iCloud tabs not syncing/working

I think iCloud tabs is completely broken in iOS 14 - and I'm shocked (but not at all surprised) that Apple has been completely quiet about it.

My Intel Mac (High Sierra) happily syncs iCloud tabs with my iPad Air 1 (iOS 12.5) but on my iOS 14.4 devices it's completely broken.

Incidentally, I found a great little free app called CloudlyTabs which gives quick menu bar access to tabs on all your devices synching via iCloud. Needless to say, my iOS 14 phone does not appear in the list.

My M1 MBP doesn't show any tabs from my other devices... All of others are on iOS 14 of course, but my iPhone and iPad can synchronize with each other. Anyway it would be a nice feature and it doesn't sound very complex task to keep tabs synced...

I am. I’m in touch with an engineer who says other engineers are looking at it, but I don’t believe it. I think they are pinning hopes on the next iOS release. I’m also unable to make backups and sometimes can’t get into the App Store or Apple TV app. 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

Right, this "we're investigating" line is old and tired. It doesn't take months to fix an iCloud tabs syncing issue. I'm afraid we're being given what, in colloquial terms, is known as the "run around."

I think I have to agree. My issue is more not being able to sync unless I’m on 4G- ie it doesn’t sync notes on WiFi! Plus not being able to backup due to “poor network conditions” that have zero to do with my ISP. I’m beyond frustrated.

I have this problem too. actually, Google is way ahead of Apple in terms of web services and performance.

faster photos app sync and download and better backup options and much much better cloud drive. the iCloud drive is a joke compared to google drive

apple is really weak in terms of online services performance. I have not just this problem but the messaging app doesn't sync deleted items sometimes and I should delete them manually and so on... I may go back to android if they continue like this. full of sync issues and online services bugs

This is terrible. Come on Apple! Get your act together. Customers don’t pay premium prices for devices that don’t sync. It used to work so we all know it’s not impossible. Probably a simple fix but with everyone working from home yet, it’s obviously not getting done. Really stupid. Steve Jobs would not have allowed this simple issue to continue unresolved. 😡

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.

Mine is hit and miss. My iPhone 12 Pro (14.4.2) and iPad mini (14.4.1) can see each others' tabs. But my iMac (Catalina 10.15.7) can't see either and my phone and iPad can't see the iMac tabs. I can hand off from the iPhone to the iMac, but not from the iPad to the iMac or from the iMac to anything. Really frustrating.

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.

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.

I thought this was fixed, but the Safari Tabs on my Mac are still not closing properly. They do just fine most of the time, and then out of the blue I’ll see a ghost tab from my Mac show up in iCloud Tabs on iOS. The weird thing is, my iPhone may show that ghost tab in iCloud Tabs, but not my iPad. Or vice-versa.

In either case, trying to delete that ghost tab over iCloud causes it to reappear a moment later. The only way to make it disappear is to close Safari and switch to a different browser for a week (or two?). If you use Safari Technology Preview, that’s easy enough. Just switch back to the standard Safari. Once Safari experiences that issue, switch back to Tech Preview.

Tabs from my iPhone and iPad sync just fine, and appear with no ghost tabs on any other device.

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. ).

It can not be the solution for everyone to get fibre… It should work on ANY internet connection. Anyway I already have symmetric fibre 1 gbit/1 gbit and it’s not working. And it looks like  doesn’t care about this feature is not working at many of users. More precisely CUSTOMERS, right?

Well, this isn't fixed for me, at all. AND, I finally broke down and called Apple tech support. The problem has been elevated to the Engineers and I've had two calls so far. And yet the issue remains. I've even told the rep who calls that the issue is on the server side based on information posted in this thread. Still no joy. Highly annoying!

And we have far more than enough bandwidth...ATT fibre w/gigabit down/up speeds. Not to mention, that sounds like a red herring anyway as this "feature" should work on a cellular network, no ISP required. I've tried to access iCloud tabs while on cellular only, also no joy. Furthermore, it was working just fine last summer when we were at an extended stay hotel and connected to the free wifi. That free wifi was definitely not huge bandwidth. It is not an ISP bandwidth issue.