have Hand-off between the iPhone -> iPad. Macbook ->iPhone & iPad -> iPhone & iPhone ->Macbook works, but not from the iPad to the iPhone. Neither Universal Clipboard. Seems im having some kind of iCloud's Key exchange problem

Indeed, the iCloud Safari tabs are now working on my iMac with Mac OS 14.6 (Mojave) and my iPhone 12 mini with IOS 14.3. However, they do not work on my MacBook with Mac OS 13.6 (High Sierra), which is normal.

The tabs reappeared without any action on my part, as was the case for other users. Therefore, it seems that the problem was not with user devices, but with Apple's servers. It is nice to have the problem finally resolved after two months. Hopefully, next time this kind of problem occurs, the solution will come a bit quicker.

All the most current (non-beta) OS's...

Checked again:

• MBP: Shows 3 iCloud tabs that aren't currently open on iPad, no iPhone tabs
• iPad: Shows nothing
• iPhone 12 Pro Max: Shows nothing

I've rebooted and toggled iCloud Safari on/off multiple times. Including toggle off, reboot, toggle on. Nothing works...

Most people, including me, who have seen their iCloud Safari tabs reappear say they did not do anything. Doing nothing might be your best guess for now: make sure that Safari is checked in the iCloud settings of all your devices, then wait for a couple of days.

Mine works now too. I sent my issue to Apple.com/feedback. And had sent my diagnostics to Apple engineers. And the iCloud safari tabs have come and gone over the last few days. Today they are working on all my devices!

I am in the same situation. I have an open incident since beginning December. I also have a problem with notes only syncing on 4g, not on WiFi. I’ve spoken to three senior advisers and several technicians and sent one set of diagnostics. Yesterday I spent 90 minutes on the phone where he screen shared my MacBook, iPad and phone all at the same time and he saw with his own eyes the bizarre iCloud tab behaviour. We turned the safari setting on off etc, and he saw how the tabs appeared, then disappeared, then reappeared but shouldn’t have done. He’s going to follow up on Monday.

I agree - it's been three months for me. Sometimes tabs sync, sometimes Notes sync. Syncing DOES work for me from iMac and Maccbook TO the cLoud - but for some reason they don't get pushed back down the cloud to my iOS devices. They also sync when they're on 4G but not on wifi. I keep hearing back from the 'experts' that they're working on it - but three months down the line and nothing. It is so so frustrating. I've spent days and days trying to fix it.

New Mac Mini M1 with Big Sur.

I am also befuddled by Apple incompetence on this. Not only for all the people here losing links and, in my case, just the one link I need — from the “old” up to date 27 inch Retina with Catalina I moved from to the Mini — but digging deeper into iCloud Tabs, what a spectacularly bad UX and UI implementation for this simple thing.

First mistake Apple made, if like me, is that the only way to see iCloud Tabs is to turn on new windows open with Start Page (I always prefer a blank page). So once I figured out this was the only way to see this, it was a shock to see the very non standard <> (but turned sideways) control icon at the device listed. Also the hamburger style control in lower right is so minimal. Why?! and in such an out of the way place. Just weird!

Then I realized, I could add an iCloud Tabs icon to Safari (now a confusing cloud symbol, maybe that should be reserved for accessing your iCloud apps via the browser?)

But this is even stranger: On the Catalina that icon shows only the new Mac Mini. On the Mini, it only shows my iPad (even if I select the only other option, the iPhone).

So it all works, except that my 27 inch with Catalina does not show up on the new Mini. Plus all this UX and UI rubbish Apple really needs to fix and make more apparent and easier to managed and choose.