I also don't get it. It's very strange behavior, and it is almost certainly related to the iCloud servers. Hopefully soon this feature will inexplicably begin working for me once more. It hasn't yet, though.
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iCloud tabs not syncing
- Thread starter Morac
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I'm at about 2–3 weeks of really good functionality. 🤞🏼
What's it doing for you now? The thing where the cloud tabs directory will suddenly vanish for hours at a time or just not update?
Mine appeared to have stopped working this morning. My iPhone was showing the iCloud tabs correctly open on my iPad but, although I had tabs open on my iPhone, there were no iCloud tabs from my iPhone showing on my iPad.
Closing and reopening Safari on both devices has resolved that, and both devices are now in sync again.
Closing and reopening Safari on both devices has resolved that, and both devices are now in sync again.
This thread has thousands of comments. Are just the three of us the only ones who are still having this issue? Very annoyed right now.
This thread has 957 comments, not thousands. I think for most of us who were having trouble the issue has been resolved. I'm not sure where that leaves you, though, unfortunately.
I accept the correction.
It would be nice to know what others did, if anything, to resolve the problem.
I can't think of anything I did, but it's been working—and fast, too—among my three devices for the last month or thereabouts.
Some people who are running the latest macOS have no issues at all. Some people who are running macOS Big Sur are having problems ONLY with their Mac tabs syncing. Some people, like the individual who posted last week, are only on older software versions (pre iOS 13 and pre Mojave) and yet have the problem, too. I'm totally perplexed about what could be causing this. Just years of poor programming of this feature in Safari coming home to roost? A glitch on the iCloud server side? Corrupted iCloud accounts (whatever that means!)? It would be really nice if Apple were more transparent about what they've discovered here.
As an aside, I'll note that I recently booted an old 2015 MacBook Air that I haven't used in years, with the software still on Sierra. It's not on any iCloud account. Anyway, when I launched safari I was positively FLOORED at how quick it was. Lightning fast. Even on my new 2020 MacBook Air, launching safari under Big Sur takes noticeably longer. What are the software engineers doing in Cupertino??? It seems they have a major bloat and bug problem, esp with Safari.
As an aside, I'll note that I recently booted an old 2015 MacBook Air that I haven't used in years, with the software still on Sierra. It's not on any iCloud account. Anyway, when I launched safari I was positively FLOORED at how quick it was. Lightning fast. Even on my new 2020 MacBook Air, launching safari under Big Sur takes noticeably longer. What are the software engineers doing in Cupertino??? It seems they have a major bloat and bug problem, esp with Safari.
Does anybody who is still having this problem want to try changing the email address associated with their Apple ID? It seems that there are threads on various Internet forums where people say doing this helped them with other safari sync issues (like bookmarks).
Yup same setup on the same Mac with my partners account and her iOS devices no issues with tabs syncing again.
Mine however will cause tabs to appear very slow and then when I make a change to the tab list by deleting something, iCloud tabs disappear all together?
So the ones working with apple technicians... no reply yet?
Mine however will cause tabs to appear very slow and then when I make a change to the tab list by deleting something, iCloud tabs disappear all together?
So the ones working with apple technicians... no reply yet?
There was a person named "TheAdder" who appeared to be working closely with Senior Support, but that person has dropped out from this discussion, it seems.
I would also encourage you to begin working with support on this. I have been in contact with tier 2 people for two months now... expecting another callback tomorrow.
I just purchased a new iPad and set it up restoring a backup from iCloud. The new iPad shows about 15 or so really old random iCloud tabs under the main safari window. I can close each of them manually, but the same ones return anytime I use safari on my iPhone and remove the tab I was browsing there. I do not have any tabs open on either device, but when I do the new tabs show on each device like one would expect. I do not know how to permanently get rid of the old iCloud tabs And keep them from coming back.
I have tried unchecking safari on both my iPhone and iPad under iCloud, but it did not help.
I have tried unchecking safari on both my iPhone and iPad under iCloud, but it did not help.
Your tabs will likely begin working normally as soon as these phantom tabs disappear from the iCloud server cache. The time it normally takes for that to occur is seven days, so I'd be patient.
I hope so, but I have had the new iPad since 2/20/2021. I am submitting a feedback ticket just in case.
I booted up an old iphone running ios 13 yesterday, signed into my icloud account, and launched safari. I noticed that the devices that generally give me the most trouble with icloud tabs (namely, my ipad pro and my mac mini) had a lot of old cached tabs from weeks ago listed under their icloud tab entry. The devices that have come closest to working normally and generally synch well together (my iphone and my macbook air) had NO cached tabs.
So at this point, I'm 99 percent certain that TabGate is caused by iCloud server-side caching issues. Whether that can be fixed via an end-user software update or needs tinkering only on the server side, I don't know. But it seems that this isn't the first time that iCloud server-side caching has wreaked havoc in Safari synching.
So at this point, I'm 99 percent certain that TabGate is caused by iCloud server-side caching issues. Whether that can be fixed via an end-user software update or needs tinkering only on the server side, I don't know. But it seems that this isn't the first time that iCloud server-side caching has wreaked havoc in Safari synching.
Everyone who is still having this issue: I may have some good news in the next day or two. I need to do some more testing, but it appears I have found a method for fixing tab synching based on what I suspected the issue to be. Stay tuned.
They were working for a little while, but additional testing proved it to be a bust. So we're stuck at square one. I've noticed Apple has begun responding to my Feedback Assistant reports by closing the reports claiming "Investigation Complete - Unable to Diagnose with Current Information." Ya think? Well, what additional information would you engineers like?
I wonder if changing password will fix this. I know changing a password resets device tokens so it might clear the cache of an old device.
Mine is now syncing but very very slowly. Also tabs from the morning session despite being closed now appear with current tabs in iCloud tabs of other devices.
Mine is now syncing but very very slowly. Also tabs from the morning session despite being closed now appear with current tabs in iCloud tabs of other devices.