Notes not being pushed to iPhone from iCloud

Question

Notes not being pushed to iPhone from iCloud

This just started happening but it's been working pretty flawlessly for me for years. I have 45 notes on my iCloud account, which I access from my MacBook Pro and my iPhone.

If I edit a note on MacBook Pro, it gets updated in the iCloud and NOT pushed to my iPhone.
If I edit a note on iPhone, it gets updated in the iCloud and pushed to my MacBook Pro

So, both devices update Notes in iCloud, but iCloud doesn't push changes to my iPhone.

So far I have tried this:

Settings: iCloud: Notes—toggle on and off
Settings: iCloud: Sign Out
Restart the iPhone
Quit Notes app

All of these methods work only once—current notes get downloaded from iCloud but no updated Notes get pushed to iPhone after that.

Any ideas what else could be wrong?

iPhone 8

Software version 15.2

iPhone 8

Posted on Dec 29, 2021 5:42 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

MBP_Drew

Level 2

291 points

Dec 29, 2021 10:31 PM in response to Alen Zukanovich

Do you have any notes that are data-intensive? Meaning are your notes heavy with photos, videos, etc. ? Even if there's just one "large" note, it may take a while for iCloud to sync as it searches for changes. Also be aware that discarded notes, in the trash, are still synced. So be sure to check there as well. (I once had a 200MB note that was stalling my syncing to the point I thought it simply was not working...)
What happens when you create a note on iCloud.com? Does that travel to both the Mac and the iPhone?
Have you toggled cellular vs. wifi to see if that forces a refresh?
Finally, in my experience it's important to tread lightly when testing things out. Doing lots and lots of tests may actually contribute to the syncing issues if iCloud is constantly checking for changes, syncing, etc. If possible you may want to power-off your Mac and your iPhone overnight (or for a couple of hours at least) and then turn them on one by one. (Doing this in conjunction with #2 might be useful --both devices turned off, create a new iCloud.com Note and then turn the devices back on to see what happens.)

Best of luck!

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Answer 2

Dec 30, 2021 5:32 PM in response to MBP_Drew

Excellent points! Thank you @MBP_Drew!

1. Do you have any notes that are data-intensive? Meaning are your notes heavy with photos, videos, etc. ? Even if there's just one "large" note, it may take a while for iCloud to sync as it searches for changes. Also be aware that discarded notes, in the trash, are still synced. So be sure to check there as well. (I once had a 200MB note that was stalling my syncing to the point I thought it simply was not working...)

No data-intensive notes. Text only, some hyperlinks. Nothing in the trash too.

2. What happens when you create a note on iCloud.com? Does that travel to both the Mac and the iPhone?

Great suggestion. A note created on iCloud.com travels only to MacBook Pro, not to iPhone.

3. Have you toggled cellular vs. wifi to see if that forces a refresh?

Tried this, no effect.

4. Finally, in my experience it's important to tread lightly when testing things out. Doing lots and lots of tests may actually contribute to the syncing issues if iCloud is constantly checking for changes, syncing, etc. If possible you may want to power-off your Mac and your iPhone overnight (or for a couple of hours at least) and then turn them on one by one. (Doing this in conjunction with #2 might be useful --both devices turned off, create a new iCloud.com Note and then turn the devices back on to see what happens.)

Of course, I arrived at that list of troubleshooting steps over the course of few days. I will try your suggestion to power down devices overnight, will report back.

I'm puzzled why it would just stop working!

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Notes not being pushed to iPhone from iCloud

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