We have no idea how many people are affected by this issue. It certainly doesn't seem to be a tiny fringe, though.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iCloud tabs not syncing
- Thread starter Morac
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Originally yes, but I’d say for most people this has been fixed over a month ago. There’s only a handful of people still complaining about it every few days, where early on it was getting a lot more posts daily.
I’d say it’s hard to differentiate between the people here “complaining” and folks that just wouldn’t expect this feature to exist at all because maybe it’s never worked for them before. Who knows, right? Maybe there’s a large group of people that don’t even know this should be an option for them because maybe they only have an iPhone and not another iDevice.
At any rate, Apple doesn’t seem willing to fix this because if they did care, they would have replied to me *at least once* and maybe tried to do any troubleshooting at all. Maybe asked a question? Something? Instead they mark it saying they just can’t diagnose it lolol
Yep, their "investigation" is "complete." Their findings? They don't care whether you're still having this problem.
Could they offer access to iCloud bookmarks and/or tabs on iCloud.com, in some sort on online interface? I think I remember that Xmarks used to offer this.
Still having an issue where my M1 MBP is showing like 25+ open Safari Tabs on my iPhone 12 Pro, that aren't open. Siri Suggestions seem to be working, showing what open tabs are on my other devices, but Handoff has completely stopped working for me.
I've filed another feedback, FB9079110 😢 But, considering the other one I filed was closed saying their "investigation is complete" and that they couldn't find any problems.. I'm not very optimistic. These were some of the main reasons I've been using Safari. If their main features don't even work, I might as well switch to another Browser.
I've filed another feedback, FB9079110 😢 But, considering the other one I filed was closed saying their "investigation is complete" and that they couldn't find any problems.. I'm not very optimistic. These were some of the main reasons I've been using Safari. If their main features don't even work, I might as well switch to another Browser.
Yes, it is still broken. As I said, it is unlikely that this will be fixed before the next major software releases (ie MacOS 12 and iOS 15). I've gone through Apple support enough to know when I'm getting the run-around, and all of us here are definitely getting a really inept form of the run-around from Apple support.
I’m so glad that I found this thread and I’m not the only one!
I got an iPad in December and I want to say that iCloud tabs has consistently not worked since then. I only own this iPad and an iPhone.
Baffling.
Like other users in this thread I can only surmise that its a server side issue. The sync is supposed to be near instantane but the only explanation I can think of is the new data is stuck somewhere, so the devices are showing what they think is current but is actually some time out of date. If Apple didn’t make the whole cloud sync so bloody opaque it would be easier to figure out where the problem is.
To add to this, today I noticed that my iPad isn’t loading Frequently Visited on the safari new tab page. It has favourites, the setting is enable,d and it’s working on my iPhone, but isn’t working on iPad. Maddening. I wonder if the two issues are linked?
I got an iPad in December and I want to say that iCloud tabs has consistently not worked since then. I only own this iPad and an iPhone.
- iCloud tabs shows on both iPad and iPhone, but the tab list is out of date by a few hours to a few days on one or both devices.
- iCloud tabs shows on one device but not the other, and may or may not be out of date.
- iCloud tabs missing from both devices.
Baffling.
Like other users in this thread I can only surmise that its a server side issue. The sync is supposed to be near instantane but the only explanation I can think of is the new data is stuck somewhere, so the devices are showing what they think is current but is actually some time out of date. If Apple didn’t make the whole cloud sync so bloody opaque it would be easier to figure out where the problem is.
To add to this, today I noticed that my iPad isn’t loading Frequently Visited on the safari new tab page. It has favourites, the setting is enable,d and it’s working on my iPhone, but isn’t working on iPad. Maddening. I wonder if the two issues are linked?
Mine have stopped syncing again. -___-
Not sure why this is such a hard problem to solve.
Not sure why this is such a hard problem to solve.
As a server side issue, it clearly relates to some attribute that some iCloud accounts but not all iCloud accounts have, which is affecting the tab sync. It appears, based on another thread on this forum that has been somewhat active, that there is also an issue others are experiencing with bookmark syncing. It has all but been confirmed that a way to "fix" these issues is to just create a new Apple ID. But that is not an acceptable solution for a number of reasons, not least of which is that we have no idea whether the issue might eventually crop up for whatever new ID we might create. Since we don't know what caused the problem initially (and since it seems to have emerged through no fault of our own), there's no way we can take measures to ensure that it doesn't happen again even if we go through the time-consuming process of migrating our content to a new ID that is under a "family sharing" umbrella with the old account.
When you consider that not everybody who has a Mac uses Safari as their web browser, and that not everybody who does use Safari as their primary browser bothers to use or even look at the tab syncing feature, it becomes pretty clear that this issue likely affects a significant number of accounts, even if only some people have been vocal about it not working on this and other online forums.
And I don't want to beat a dead horse here, but I really have to repeat again: the utter inability or disinterest in the Apple software engineers to fix this most basic but useful of features for a chunk of its users really does cast them in a bad light. That somehow Firefox and Chrome and Edge can nail this feature, but Apple, with its supposedly best-in-class support, cannot or does not, pretty much encapsulates everything we should know about the evolution of Apple since Steve Jobs passed away.
Welcome to the new Apple. They couldn’t give a **** about how crap their software is nor how crap their services are.
Yet mugs like us keep buying into it...More fool us.
Yet mugs like us keep buying into it...More fool us.
Actually, a couple of months ago I was about to fork out another $1,000+ for a new Mac but then thought better of it in view of how utterly disgusted I am with how this issue has been handled. Whether they know it or not, these kind of antics do cost them money and fans.
Couldn’t agree more. Their apathy and arrogance are just disgusting. There are so many issues I’ve raised direct with Apple now that I’ve just given up on them. They will never be fixed.
Last edited:
I actually think those who say the issue has been fixed for them, is not actually fixed.
I still believe that, to the best of my memory, the iCloud tab sync process was instantaneous and seamless.
There's no need to close Safari first on iOS before the tabs appear on macOS (and vice versa) as suggested by some members. What currently is opened is what you get on your other devices.
I still have this issue until now - the iCloud tabs showing are not current, sometimes it shows (but shows past tabs that have been closed), sometimes it doesn't at all.
I haven't posted to this thread for a long time just because I give up already. It doesn't mean the issue is fixed.
I still believe that, to the best of my memory, the iCloud tab sync process was instantaneous and seamless.
There's no need to close Safari first on iOS before the tabs appear on macOS (and vice versa) as suggested by some members. What currently is opened is what you get on your other devices.
I still have this issue until now - the iCloud tabs showing are not current, sometimes it shows (but shows past tabs that have been closed), sometimes it doesn't at all.
I haven't posted to this thread for a long time just because I give up already. It doesn't mean the issue is fixed.
Not gloating here, just reporting: For me it's actually fixed, by your definition. I count my self lucky and don't want to jinx it 🤞🏼, but I can actually watch tabs appear or disappear on one device when I change them on another.
It's not 100% glitch-free in that my iPhone (and only my iPhone) shows some duplicates, but the current ones are all there and stay current.
I see. So you can actually see any change of tabs on one device is reflected on your other devices’ iCloud tabs, in real time? If that’s the case, then you’re lucky!
Spooky: this is exactly the history for my icloud account which has this problem: I changed my email on this icloud account from an external email address to an @icloud.com address many years ago.
Does anybody else have this?
Still not working on my account...
Last edited:
If it helps, I've always been on iCloud, and I'm the guy who just reported that it's working now (although didn't for a long time a few months ago before it was, seemingly and arguably, "fixed."
