You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Collaboration not available unable to start collaboration

Every time I try to share notes with someone, I get greeted with the following message:


Collaboration not available

unable to start collaboration


I made sure we're both updated to the latest ios update.

I made sure we're both signed into iCloud.

I made sure everyone has enough storage.

I checked whether my notes are locked.

I even upgraded my icloud starage to 2TB.

I tried with different people too and I still get the same message.


iPhone 13 Pro, iOS 16

Posted on Nov 30, 2022 2:05 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Dec 1, 2022 5:53 AM


This is also what keeps happening I left it like that for 20 minutes and it’s still loading. I made sure I’m connected to a strong Wi-Fi and i even tried doing through my 5G cellular plan and still nothing.

32 replies

Feb 19, 2023 11:25 AM in response to grempz

This solved it for me. I went to settings on my phone, searched "iCloud Drive" and tapped that choice. In the new window, I selected "Sync this iPhone" and was then able to share the note using my phone.


I've had this problem for a few months, on my phone only--worked fine on my macbook. And just now I was getting a similar error on my macbook. Actually what happens when I try to share Note on the macbook, it goes immediately to Messages but nothing further happens. And the solution above works on my phone, but not the latptop. :(

Dec 16, 2022 10:02 AM in response to grempz

I’ve not seen a full explanation of Collaboration. I consider my Notes to be private. I turned off the check mark allowing others to Edit.

Crazy to be defaulted. May quit using notes. A hassle just to send a shopping list to wife. Better to type on computer, take pic w/ phone then send! Oh I guess just screen shot Note if short.

Dec 15, 2022 11:21 AM in response to sdvanloo

Ahh I didnt notice I was posting to a thread about the same problem but with Notes rather than FreeForm. I would still look at your Apps using iCloud settings to see what apps are note enabled. Perhaps there is something overlooked. In my case I had turned off a number of Apps/services because I have limited iCloud space. Good luck!

Dec 16, 2022 10:07 AM in response to rufus132

Your Notes are always private unless you decide to make one particular note private by sharing and inviting someone to collaborate on that particular note. If you enable icloud sync for Notes then you can access your Notes from any device you are signed into icloud on or via icloud.com, the will still remain private. If you need even more privacy you and create a Secure Note that is password protected.

Collaboration not available unable to start collaboration

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.