Question About iPhone and iPad Synchronization

Syncing is automatic and doesn't require any buttons to be pushed. However, especially mobile devices will pause syncing certain circumstances.Since syncing uses the battery, and since lots of people are very anxious about battery drain, the iPhone will pause syncing when not plugged in. And since syncing uses processing power, and people hate slow-downs, the iPhone will avoid syncing while you use it. And since syncing requires bandwidth, the iPhone will avoid syncing when the internet connection is weak.

So, if you want faster syncing, then find good wifi, plug the phone in, and leave it alone, and it will sync automatically.

The Continue button enables iCloud. It has nothing to do with any other apps or synchronization.

iCloud will sync if there is space, contacts, notes, calendar, reminders, and email.

Apps are separate to this.

phatyma1 wrote:Thank you for your previous reply. I would like to clarify further: you mentioned that because the iCloud account on my iPad shows the “Continue” button (as in the attached picture), it means it is the first time I have opened this account on this iPad.

Sometimes this differs depending on the region that the phone is used in. "Continue" most probably means "now that you've read this, you can go on to the next step."

"paused syncing" that I referred to is sometimes seen as "Resume," so I think I misunderstood your situation.

In other words, can you confirm that yes, this indicates it is the first time this iCloud account has been used on this device? Or does the “Continue” button appear every time I log in to iCloud, even if I have pressed “Continue” before?

I never see this. Even after an upgrade, and I don't think that I saw it when I bought a new iPad, since I had just continued using the backup from m old iPad. I'm pretty sure that, once you're using iCloud, they don't tell you again.

Also, does this mean that no synchronization between my iPhone (the one i have this iCloud account made for) and iPad could have taken place previously, since the account still shows “Continue”?

Have you told it specifically to synchronize? There are several different things to connect to iCloud. For instance, Photos connects independently of iCloud Drive. You should check Settings>[your account]>iCloud and see what's on and what's off.

Let us know how it goes…

phatyma1 wrote: …My question is: since the iCloud storage has been full since October 5, 2024, does this mean that no synchronization between my iPhone and iPad could have taken place before? In other words, is the full storage a clue that nothing new has synced between the two devices?

A full iCloud storage can be a real problem. I would turn off iCloud until that's resolved. It's hard to see how anything has been transferred anywhere since October 2024, though we don't know the details of what's happened in between. You can look at your phone Settings>[name]>iCloud>iCloud backup to see when the last backup was recorded. For me, both my phone and my iPad say "Yesterday."

It seems odd that you had two accounts for two devices. The purpose of iCloud is to synchronize all the connected devices so that they have the same Photos or files or whatever you might choose. There is little reason to have one account for each device, and it might get confusing.

phatyma1 wrote: Is it correct that my iPad only backs up to iCloud if I am actively signed into that iCloud account on the device?

I don't know-- I'm always signed into my account when I'm on my phone or iPad. It sounds right, though.

Yes. If you just setup it will suggest you go into iCloud to configure settings. You can use to do so from there or not.