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Big Sur sync issues with non-Apple apps on iPhone and iPad

tennis_lover

tennis_lover

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 18, 2020
22
2
For the past 4 weeks, I've had synching issues between Big Sur on my MacBook Air M1 and my iPhone 11 Pro and iPad non-Apple apps like WhatsApps, Reddit, Meetup, etc. After synching my iPhone 11 Pro with Big Sur on the MacBook Air M1, the non-Apple apps do not work; clicking on the icon makes the app disappear. Also, cannot erase or download that app or any non-Apple apps from the Apps store. I am able to reset the iPhone and iPad and do a backup from the MacBook Air to solve the problem at least until I reconnect the iPhone or iPad to the MacBook and sync which causes all the non-Apple apps on these devices to crash.

I've escalated to Apple Care but their solution was to purchase another MacBook which I did. With the new MacBook, I manually downloaded all Apps from the App Store and iCloud in order to avoid any possible inflection from the previous MacBook Air. For my iPad, I did the same manual download and restore process. Yet, I still am getting the same crashing of non-Apple apps on my mobile devices after synching with the new MacBook Air.

Anyone else experienced or are experiencing the same?
 
hello,

I have the very same issue! MBP M1, opened a case with Apple they recommended to clean install everything which I did, after sync the issue is back. tested on iPhone 8 & iPad 2018 - both same issue as you described.
 
hugo11 said:
hello,

I have the very same issue! MBP M1, opened a case with Apple they recommended to clean install everything which I did, after sync the issue is back. tested on iPhone 8 & iPad 2018 - both same issue as you described.
Click to expand...
Sorry about your issue and I know how frustrating it is! During my Friday evening meeting with the senior Apple advisor, he recommended a new install of the operating systems for the MBA M1 and iPad Pro 2 which I've done. We have a meeting tomorrow, Sunday at 3pm ET where I'm supposed to let him see me sync the devices. He did mention that if it continues to be a problem that it may be due to the user profiles which may be slightly different between the MBA M1 and the iPhone/iPad. I'll update tomorrow after our meeting.
 
thanks a lot for an update. I had an hour long call today as well with the senior support team. What they actually concluded is, that it is most likely something related to macOS not the iPhone/iPad itself. The senior staff recommended a reinstall which I completed moments ago (without erasing data) and the issues is still there. I will give them a call tomorrow as well and post the result. Let's hope they figure out something. If you wouldn't mind, could you share your caseID privately? I might be contacting them sooner tomorrow as I'm in Europe, so I'd like to point their attention to these very similar issues existing.
 
Thanks Hugo for the reply! I've sent you the case number via a message. I hope that you get this successfully resolved.
 
tennis_lover said:
Thanks Hugo for the reply! I've sent you the case number via a message. I hope that you get this successfully resolved.
Click to expand...
Let me give you an update. I just finished a two hour call with the senior team. they collected screenshots & diagnostic data from all of the devices and sent it to the engineering team. At this stage they did not want to reproduce the issue on the spot, but they collected screenshots from all of the devices - luckily I made one as well when the issue was there. I referenced your case number as well so they know the issues are most likely related. I keep my fingers crossed for your T-shoot session. I should hear back from them latest on 28th.
 
Thanks for the update Hugo! I'll make sure to post the outcome of today's session with the senior advisor. At this point, I'm not hopeful of a different outcome today from what you experienced.
 
Just finished nearly 2 hours with a new senior advisor. I synched the iPad Pro 2 with the MacBook Air M1 which recreated the error of all four of the non-Apple apps shutting down after touching them; the Apple apps worked fine. Apple had me record a 20 second video of this which was sent to Apple. They also ran and collected diagnostic data just from the iPad. They wanted me to do the same with my iPhone. I refused as I did not wish to spend 2 hours+ reconfiguring all the non-Apple apps on my iPhone. If the issue gets resolved on the iPad, then I'll use the same solution for the iPhone. The senior advisor seemed to agree with this reasoning. I shared your case number which they referenced in the case notes. They will escalate to engineering which takes 24-48 hours to respond. I have a follow up call on Tue, Dec 22 at 2:30pm ET. I'll post the outcome of that meeting.

I hope that you get resolution on your case on or before Tue, Dec 22!
 
Let's hope they can fix it real quick. I understand your pain with reinstalling. Thanks for referencing my case #. I have no update so far.
 
I got off the phone with a senior advisor earlier this morning. Also gathered some diagnostic information from the MBP, as well as some console logs from the iPhone when the apps are failing to launch. I referenced tennis_lover’s case number on the call, and the advisor linked my case to his and noted that there was also another case linked as well. Currently waiting for engineering to look into the issue. Supposed to have a call back on the 23rd. I’ll let you both know what they say as soon as I hear.
 
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I found a roundabout solution to sync if you absolutely need to.

I recently purchased a couple of audio courses from The Great Courses which were manually downloaded into iBooks on my MBA M1 but not to the iPad Pro 2. I did not want to do the same manual process to get these courses onto my iPad.

Get all new content into a backup
1) Connect the iPad to the MBA M1 and do a sync between the iPad and MBA M1.
2) Do an iPad backup to the MBA M1.

This process 1) moved the new courses to my iPad but 2) all non-Apple apps crashed on my iPad.

Then to get all new content onto iPad and non-Apple apps working
1) For the iPad, "Erase All Content and Settings"
2) Do an iPad restore from the MBA M1 from the most recent backup which includes the new content.
Whatever you do, DO NOT DO A SYNC between the iPad and MBA M1! Only needed to be done with "get all new content into a backup"

You will need to reconfigure some Apps both Apple and non-Apple ones. For example, I had to re-download all songs onto Apple Music and reconfigure my car key.
 
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Previous content from this post is included in the above post #12
 
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I just got off the phone with the Senior Advisor. There is not yet a resolution but one may come as early as next week. She really appreciated us sharing all our case numbers. Each case has its own engineer or engineering teams working both separately and together to find a solution; ie, the data logs from our cases are being compared to each other. She also mentioned that if we know of any other Apple Cases with this issue to make sure that we include those cases with ours. If possible, please direct others who have similar issues to this thread and we can potentially help solve this issue sooner.

We have a followup call for Wed, Dec 30 at 12pm ET. After the call, I will update.
 
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tennis_lover said:
Consolidating other threads of this issue:

CodeMonkeyZimbu's response which centers on M1 as he has BigSur 11.1 on Intel MBA 2014 and BigSur 11.1 on M1 2020. Only the M1 has this issue. https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...and-ipad.2276158/?post=29422117#post-29422117

werndog's response where he has the same issue with iPhone 7 and iPhone 12: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...and-ipad.2276161/?post=29426789#post-29426789
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot for all the efforts you put into having as much documented as possible. I was a bit off due to x-mas - I'm awaiting the update on 28th from the engineering team.
 
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Update from the senior advisor, "Currently there are no updates at the moment from engineering. They are currently still working on the issue."

As such, I'm going to purchase the MacBook Air 2020 with the Intel chip and return this MacBook Air M1. This issue has been continuing for over 4 weeks, with no progress from Apple. I just don't have the patience to continue.
 
tennis_lover said:
Update from the senior advisor, "Currently there are no updates at the moment from engineering. They are currently still working on the issue."

As such, I'm going to purchase the MacBook Air 2020 with the Intel chip and return this MacBook Air M1. This issue has been continuing for over 4 weeks, with no progress from Apple. I just don't have the patience to continue.
Click to expand...
I'll keep on waiting as it was holiday season so delays were expeced.

I don't have experience with Intel Mac Air, but purely from continuity perspective I would stick to the M1.
 
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Spoke with my Senior Advisor today. Engineering is still working on the problem. I provided them with several more logs from a fresh iPhone that's experiencing the issue, before the failure, then immediately after the failure. I'm supposed to hear back in a couple days once they have a chance to review the logs, but with New Year's, I wouldnttbe surprised to hear back next week.

FWIW, I agree with Hugo11. Despite the problems, the M1 machine has been amazing so far. I'll definitely be sticking with mine. I expected a few early adopter issues, and they seem to be taking the issue seriously. It'll just take time for them to track it down.
 
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Hey everyone! i've also been having this issue with my Macbook Pro with the M1 processor. I've been in contact with senior advisors and they've sent some logs over to the engineers, but nothing has come of them yet. Has anyone heard back on a potential fix yet, or are you all still waiting as well?
 
meaghanb16 said:
Has anyone heard back on a potential fix yet, or are you all still waiting as well?
Click to expand...
Still waiting. Sent over more logs and screen captures from both the Mac and the iPhone while recreating the issue on Monday.

I'll DM you my case number. Next time you speak to your advisor (if they don't give you a fix) you can reference my case so they can link the cases.
 
meaghanb16 said:
Hey everyone! i've also been having this issue with my Macbook Pro with the M1 processor. I've been in contact with senior advisors and they've sent some logs over to the engineers, but nothing has come of them yet. Has anyone heard back on a potential fix yet, or are you all still waiting as well?
Click to expand...
Still waiting as well. I sent you over my case number and if you can reply with yours we can put all our cases together which may help come up with a solution.
 
same situation here, I got a call from Apple that they are working on the issues and updates should be checked regularly. Nevertheless they could not provide an ETA.
 
hugo11 said:
same situation here, I got a call from Apple that they are working on the issues and updates should be checked regularly. Nevertheless they could not provide an ETA.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the update Hugo! I'm still patiently waiting since Nov. 22, so what's another few weeks :). Let's hope Apple's solution solves all of our problems with the disappearing and unusable icons on our iPads and iPhones.
 
Anyone tried the 14.4 update to see if problem persists? I’m afraid to and my Apple support rep said he hadn’t been told by engineering yet that 14.4 would fix it.
 
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