Unable to sync Numbers between iPhone and my Mac

ari_wonders wrote:

the syncing is not very good between the iPhone and my Mac.

Is there anything I should toggle on or is it just the way it is really?

I'm running Numbers 14.4 under macOS 15.5 and iOS 18.5. My Numbers documents sync automatically on both devices. It's quick and reliable. It "just works."

If you're having trouble, then you may need to double-check the settings on your devices.

On the Mac you do this via System Settings > Your Profile Name > iCloud > Drive and make sure iCloud Drive is switched on. Then make sure under 'Apps syncing to iCloud Drive' that Numbers is switched on.

On the iPhone go to Settings > Your Profile Name > iCloud > Saved to iCloud See All > iCloud Drive and make sure 'Sync this Phone' is switched on and that Numbers is switched on at 'Apps Syncing to iCloud Drive'.

Once you've done this the sync should be immediate.

If it still doesn't work then things to try:

Double-check that your software is up to date.

Restart your devices (restart the Mac, power down the iPhone completely and then power up again so the Apple logo appears).

In settings turn off the sync and then turn it back on again.

SG

There are two methods of sharing spreadsheets with Numbers. Your experience may differ depending on which one you're using.

The default mode is Share. This uses iCloud sync to store the spreadsheet and make it available to others. It's asynchronous, meaning there may be a delay before changes are reflected on other systems (the document has to be saved locally, uploaded to iCloud, then pushed to the other users).

The second mode is collaboration, where multiple users can open the document concurrently and changes are reflected in real-time (or, at least, near-time). This is probably closer to the Google Sheets experience with multiple editors.

Unfortunately, for whatever reason, you cannot collaborate with yourself (or, more specifically, with two devices linked to the same Apple Account). This means if you open the same document on two devices and make changes, Numbers will prompt you for which version to save.