iOS 18 Safari tabs not syncing via iCloud

Question

Level 1

39 points

iOS 18 Safari tabs not syncing via iCloud

Whenever opening a new page in Safari, open tabs that were closed on other devices still show under the open iCloud tabs. The only way to remedy this so far has been to turn off iCloud syncing with Safari and then back on.

Also those iCloud open Safari tabs on the Start page are ridiculously large compared to the previous text versions that were condensed properly. There needs be an option to have text only instead of a small page preview next to the text, which takes up a large amount of screen real estate.

iPhone 12, iOS 18

Posted on Sep 20, 2024 3:13 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

josefa68

Level 1

27 points

Oct 11, 2024 2:48 PM in response to Molarkey

I’m here not to answer but to say I’m having exactly the same issue. Used to mostly work fine. Now my iPhone can see tabs from iPad , but not vice versa, and none from my MacBook. Rebooting and turning off iCloud tabs did nothing. I’m in Spain. I updated two days ago and they were working on iOS 18, but today stopped. 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

so frustrating.

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Answer 2

JBrown79

Level 1

100 points

Oct 29, 2024 5:49 PM in response to Molarkey

Same issues! I have to AirDrop pages from my MacBook to my iPhone or the reverse because the tabs showing are either old closed tabs that there anymore or the current ones just don't show up. It's so frustrating. The only time it ever works is if I sign out a back in on my both devices or clear histories and restart the browsers but then it only works for a day if that.

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Answer 3

lunhil

Level 1

10 points

Oct 20, 2024 1:32 PM in response to Molarkey

Same worked fine for me up through iOS 17 but now same problem you have on 18

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Answer 4

Molarkey Author

Level 1

39 points

Oct 11, 2024 1:41 PM in response to Molarkey

After returning to my initial query, I'm surprised no one has responded because it used to work simply & flawlessly, but now requires a toggle on/off for iCloud syncing of Safari on each one of my devices for it to (somewhat) work. It still won't re-populate everything. I guess I'm still gonna be using AirDrop. So much for the cloud.

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Answer 5

Oct 26, 2024 2:30 AM in response to Molarkey

I've also noticed the same problem and I'm very much annoyed with this bug and the fact that it hasn't been fixed with the latest 18.0.1 update. iCloud tabs and its seamless syncing across devices has been my primary reason in sticking with Safari and now it's just straight up a complete mess.

Closing tabs on other devices does not actually close them, open tabs don't automatically show up, and the new interface looks ugly with the blown up icons and the drop down menu to choose between devices is now unintuitive.

I wonder what makes Apple keep making unnecessary changes to ruin what otherwise has been a perfectly fine feature and experience.

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