iPad Pro - Notes issue

[Ifti]

Brand new iPad Pro 12.9.
Set up from scratch (no backup restored).
Logged into iCloud.
Everything is working Ok other then Notes.

I'm connected to my iCloud as I have all my photos, safari bookmarks, passwords, contacts, calendar - everything has synced just fine.
Its just my notes.

Ive been into iCloud settings and ensured my notes are set to sync, and set to my iCloud account.
Ive been into Notes in settings and ensured it is set to sync.

Ive compared everything to my iPhone and all settings are the same, yet I still get no notes on the iPad. I get a swirling icon as though its loading - but nothing.

Ive logged out of iCloud on the iPad and back in. Turned sync off and on - nothing.
Ive created a new note on the iPad, but it does not sync with my iCloud either - so its not sending or receiving.

My iCloud account is not the issue - notes sync between my iPhone and MacBook perfectly fine, so pretty sure it's the iPad (even though everything else from iCloud syncs with my iPad ok...)

Anyone know of anything else I can try?
Thank you

 

[Isamilis]

Notes took sometimes to sync. I experienced this while ago, what I did is “stimulate” the sync by creating new notes on the iPad. Check how it sync to other devices. Also, check if new notes created in iPhone. It may took 30 minutes to start sync (understand this is unusual). Also make sure the iPad didn’t use VPN or custom DNS (in my case, I didn’t install / setup anything after “setup as new” until notes are synced successfully).

 

[Morac]

Depending on how many notes you have, the initial setup can trigger a “throttle” response from the server. Normally this would cause the device to stop and try again later.

I don’t know if this is an issue with Notes, but when Screen Time is first enabled, it ignores the requests to try again later (a bug) and simply hammers the server which causes it to never stop throttling. In that case I found turning the device off for an hour got things working.

Again I don’t know if Notes is similar, but considering the how buggy iOS is lately, I wouldn’t be surprised. The only way to know for sure is if you have a Mac, then you can check the Notes console logging.

 

[Ifti]

I only have 10-15 notes - nothing very intense.

I do have a MacBook ano iPhone, both of which sync notes perfectly fine - instantly in fact. How do I check the Notes console logging?

Thank you.

 

[Morac]

If you connect the iPad to the Mac with a USB-C cable and open the Console app and pick the iPad you can stream the logs from the iPad. Most of the log data is incomprehensible, but you should be able to filter on Notes and see if it’s constantly throwing errors or even doing anything at all.

 

[Ifti]

Thanks - will try that.
I did try deleting the Notes app completely and then reinstalling it - made no difference!

 

[Ifti]

So I’ve been messing around with it a bit more. Seems any notes I create on the iPad upload to my iCloud and are instantly available on my iPhone. So it’s working that way.
I then created a new note, in the same folder, on my iPhone - the ipad doesn’t download it.
Hence seems to only be working one way!……

EDIT : Success!
After doing the above my iCloud notes started to come down and I now have them all finally!

 

[msackey]

Huzzah! iCloud syncing is a bear when it doesn't work. ugh!

 

[Isamilis]

So I’ve been messing around with it a bit more. Seems any notes I create on the iPad upload to my iCloud and are instantly available on my iPhone. So it’s working that way.
I then created a new note, in the same folder, on my iPhone - the ipad doesn’t download it.
Hence seems to only be working one way!……

EDIT : Success!
After doing the above my iCloud notes started to come down and I now have them all finally!

Glad to hear the “stimulation” workaround is still work. I had this success back in iOS 13.

 

[CharlesShaw]

You got it working, but it sure sounded to me like the Notes on your iPhone that wouldn’t sync were using the “On My iPhone“ account (toggle switch in settings) which would only be local to the phone.

 

[Ifti]

You got it working, but it sure sounded to me like the Notes on your iPhone that wouldn’t sync were using the “On My iPhone“ account (toggle switch in settings) which would only be local to the phone.

Thanks, but none of my notes are stored locally on my devices. The notes were syncing between phone and MacBook perfectly fine, it was just the iPad that wouldn't pick them up - although finally did....