My notes are not syncing between Mac and iphone - I have tried every suggestion

I updated yesterday to Ventura 13.6, and since then they are broken,

Apple Support suggested me to update to Sonoma but I I refuses, as everybody knows MacOS is a nest of bugs the first releases, so I only update new macOS at their half life span as sooner. Too bad experiences in the past.

I dont know why I even keep updating software, old bugs are there new bugs appear...

it turns out that my mac studio is the only device at home cant access to iCloud.com in a web browser.

I cant in safe mode, Safari, Chrome new user account, Firewall ON/OFF or whatever. It just shows an error, besides this, everything works OK, all webs, lighting fast internet connection and iCloud works OK in all other iDevices and Macs. I can access iCLoud via ShareScreen or Timeviewer with other mac...

I've been told in App Support to reinstall macOS. Yet to do that

It worked very well to sync notes from iPhone into iCloud.com.cn, but it won't sync in the opposite direction. I had to disable the sync of Notes in settings manually, and then enable it again to sync successfully. I guess it's a bug on the iPhone.

I had an iPhone 14 plus, IOS v16.6. and I don't use macOS.

I set my iPhone to English language, but iCould.com.cn is Chinese.

Did you ever find a fix? This is the same issue for me 2017 MacBook Pro using High Sierra 10.13.6 and iPhone 13 using IOS 16.3.1.

Really frustrating as if I’m working in notes on my mac (which I use for zoom and projects requiring a larger screen) I can’t then access these on my iPhone as they don’t exist!

Thank you so much bjlappleuser for this tip. No one could have guessed this could have been the problem with this defect. I deleted all my PDFs and restarted my application and VIOLA !!! Hope Apple is taking a note of this concern.

After spending hours on the phone with apple support, we finally fixed the problem.

Go to 🍎menu>system settings> select your name top left

icloud>Notes (which is under show more apps for me)

Not only should it be toggled to "on", click on it and toggle "sync on mac"

Turn it off for 30 sec. then switch it back on. That is worked for me. If your notes disappear in future, try this again.

Hope this helps!

This worked for me. On your computer (Mac Sonoma for sure)

System Settings -> iCloud -> under "Apps using iCloud" click Show More Apps... -> click on the Notes app -> toggle Off "Sync this Mac" and then toggle On again.

Check if notes are auto synching now. This worked for me!

When this happened most recently for me, it was because iOS had just updated terms/services that I had not clicked through on my phone. It blocked syncing of Notes across all devices. Settings > AppleID > Agree to terms/services; then closing Notes on all devices and reopening did the trick.

Thanks! That's a great working tip!

Additionally, if anyone is still facing issues even after trying your method, another step to consider is toggling the iCloud sync option. Go to System Preferences > Apple ID > iCloud on your Mac, and then uncheck and recheck the box next to Notes. This can sometimes refresh the sync process and resolve any lingering issues. Remember to do this on both your iPhone and Mac for a consistent experience. This method often helps in re-establishing a proper sync connection.

Also had the same issue, what resolved it for me is that my iCloud was full so I had to delete some stuff. Once you delete stuff and make room, it will sync again.

On your mac:

System Settings > Click on your name at the top > iCloud > Manage Account Story and then choose what to delete.

March 12, 2024

I had the same issue, notes created on MacBook Pro M2 with Sonoma were syncing to iPhone 11, but edits/notes created on iPhone 11 not syncing back to MacBook. I had tried toggling Notes in iCloud settings from Mac but no luck.

MY SOLUTION:

Check for PDF or other Image file attachments at the top of the note, and edit to put at least one line of text at the top of the note (which will be the title text of the note). To me it seems there is a discrepancy between how iOS and MacOS handle the title of a note when an attachment is at the top.

I sorted the notes by Title and started comparing the Notes folder where the count on the MacBook was 5 higher than the iPhone. I found a few missing and would AirDrop the missing note from my iPhone to my MacBook to at least get the note over.

Then I found a note with a PDF file at the top of the note. The MacBook was sorting the title of the note by the filename of the PDF file (which was numeric). But the iPhone was sorting by the first line of text below the PDF file in the note. I edited the note on iPhone to move the PDF file below the text I wanted to be the title of the note, and all of the sudden it sync'd to my mac.

I hope this is helpful to anyone else out there with this issue!

I unchecked it and checked it again in File>accounts>icloud

and...

it deleted all my wife's notes.

Some notes are still on icloud. Others seem to be lost. Hopefully they're cached in notes somewhere...

I think it wasn't syncing because she's still on Catalina and the Notes app can no longer sync with apple because apple changed their servers PERHAPS?

I wish I could get her onto Monterey, but she's afraid it'll slow down after Apple tech advised her not to and she trusts them more than me. Blames me...

I feel you.

I'll start and say to my knowledge, while applying this to my getting a new iphone 15 plus (running 1OS 17.4 ) and macbook pro 2017 touch bar (running Ventura 13.6), and verifying both devices OS' are up-to-date, at the price points of these devices, Apple's native apps' functions between devices should not have this issue for this many people.

Both of my devices automatically have sync toggled on upon purchase/upgrade. However the syning has ceased eons ago for me with other devs and it's just kept going with these two aforementioned devs I have now and yes, I def gave up trying to address it myself.

I've followed the prompts and instructions found both online here, and will now add YT to the arsenal of research, address this issue myself. I don't know if this keeps Apple competitive and at the forefront of updates to show they care or what, but I cannot lose notes because whoever at Apple refuses to create confirmation pop-up notifications to confirm when native apps+syncing are toggled on or off or that there is a malfunction in the software while not offering a readily available prompt when the system is triggered when a user is attempting to Export or synch devs' native OS apps, like notes.

So hopefully my iphone 15 plus and macbook pro (2017) running on Ventura 13.6 will make it into the "well it worked for me" pile eventually. But until then, I guess me and other 200+ supporters of Apple will have to just keep the pencil and paper companies in business lol

[Edited by Moderator]

I had this problem between an older model iphone and a new macbook. The solution I found was in user error - I had been saving all my notes on my phone under the Iphone Folder instead of Icloud. Once I selected all notes and pressed "move" it allowed me to transfer them into the icloud folder and when I reopened the notes app on my mac, they were there! Simple fix, but as a new user to mac, it wasn't obvious. I found this solution after finding this community post and trying some of the recommended actions. I do appreciate the support and hope maybe my resolution helps someone too!

Tysm for sharing!! Your idea WORKED to restore my notes to my Mac because I lost them all trying to get them to sync!! Not sure if it’s syncing from Mac to my iPhone but at least I got all the lost notes back on my Mac! Perhaps it helped them sync too? Idk yet! But thank you!