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

Top-ranking reply

lunhil

Level 1

28 points

Posted on Feb 11, 2025 12:33 PM

I discovered a way to get at least some improvement to sycing. On my iPhone, I went to Settings, then my Apple Account, then iCloud then iCloud Storage. I found two lines for saved Safari data, which seemed odd. One was 400KB, the other about 800KB. Anyway, 1) turned off iCloud Tabs and Safari syncing to iCloud on both my iPhone and iPad. 2) I deleted both Safari lines from iCloud storage. Restarted my devices, turned everything back on. Now it seems to sync when I force close Safari on both devices, which is an improvement. But still not fast and automatic like it was back in iOS 17. I also notice that Safari no longer shows up in my iCloud storage, so I think that continues to be an indication that something underlying is still broken.

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42 replies

lunhil

Level 1

28 points

Dec 19, 2024 8:40 AM in response to creocrestron150

Same, still broken on 18.2 between iPad and iPhone.

dhan16

Level 1

8 points

Dec 20, 2024 6:16 AM in response to creocrestron150

same problem

Dec 20, 2024 2:35 PM in response to creocrestron150

Seems like its still an issue Dec 20 2024. None of my devices show any open tabs from the other device (mac, i phone, ipad) all on the latest update.

MacOS Sequoia 15.2

Ipad OS 18.2

Iphone IOS 18.2

alexamh9

Level 1

14 points

Dec 22, 2024 2:29 PM in response to creocrestron150

Squeaky wheel - me too! iCloud tabs section not even showing on my iPad.

Jan 14, 2025 6:59 AM in response to creocrestron150

I'm having this issue as well. I'm not sure but as other have stated it seems to have started with iOS 18.x. I am running the public betas on my iPad and my iPhone, but not my Mac...

Feb 16, 2025 3:30 PM in response to creocrestron150

Now on 18.3.1, and it’s still just as broken. Apple really seems to be ignoring basic features

beshanoe

Level 1

20 points

Feb 28, 2025 4:56 AM in response to creocrestron150

Fix it asap!

Mar 1, 2025 1:59 PM in response to creocrestron150

Same here, simply not working as intended. 🤷‍♂️ Oh Apple, please stop the AI-craze and fix the basic things.

Mar 7, 2025 8:00 AM in response to LSchamltz

I'm getting two zombies in particular that I just can't kill. They don't always appear, but they keep reappearing no matter how many times I close them.

Mar 8, 2025 1:00 AM in response to creocrestron150

Same issue here, works fine on iPhone but won’t show up on iPad at all. Tried resync on iCloud (turn off and on), tried force reset devices, restart Safari, turn on and off iCloud tabs etc.

May 12, 2025 2:17 AM in response to creocrestron150

Safari stopped updating after 17 or 18 didn't it? all my browser issues resolved with chrome. (some nice fella shared the details online but I can't find it...)

SNRZ

Level 1

4 points

Jan 7, 2025 10:28 AM in response to creocrestron150

Same issue. Used to work fine across multiple devices and now it’s just a mess. What irony when an update breaks a previously smooth function.

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iOS 18 Safari tabs not syncing via iCloud