iOS 18 Safari tabs not syncing via iCloud

not the first time Apple breaks syncing for the tabs.... Not sure if this stuff is even tested before they release updates.

18.2/15.2 now, and I still have to use this workaround

Same, still broken on 18.2 between iPad and iPhone.

If anything, I think the zombie tab problem that was largely fixed is now getting worse. I regularly see tabs I closed days earlier come up until I reset the iCloud sync option.

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

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.

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

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...

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

I had a glimpse of hope yesterday when my iPad started to show only the active tabs open on my other devices, but today when I turned it on and opened safari the problem presented itself again with zombie tabs and sync not working properly :(

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.

There has been no functional sync between iPad Air (4), iPhone 12 Pro and MacBook Air M1 for weeks/months.

Currently, my Safari on iPhone does not even show the field for iCloud tabs when opening a new tab, although activated.

Still a trainwreck of a feature as of Mar 9 25. Current OS on Mac, iPhone, iPad, turned off Safari iCloud on all devices, waited, turned back on. Bookmarks and Favorites sync fine but iCloud Tabs a mess. Randomly syncs/does not sync/resurrects previous tabs.

Force Quit on Mac appears to restore the correct tabs. Force quit on iOS does nothing.

It's rare that Apple ships features that just flat out don't work but this is going on a year with iCloud Tabs, and it's hardly the only poor feature implementation on Safari.

One wonders whether Charlie Deets left or was pushed, and what his replacement is doing to earn his pay.

Yep, exact same. I finally have tabs syncing, but 2 zombie tabs that pop up again after closing them. Frustrating as it seems like we've got a partial fix -- the server is updating the tabs that are supposed to be synced, but not clearing out old tabs that should be gone.

Apple support article on turning on iCloud tabs says we should:

1. Go to Settings > your name > iCloud.
2. Tap See All, next to Saved to iCloud…
3. Make sure that Safari is turned on.

I am on iOS 18.5 and that Show All now no longer offers any choices other than a toggle to “Sync this iPad”.

My iPad stopped syncing tabs recently. iCloud tabs was broken for me earlier this year. Then it started working better than ever. Now completely broken on my iPad. June5, 2025. Yes, I restarted the iPad!

On my iPhone 15 Pro running iOS 18.5, iCloud tabs is running well and that Show All command does offer all the different choices.