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iCloud Drive on iOS 9 syncing folders partially.

My files and folders are partially syncing on my iPhone 6+ (iOS 9.0.1). This was the case for iOS 9.0 as well.


I have about 20 folders that I store on iCloud Drive on my iMac and MacBook Pro. Everything sync perfectly between them and iCloud.com.

I also have the 5 default Apple folders for Keynote, Numbers, Pages, Preview and TextEdit.

Total 25 folders.


The 20 folders are not syncing on my iOS device.


When I go to Settings --> iCloud --> Storage --> Manage Storage --> Other Documents: All documents and data are encrypted and I cannot see what is what.

On my MacBook Pro and iMac, File Vault is set to OFF. It was on at one point in time, and then I turned it off. I would assume File Vault will decrypt files when it is set back to off (despite taking hours and hours).


I tried setting up my phone as a new iPhone then reinstalling my backup.

I also tried setting up my Phone as a new phone and then simply signing in to iCloud.

I spent 2 hours at the Genius Bar with no success.

I spent 45 minutes with Apple Support over the phone with a Senior Tech Advisor who is bringing this up to Engineering.


Why won't my files sync on iCloud Drive for my iPhone 6+? Too much time for such a trivial feature that Google, Dropbox and Microsoft have already figured out lightyears ago.


Chris

iPhone 6 Plus, iOS 9.0.1

Posted on Sep 27, 2015 8:05 AM

Reply
15 replies

Oct 10, 2015 7:14 AM in response to chrissoueidan

My iCloud drive seems to sync on my iPad running iOS 9.0.1 but is extremely slow. When I originally updated my iPhone 6 to iOS 9 and enabled iCloud drive it did sync. I then updated iOS to 9.0.1 and then 9.0.2 on my iPhone and now the iCloud drive does not sync at all, when I open the iCloud drive app there are no folders it is just completely empty - it was showing two empty folders (numbers & readle) but now it completely empty. I tried logging in and out of iCloud a number of times and enabling / disabling iCloud drive to try and get it to sync and even reset my iPhone completely and reinstalled an earlier backup but nothing has worked. I tried leaving it over night to see if any folders would appear, but nothing. I tried adding documents to iCloud drive but again it made no difference. iCloud drive has been a huge disappointment and has a long way to go before it even comes close to matching dropbox functionality and usability.

Oct 12, 2015 2:52 PM in response to obrient

I feel your pain, I just purchased a new MacBook Pro since my other one was overdue for a change.

The same issue is happening on my new MacBook Pro. Therefore my iCloud Drive issue extends to any additional new OSX or iOS device I add to my roster.


I tried something else as well, now I disabled iCloud Drive on my main iMac. Then after re-enabling it, the same issue was then created on my iMac.


Despite all this, all my files on iCloud.com's iCloud Drive web app are all there! I tried adding files within the iCloud drive locally or via the web app and nothing seems to sync anymore... this is the most unreliable cloud service I ever experienced because i cannot even sync files between my Macs anymore...


i have been waiting for over 2 weeks now for a reply from Apple's engineering division... nothing.

At this point, I will probably move all my iCloud Drive files to Google Drive. Why even give a penny for software that barely works, despite all the great things promoted about handover + seamless integration in their products.


I have had amazing customer service and technical support with Google for smaller issues related to Google Drive and now I feel that Apple is giving me a bad taste of their lack of service for any complex issue.

Nov 7, 2015 2:47 PM in response to chrissoueidan

Hey everyone involved in this thread!


Hopefully your issue is fixed by now; mine was fixed yesterday... after over 8 hours of Apple Support, I finally fixed the issue, on my own, in a very simple way:


  1. Backup all your iCloud Drive files on your hard drive or an external hard drive. Yah this is the part I wanted to avoid - I had over 120GBs of files... alas, if you want things fixed, you have to bite the bullet.
  2. Sign out of iCloud from all your Mac and iOS devices.
  3. Delete ALL files in your iCloud Drive via iCloud.com.
  4. If you get an error that says all files cannot be deleted, try syncing an iOS device (worked for me) to your iCloud account and then delete those "un-deletable" files via your iOS device.
  5. Once you confirmed your iCloud Drive is indeed empty, upload a test file into your iCloud.com web app.
  6. Sign into one of your devices (iOS or Mac). Make sure the file you uploaded via iCloud.com has properly synced via the Finder app (should be almost instantaneous). Now sign into all your Mac and iOS devices and verify that the same file is properly syncing across all devices.
  7. [Optional] To thoroughly test the sync, upload a file to iCloud Drive via the Finder app one Mac device and ensure they are syncing on iCloud.com as well as across all Mac and iOS devices. Repeat this step for any Mac device you might have and make sure everything syncs properly.
  8. This step is the most important: slowly regain trust in Apple's software design and app ecosystem.


Personally, i use Google Drive to store all my files which I don't use on the go. I have the same feeling about iCloud Drive and Apple Music - loyalty to Apple's ecosystem, while acknowledging its current flaws.


Hope this works, good luck. if I missed anything or if you notice any inconsistency from my post, let me know.

Chris

Nov 8, 2015 12:35 AM in response to JamieStyles

I have the same problem!! I am waiting 7 days to allow my files to sync between my iPhone 6s, iPad Mini4 and MacBook Pro, but till now they don't sync together. I bought 200 GB on iCloud Drive too, but I am unable to use it! If Apple doesn't fix this problem now I had to migrate to Dropbox ( after 10 years of only Apple products). With Apple Support I exit from all my iCloud accounts on my devices and then I logged in again but they are still syncing again and again, and I can't view the folders that are stored in iCloud Drive on my iOS devices, but only files from Pages, Numbers and Keynote and the files that are stored within the Apps that are approved for iCloud Drive ( Apple support said to me that "approved for iCloud Drive" is written in the update history of the App in the App Store, but it's difficult to find it )

iCloud Drive on iOS 9 syncing folders partially.

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