Why is iCloud syncing paused on my iPhone 13 mini?

"Settings > Tap your profile > iCloud > Under “Apps Using iCloud” tap “Show All” > Messages in iCloud > Sync Now" doesn't work for me.. nearly immediately it goes back to "Syncing Paused" after initiating "sync now".. :-(

I’m sorry this is so terribly late. I upgraded to the iPhone 15 today & faced this small issue. Here’s how I fixed it:

Settings > Tap your profile > iCloud > Under “Apps Using iCloud” tap “Show All” > Messages in iCloud > Sync Now

Your messages will begin to sync!

Check your iCloud storage if it is full, it can cause issues. Remove some data to create space, or you can purchase more iCloud storage. Additionally, check Apple's system status here: Apple - Support - System Status. If it is green for iCloud, then there’s no issue from Apple's end. Best regards.  

[Edited by Moderator]

It’s still intermittent for me. They need a simple “resume syncing” button.

Hello AndrewIH,

The first thing we would suggest would be to power cycle the iPhone by following these steps found at Restart your iPhone - Apple Support:  

1. Press and hold either volume button and the side button until the power-off slider appears.

2. Drag the slider, then wait 30 seconds for your device to turn off. If your device is frozen or unresponsive, Force restart iPhone - Apple Support

3. To turn your device back on, press and hold the side button (on the right side of your iPhone) until you see the Apple logo.

While simple, this can refresh the iOS, apps and connections. 

If the problem continues, and the issue is confined to Messages, follow these steps:

1. Tap on Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Show All
2. Look for Messages
3. If On, tap Messages
4. Toggle "Sync this iPhone" off
5. Wait 10 seconds
6. Toggle "Sync this iPhone" back on

The purpose of these steps is also to reset the connection with the servers.

Have a good day.

No. Thinking about ditching Apple altogether. Nothing but bugs and downtimes lately.

The same thing has been happening to me in 16.2 on my iPad, but while the Files app tells the syncing is paused (at the bottom of the window and and has an exclamation mark with circular arrows around it next to iCloud Drive in the side bar), it is actually syncing in the background. To get rid of the incorrect app badging, I followed the instructions srbwanderer has above but for Settings > [your name] > iCloud > iCloud Drive > toggle off, wait a bit, and turn it back on. After the Files app reestablished syncing with the iCloud Drive servers, the app badging is fixed. Hope this helps.

I’ve had this problem not only with thinking to iCloud but downloading from iCloud back up when restoring an iPhone 12. It is a problem. I have been in contact with customer support twice a week since the beginning of December. They know, and I have given them the best diagnosis I can to where they’re hanging up. I don’t know exactly where, but it seems like iOS does not understand download or upload by cellular, even if Wi-Fi is turned off in the settings. They are working on it and as of 9:30 AM New York time there is no update to iOS 17.2.1.

just in case anyone comes accross this thread in the future, I had this same issue in the messages app on my macbook pro.

if you "Sync Now" just from within the messages app settings, it goes for a bit and then pauses without explanation. (Messages -> Settings -> iMessage tab -> "Sync Now")

however, doing it through iCloud:

System Settings -> Apple ID -> iCloud -> Apps using iCloud (Show more Apps) -> Messages in iCloud -> Status (Sync Now) -- it seems to work properly.

not sure if these are referring to the same sync process or something different.

Same problem as others. Messages pause in iCloud syncing. Tried everything mentioned in this forum as well as other sources online. I also upgraded my storage to 200 GB though still had 9 GB left. Have contacted support 3 times yesterday and gone through all the suggested steps they give me and despite all that last night I tried for the third time while connected to power, deleting all the messages in cloud and then started the 4 hour process of getting them synced to cloud again. After 4 hours that blue line gets almost to the very end and then I get the sync paused message with 543 messages left to sync. Not sure exactly how long this has been going on, I suspect since iOS 17. Currently my phone is updated to iOS 17.2.1. Calling support again today but doubtful there is a fix. My apple care runs out on January 2.

I did that and yes it did work but when I press it , it does it for 1 second and then it says the same thing again

here's the solution to the "syncing paused" message-

If you're seeing a "Syncing Paused" message on Messages on an iPhone, you can try these steps:

you're welcome :)

1. Go to Settings
2. Tap your name
3. Select iCloud
4. Select Show All
5. Find Messages
6. If it's on, tap Messages
7. Toggle Sync this iPhone off
8. Wait 10 seconds
9. Toggle Sync this iPhone back on

For me, syncing paused happens on my iPhone and iPad, but not on my Mac. I can make any number of changes in the Finder to files in iCloud and the changes are uploaded immediately. So I think it must be an issue on iOS and not server-side.

Back up your iPhone to a Mac or at least to full iCloud. (Go to settings)

update your iPhone to 16.x

the bad syncing issue doesn’t disappear but is less frequent since updating

create a free proton account and use free proton VPN and let apple know on their feedback pages that you want better support and better tech beyond pregnant man emojis.

Oh ok. I ended up just turning off sync messages to iCloud. Every time I messaged someone it was trying to save it to my iCloud. I haven’t had the message pop up anymore. I am sure Apple will fix this problem (hopefully soon). Pretty annoying.