iPhone 15 updated to iOS 17.2 and thereafter message syncing with iCloud is paused.

Okay so this to follow up for the original comment posted on this thread…

I have spoken to the senior technical team for 2 days, and following are the results:

Day 1:

Troubleshooting techniques used during screen sharing session:

• Turn Off/On ‘Messages in Cloud’ - using settings -> Profile -> iCloud
  • This technique has yielded no difference
• Sign Out/In from iCloud
  • This technique has yielded no difference
• Settings -> General -> Background App Refresh = Off
  • • After turning off the background spp refresh, try manual ‘Sync’ for ‘Messages in iCloud’
• As per the technical support team, this has worked for most of the users, but didn’t work out for me.

Day 2:

• Restore iPhone/iPad using Finder/iTunes
  • • Take backup of your iPhone using iCloud or Mac/Windows
    • Post restore set it up as new iPhone.
    • Login to iCloud, finish setting up the phone.
    • Go to ‘Settings’ -> ‘User Name’ -> ‘iCloud’ -> ‘Show all’ -> ‘Messages in iCloud’ ->turn it ‘On’
    • Now let wait for the sync to be complete
    • Intermediately it will show you ‘Syncing paused’ based on the sheet amount of messages already backed up earlier.
• Try clicking on ‘Sync’ it should resume where it earlier left off.

After this restore, and then manually backing up/sync the Messages in iCloud worked perfectly for me. For other devices such as iPad & Mac the issues persists until you restore it.

It’s been 2 days and the issue hasn’t creeped back yet. Will keep this thread updated if I find something new.

Hi guys. I was facing the same issue after getting a new phone and updating to 17.2. Try this - settings > your name > iCloud > apps using iCloud (show all) > messages in iCloud > this should show the status of your sync and should then give you the option to “sync now”. I’m hoping you all see this option! So far so good.

Hi all. After doing multiple reset & restores trying to fix a completely different issue, I came across this same “Syncing paused” message in Messages after an iCloud restore. As I had just done the reset & restores, I wasn’t going through that yet again. So I went straight to Support. Good news: A FIX WAS FOUND!

I’m running iOS 17.2.1 on an iPhone 15 Pro.

I was instructed to plug in my phone (important!), make sure I’m connected to Wi-Fi, and then turn off Background App Refresh in Settings > General > Background App Refresh. After doing so, I switched back to Messages and the pause message had changed to ‘Syncing with iCloud’ with a blue progress bar. 👏🏼

It has not completed itself yet, and it’s literally taking hours. Not sure if that’s normal, or just because I’ve never deleted a message and have had iPhones since the first one. (Oops. 😅) But the bar is indeed still progressing with each check-in I do on it. I’ll come back once complete to give final confirmation.

And btw, about it needing to be plugged in… I accidentally knocked my cord out as I was trying to add another to the charge block and it indeed went back to ‘Syncing paused’. After getting the plug back in, it resumed syncing within a few seconds.

Oh! And I was instructed by Support to turn Background App Refresh back on once the syncing was complete.

Weird fix. I don't know if this will work for you but... I went into my Mac and Message. Then went to settings > iMessage > checked box to enable messages in iCloud > Sync Now. Then I went back into my phone after about ten minutes and like magic Status now reads Syncing with iCloud.

So far working. Try this and let me know...

****, that’s unfortunate. Mine paused overnight as I had it on Standby on my nightstand. But this morning I just plugged it back in… it did NOT resume automatically… so I went into Messages in iCloud (OP’s screenshot) and tapped Sync now and it started right up again, and finished rather quickly after that.

And we’re SURE you have enough iCloud storage and your amount used in Messages isn’t higher than that?

Downloaded 17.3.

Turned in my iCloud messages off

rebooted phone

turned iCloud messages back on

tapped ‘sync now’ and it seemed to resolve the problem.

(might have to tap it a couple times if it pauses but eventually it will sync all your messages)

I confirm the iMessage Sync issue is now FIXED in iOS 17.3.0.

Having the same issue with my iPhone 15 Pro. Syncing is constantly paused. Not having issues with my MBP or iPad. I've also noticed that messages I've deleted from over the summer (and should be deleted on the servers as I only keep for 30 days) came back onto my iPhone. Tried all the assorted tricks with Apple Support and after completely wiping my phone and setting it up fresh, I've decided to turn off Messages in iCloud for 30 days for my entire message cache and database to be completely deleted (as per a final last ditch effort from Support.) I'll set it up fresh on Jan 24th and see if that does the trick.

KTM71 wrote:

****, that’s unfortunate. Mine paused overnight as I had it on Standby on my nightstand. But this morning I just plugged it back in… it did NOT resume automatically… so I went into Messages in iCloud (OP’s screenshot) and tapped Sync now and it started right up again, and finished rather quickly after that.

And we’re SURE you have enough iCloud storage and your amount used in Messages isn’t higher than that?

Yup, we are all sure we have enough iCloud storage.

YES this is what I do. I go to settings>messages> toggle keep messages for 30 days. I toggle it on everyday so it like clears it from the server end. So I click 1 yr then click 30 days so it clears itself from the server end. Its def a bug on the server end and in ios 17.2 Im thinking

Just bought iPhone 15 and transferred all data. Noticed message syncing to cloud pauses with only a few messages left to sync. Thought it was my phone and/or issues with transfer but I also updated to this IOS version when I received phone. Apple support told me to turn off messages and turn back on and keep connected to power but three times now has gotten hung up at the end with only a few hundred messages remaining. I have a phone call scheduled with support 12/14 AM.

First of all always check status

Apple - Support - System Status

Then in iPhone Settings, [your name], iCloud, (show all if necessary), have messages ON

Then try 1 year or 30 days to minimise server storage

I am on 17.2 with no problems

Yup this is definitely an issue on 17.2. Heres the thread I started the other day about all the bugs Ive found in ios 17.2 in case anyone else is having other issues. Bugs in ios 17.2 I have found - Apple Community

I was having the same problem and after going through my settings I noticed the new update disabled sync with other apple devices. Once enabled, everything synchronized smoothly for me. I have a 15 pro max and will say to give this a try. Best of luck with Apple Support.