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iCloud tabs not syncing

Populus said:
I just wanted to say this for me, I’m the past, when it worked seamlessly, it was instant. You close a tab on your iPhone, it disappears from your Mac. You close that iPhone tab from your Mac, and that tab disappeared from my iPhone Safari browser.

Now it is different. Prior to Big Sur, among iOS 13 and Catalina it still worked but since I installed Big Sur, no syncing anymore. It doesn’t even show any iCloud tabs.

Do you think this problem is related to the operating system? Or is it a system side issue?
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This, I believe, was what I had in the past. But some people disagreed with me that the process was instant/almost instant.

I believe it’s system-side issue cos it affects a wide range of operating systems across Mac & iOS devices.
 
Morac said:
I watched both videos.

In the one from 2 years ago, the person never actually opened a new tab and then checked the iCloud tab list, so there’s no way to tell how long it was sitting there before the tabs updated. Also the person was using an emulator.

In the one from 8 years ago, it took 5 minutes for the tabs to sync according to the person in the video.

Neither of those was “instantaneous”. If you need instantaneous access to tabs on another device when Safari is open on that tab, that’s what handover is for. iCloud tabs is for when you need access to tabs on another device when not using said device, for example when you go out and need to access those tabs on your iPhone.
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CamW222 said:
I think morac is correct here, just based on the logic of how people would tend to use this feature. Those wanting instantaneous transfer would use handoff. iCloud tabs are important for people who are resuming browsing at a later time after some interval, which would imply either closing safari on a mobile device, or having the page loaded on a desktop safari browser for more than a minute or two.
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Thanks, guys, appreciate your input. But I still believe that the process should be instantaneous, it was seamless. I remember I didn’t have to think to learn how to do it (remember to close Safari, etc.) it just worked, even in the middle of browsing session the iCloud tab list is actively updating to reflect what’s on your other devices.
 
realpras said:
This, I believe, was what I had in the past. But some people disagreed with me that the process was instant/almost instant.

I believe it’s system-side issue cos it affects a wide range of operating systems across Mac & iOS devices.
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I meant server-side, I was writing that message while walking through the street and there are a lot of typos. My bad.
 
hoodafoo said:
You can't expect ANY company to account for the billions of different configs/scenarios out there.
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it just works... if it was that easy to brake a software system what does that say?

Besides that what are you on about?

There is one button yes one button responsible for disabling and re-enabling feature its called safari and its under iCloud settings.

So if a user turns it off it doesn't work, if the user turns it on, it should work. For months it stopped working and now it seems to be 50/50 with regards to it working. So if u really think 1 button can result in billions of different configs/scenarios especially with iCloud and iOS which is so lockeddown I think you are sadly mistaken.

My entire set up is default. Everything is basically default. I have 10 additional apps on my iPhone 12 Pro max. I never restore from backup and I always set up as brand new. I use all the stock apps more than I use 3rd party apps. I haven't even changed my wallpaper from the stock iOS 14. Thats how default my setup is and so is my Mac.

So if u suggesting that one of my 100 contacts, 5 to-dos, few calendar items, few notes, 3 weather cities, 5k photos and Apple Music collection and mostly default settings except for font size is responsible for in some way or another...
 
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donawalt said:
7. Minimize Safari on iPhone
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Yes as pointed out by me a few pages back. This makes perfect sense. In one decent session of surfing the web someone could easily open up 100s of pages. What would be the point of having all that sync across to the devices. The system realises that if a particular page has been sitting there in focus for long enough (I think someone tested this and it was 2 minutes) and that you have left it open or minimised safari so your session is "complete" then it performs a sync of tabs to the cloud.

Its the exact same with safari history... Visit 1 page and look at your other devices. its most likely in the history of other devices. Now visit a few pages and you'll notice it not syncing across anymore. Finish your session and look at your phone a few minutes later and the entire chain of websites you have visited has synced across in the history

its just to prevent excessive data flow and cpu cycles

if I was writing code this is how I would do it.
 
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So testing this out now to see if there's any Improvement

1. Opened safari on Mac, went to YouTube and apple.com and then minimised it

2. Nothing appeared on iPhone 14.4

3. Open safari on Mac, under iCloud tabs old tabs appearing. So I tried to manually close one and all the iCloud tabs for all devices dissapeared in the list.

4. Closed YouTube and apple.com and went to macrumors and started replying here.

5. On iPhone, the 2 old previous tabs (YouTube and apple.com) are now showing up...

6. 15 min later and its still showing those 2 tabs and nothing new.
 
iOS 14.4 (18D52): Closed iCloud tabs reappear automatically again and again, ghost iCloud tabs and tab groups show up after erasing the device and restoring it as new without using backup.
 
srbNYC said:
Was it always so nasty here?
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It certainly can be I’m afraid. It’s got an unenviable reputation for it. There are a handful of newer members that continue to bolster said reputation.

I would recommend you report any posts you don’t like to the mods. Judging by your previous posts I can see you would like it to be always friendly and amiable here, and I admire that and wish it were, but unfortunately it’s not a reality. I’ve been banned many times for biting back at troll posts so just use the report option. Hopefully then, the mods will come along and clean up the relevant posts, including ours.
 
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iCloud tabs from my yesterday Mac session on my default M1 Mac are now appearing on iOS. Not a corrupted 2005 Mac.
 
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hoodafoo said:
Wow, so narrow minded you are.
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Obviously didn’t understand...

1. Default config which would mean no extension. But perhaps u didn’t understand that so let me make that clear for u. Default, vanilla, stock, whatever u want to call
It

2. No VPN yes but firewall. But even I was using a VPN, all other iCloud services are syncing so that throws out your wise theory

3. Corrupted files on a 2005?... how about a default stock vanilla M1 MacBook Pro
 
It's been a few days since my last post and things are nearly instantaneous. Worked on both 14.3 and works on 14.4 on a 12 Pro.
 
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I started an account just to post that this function isn't working for me and hasn't for a while now. After not using Safari for a while, the tabs will show up, but when I start loading web pages again on any device, iCloud tabs view will disappear from one or more of my other devices. Very frustrating! I noticed others in this discussion have contacted Apple support and have indirect contact with the engineers. Has anything come of that?
 
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Has anyone tried disabling safari in iCloud settings on all their devices, rebooting and then enabling it?

I'm out of the home for work and my Mac and iPad are there otherwise I would.
 
Working on all my devices but one. My MacBook (Big Sur 11.2) is still showing random tabs I closed on my iOS devices weeks ago.
 
I’m still having this problem. I’ve updated all devices (9.7” iPad Pro, iPhone 12 Pro, and a 27” Retina iMac) and I continue to see no iCloud tabs whatsoever. I’ve disabled and re-enabled the Safari sync setting, force quit Safari, and restarted devices with no change.

Any other suggestions?
 
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