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iPhone Reminders on iOS/iPadOS not syncing to/from iCloud/other devices
- Thread starter Jason_G
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Just checking back in. After using local reminders between iPhone and Apple Watch for awhile, I wanted to see if all the new OS updates made any difference. So I turned on iCloud reminders for all my devices. I notice that syncing between iPhone and Mac and iPad and iCloud.com seem to work OK. But syncing between iPhone and Apple Watch still does not work reliably. After wiping and re-pairing Apple Watch, it’ll sync reminders, but after that it’s a crapshoot. Also, the battery drain on Apple Watch is absolutely insane. It dropped 7% from the beginning of this paragraph until now.
Fascinatingly, using reminders via my work Exchange account works instantaneously between all devices. Thus, this is an iCloud problem—not a reminders.app problem. I may have to use my backup yahoo account to house all my reminders there, and just use 3rd party accounts with the reminders app. In fact this is the only and best fix I have found for this issue: make some account that you can connect to via any accounts tab (in the settings app under notes, reminders, contacts, et), and just move all of your iCloud reminders over there. Set one of the exchange lists as the default list (which does work), and away you go. The only caveat is the advanced features such as groups, labeling lists with icons, and with colors (exchange lists have very few colors to choose from) are incompatible with non-Apple accounts.
as mentioned in the past by somebody, I did try making an alternate iCloud account to see if that would do anything—and it did. And so clearly the folks suffering this issue have corrupted iCloud accounts. And I have no idea how it would’ve happened to only specific accounts during the reminders “upgrade” (😒) a few years ago, but it seems “uncorrupting” them is the only way to go—or migrating to a new iCloud account.
I have no idea if it is possible to transfer purchases in iTunes/Apple Music, the various app stores, etc, emails, etc, to a new iCloud account (iCloud Drive would be a simple drag and drop) via a simple process or even manually, but that would seem to be the only option. Of course I’d then “lose” the Apple ID I’ve been using for over a decade—which is annoying.
after 3 years of this, I cannot believe it has not been resolved. I think with all the people this affects, it must be a known issue. It’s not a software issue, but an account issue. And I don’t know if there is even a mechanism at Apple to “fix” broken iCloud accounts.
this is just very disappointing. So very disappointing.
all that said: give the 3rd party account workaround a shot. This is also good for transferring local reminders out to another account, so they are not lost when “merging” reminders if and when one decides to give iCloud reminders a shot again. At least this way if you have to turn it off and it deletes all of those reminders, you can just send them right back to the local iPhone reminders by copying from a 3rd party account.
good luck y’all
Fascinatingly, using reminders via my work Exchange account works instantaneously between all devices. Thus, this is an iCloud problem—not a reminders.app problem. I may have to use my backup yahoo account to house all my reminders there, and just use 3rd party accounts with the reminders app. In fact this is the only and best fix I have found for this issue: make some account that you can connect to via any accounts tab (in the settings app under notes, reminders, contacts, et), and just move all of your iCloud reminders over there. Set one of the exchange lists as the default list (which does work), and away you go. The only caveat is the advanced features such as groups, labeling lists with icons, and with colors (exchange lists have very few colors to choose from) are incompatible with non-Apple accounts.
as mentioned in the past by somebody, I did try making an alternate iCloud account to see if that would do anything—and it did. And so clearly the folks suffering this issue have corrupted iCloud accounts. And I have no idea how it would’ve happened to only specific accounts during the reminders “upgrade” (😒) a few years ago, but it seems “uncorrupting” them is the only way to go—or migrating to a new iCloud account.
I have no idea if it is possible to transfer purchases in iTunes/Apple Music, the various app stores, etc, emails, etc, to a new iCloud account (iCloud Drive would be a simple drag and drop) via a simple process or even manually, but that would seem to be the only option. Of course I’d then “lose” the Apple ID I’ve been using for over a decade—which is annoying.
after 3 years of this, I cannot believe it has not been resolved. I think with all the people this affects, it must be a known issue. It’s not a software issue, but an account issue. And I don’t know if there is even a mechanism at Apple to “fix” broken iCloud accounts.
this is just very disappointing. So very disappointing.
all that said: give the 3rd party account workaround a shot. This is also good for transferring local reminders out to another account, so they are not lost when “merging” reminders if and when one decides to give iCloud reminders a shot again. At least this way if you have to turn it off and it deletes all of those reminders, you can just send them right back to the local iPhone reminders by copying from a 3rd party account.
good luck y’all
I like your alternative to Reminders. However, I like to use Fantastical and I'm not sure it'll sync with another reminder/task app on the Mac. I see where in iOS you can choose where it looks for tasks, but I haven't seen an equivalent in MacOS. I'll keep looking.
thanks.
Thanks so much for the detailed update. I am also using Exchange, but my wife is not so we can no longer share Reminder lists. I had hope for the betas but they haven’t changed anything for me. This remains very frustrating.
Well I was just about to try the betas. I guess I won’t waste my time
I can't believe this issues still isn't resolved. I contacted Apple back in early 2020. Like many of you, I spent a lot of time troubleshooting with Apple support people. They eventually acknowledged the issue was on their side, but said they couldn't provide an estimate on when it would be fixed.
With each software update on Mac/iPad/iPhone etc, I hope that it's resolved. I try again to use the basic service that is reminders/syncing. It never works and just leads to more frustration.
It's more than just a bit ridiculous at this point. The Apple iCloud and/or Reminders App dev teams should be pretty embarrassed by this kind of user experience.
With each software update on Mac/iPad/iPhone etc, I hope that it's resolved. I try again to use the basic service that is reminders/syncing. It never works and just leads to more frustration.
It's more than just a bit ridiculous at this point. The Apple iCloud and/or Reminders App dev teams should be pretty embarrassed by this kind of user experience.
It's utterly pathetic—just installed iOS and iPadOS 15.0 and the same crap. It's worst on Big Sur, where the remindd process often uses all CPU power if not "tamed" by the App Tamer app… and STILL never syncs reliably. I've had so many important Reminders just vanish—many scheduled way in the future, reminding me to cancel subscriptions and the like—that I don't trust it anymore.
I've had other recurring issues with iCloud bugs over the years, and have heard so many horror stories of people permanently losing data as a result. Apple's services just aren't up to snuff.
My other main frustration around Reminders is that it doesn't integrate with the Calendar app—how can Apple not combine those into a solid program with decent features? Where it's easy to, say, drag-and-drop or right-click to create a Reminder from an iMessage, email, document, etc.—that then shows up in one's daily Calendar as well? What share of users would take advantage of it—80%? 95%? And right now none of the programs that have even some of that functionality work for me: Fantastical, Things, etc. The only one that comes close is BusyCal, which is still a little limited in some areas and is reliant on the Reminders architecture which constantly fails. For example: deleting a BusyCal task often doesn't delete it from Reminders—and sometimes duplicates or triplicates it! And although I don't create tasks in the Reminders app, sometimes blank ones, which were never created in BusyCal, just appear there at random.
Any suggestions would be appreciated—mostly I need an integrated calendar/to-do list into which I can easily add emails, Messages, documents, and the like.
Thanks, all!
Wills
I'm currently using Apple Mail and Calendar, but I did switch over to Microsoft's To Do several months ago, and I believe that does integrate nicely with Outlook. At least as far as a task/reminders app, I'm pretty happy with it. It does not include location-based reminders, nor will it fire a reminder when you are texting a specific person, but it does reliably (and instantly) sync across my iMac, iPad, and iPhone. Moreover, I can trust that if my iPhone were stolen or destroyed, my reminders (err...tasks) would not disappear forever because they are being stored on Microsoft's server.
(The latter is my biggest issue. I actually quite prefer Apple Reminders interface and functionality, but if I'm going to use it to remind me about very important things, those things absolutely must be stored safely in iCloud in case something happens to my phone. Cross-platform use is, of course, an extra bonus for having Reminders stored in iCloud. But, as we know, Reminders sure as heck is not properly storing things in iCloud for all users.)
Firstly, you've described the extremely frustrating problem that I've been having - Watch won't sync with iCloud, but will sync locally with iPhone when iCloud is turned off for Reminders. I'd hoped iOS 15 would fix the issue but it didn't. My partner and I have spent all weekend tinkering with no success, so I contacted Apple Support to report the issue to help flag it for the developers.
While I was waiting in the phone queue I think (🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻) I accidentally fixed the problem. I had created my iCloud account years ago with email #1 but then changed it to email #2 at some point while leaving email #1 as a secondary contact option. When I deleted email #1 completely from my iCloud account all of my devices began to sync properly. My Watch Reminders app is pretty slow, but it's a series 4 and it is syncing!
I'll update if this is only temporary, but I hope this helps some of you. I know how frustrating this experience has been for me. I've come to expect Apple devices and software to just work and when they don't it is the end of the world.
UPDATE: I had a feeling it was too good to be true, and it was. It's definitely an iCloud/AppleID level issue which I think has something to do with the email address associated with my AppleID but beyond that I'm back at square one.
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Hmm, this is intriguing to me, because I also switched my Apple ID to a new email address (Gmail.com) several years ago (from an old Yahoo.com address). (By the way, I'm assuming that when you say "iCloud account" you mean your Apple ID.) But I don't have that old Yahoo.com email address any longer tied to my account.
Under "Settings --> Apple ID --> Name, Phone Numbers, Email" I have only the updated Apple ID email address (Gmail.com), my cell phone number, and the iCloud.com email address that was automatically generated many years ago (which I don't actually use for anything and cannot be removed from my Apple ID).
I would definitely consider switching to the iCloud.com email address as my Apple ID - and removing the Gmail.com address - if I thought it might fix this Reminders cloud syncing issue.
This is interesting, but for me I've only ever used the original @mac.com address which is the same AppleID ever since day 1. So, are you saying that I could try to change my AppleID using this option:
I have no idea if this would have an impact on iCloud syncing for Reminders. I'd love to hear if anyone has found this to be a potential remedy. I'm somewhat reluctant to alter my Apple ID email address since I remember it as being a bit of a pain when I did so several years ago.
I have a possible solution to offer.
I installed iOS15 and was disappointed (like the rest of you) to see that Reminders was still not syncing with iCloud. As I have mentioned in earlier posts in this thread, my iCloud syncing specifically for Reminders had gotten progressively worse over the course of several years, shifting from simply being unreliable to being entirely non-functional.
Prior to installing iOS15 on my iPhone and iPad, I turned off iCloud Reminders on both of those devices, as well as my iMac, and cleared out any existing test reminders I had created recently. After installation, I turned on iCloud Reminders only on my iPhone and created some test reminders on it - after a day or two, none had synced to iCloud (which I was checking via the browser interface). Basically what I was expecting.
Then, in frustration (and a willingness to try anything), I went into Settings for Reminders and switched off ALL options under "Siri & Search," just on a whim.
To my amazement, Reminders pretty much immediately started syncing my test reminders with iCloud.
Next, I reconnected my iMac Reminders to iCloud. There is no “Siri & Search” option for that one, so I simply reconnected it. It didn’t work. I restarted the computer, and it started working.
Lastly, with my pretty outdated iPad, I performed the same actions that I had on my iPhone, including making sure that the “Siri & Search” settings were all switched off. It took a long time (and a restart of the device), but it also kicked in and began syncing.
In terms of syncing speed, all the platforms are intermittently slow. Sometimes the phone or iMac will sync nearly immediately; sometimes they take as much as 5 or 10 minutes. The iPad is the worst offender, and I’m willing to chalk that up to how old it is - it is slow at everything. Also, Reminders was always slow at syncing for me, even when it was fully functioning, years ago.
I’m still kind of awestruck that Reminders appears to be properly syncing with iCloud now. I’ve been tinkering with it quite literally for YEARS. I wonder if this will work for anyone else, and I further wonder if it will continue to work for me. I have so little faith in this app….
I plan to continue testing and only slowly reincorporate important reminders back into it. If I see changes, I'll update this post.
For reference, I’m using the following:
UPDATE:
Four days later, my three devices are still syncing. The syncing isn't lightning fast (nor is the general speed of Reminders, which is fast on my iMac, slow on my iPhone, and ponderously slow on my iPad), but it works.
I'm definitely interested to hear if this solution fixes iCloud syncing issues for any other users.
I installed iOS15 and was disappointed (like the rest of you) to see that Reminders was still not syncing with iCloud. As I have mentioned in earlier posts in this thread, my iCloud syncing specifically for Reminders had gotten progressively worse over the course of several years, shifting from simply being unreliable to being entirely non-functional.
Prior to installing iOS15 on my iPhone and iPad, I turned off iCloud Reminders on both of those devices, as well as my iMac, and cleared out any existing test reminders I had created recently. After installation, I turned on iCloud Reminders only on my iPhone and created some test reminders on it - after a day or two, none had synced to iCloud (which I was checking via the browser interface). Basically what I was expecting.
Then, in frustration (and a willingness to try anything), I went into Settings for Reminders and switched off ALL options under "Siri & Search," just on a whim.
To my amazement, Reminders pretty much immediately started syncing my test reminders with iCloud.
Next, I reconnected my iMac Reminders to iCloud. There is no “Siri & Search” option for that one, so I simply reconnected it. It didn’t work. I restarted the computer, and it started working.
Lastly, with my pretty outdated iPad, I performed the same actions that I had on my iPhone, including making sure that the “Siri & Search” settings were all switched off. It took a long time (and a restart of the device), but it also kicked in and began syncing.
In terms of syncing speed, all the platforms are intermittently slow. Sometimes the phone or iMac will sync nearly immediately; sometimes they take as much as 5 or 10 minutes. The iPad is the worst offender, and I’m willing to chalk that up to how old it is - it is slow at everything. Also, Reminders was always slow at syncing for me, even when it was fully functioning, years ago.
I’m still kind of awestruck that Reminders appears to be properly syncing with iCloud now. I’ve been tinkering with it quite literally for YEARS. I wonder if this will work for anyone else, and I further wonder if it will continue to work for me. I have so little faith in this app….
I plan to continue testing and only slowly reincorporate important reminders back into it. If I see changes, I'll update this post.
For reference, I’m using the following:
- iPhone SE (2020) - iOS 15.0
- iMac (Late 2015) - macOS Big Sur 11.6
- iPad Air 2 - iPadOS 15.0
UPDATE:
Four days later, my three devices are still syncing. The syncing isn't lightning fast (nor is the general speed of Reminders, which is fast on my iMac, slow on my iPhone, and ponderously slow on my iPad), but it works.
I'm definitely interested to hear if this solution fixes iCloud syncing issues for any other users.
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erm, how the hell did you figure that out!?
It's finally working for me with your steps! I haven't had this working since around 29th January 2020 and created this thread in Feb 2020, so much time and effort has gone into this and you seem to have cracked it! What led you to that?
Currently syncing across:
iPhone 13 Pro (iOS 15.0)
iMac (Late 2014) - Big Sur 11.6
Apple Watch Series 4 - watchOS 8.0
I'll give it time, but currently processor is going mad on the iMac (remindd)
Actually iMac to iCloud and therefore other devices not working, yet! Maybe remindd just needs more time to do it's thing for now, will send an update tomorrow
In case you haven't yet, once you've implemented all the steps I did, try restarting all of the devices you are using. Then give it a little time.
At this point, roughly 24 hours after I initially implemented the Settings changes, all three of my devices are syncing quickly and accurately. Time will tell if this continues...
So just coming back to this, it's working!! 🥳🥳🥳
iMac to iCloud = instant
iPhone to iCloud = within a minute or two
iCloud to iPhone & iMac = within a minute or two
Remindd calmed down after about 24 hours on my iMac and seems to be behaving ever since.
Thank you!
iMac to iCloud = instant
iPhone to iCloud = within a minute or two
iCloud to iPhone & iMac = within a minute or two
Remindd calmed down after about 24 hours on my iMac and seems to be behaving ever since.
Thank you!
That's great to hear! Happy to find out that this is working for other users.
I wish there was a way to get this message out to what I assume are the many users who suffer from this problem, since my own internet searches over the past couple of years yielded no successful solutions.
This is working for me! Can’t thank you enough. I think I have had my syncing issues for a couple of years now. Super frustrating. Let’s hope this does the trick!
IPhone 12 mini
Apple Watch series 6
IPad Pro 2018
MBP 2020 13 (haven’t turned icloud reminders back on yet on this machine).
Oh my goodness, it’s working for me too! I’ve been waiting for this day for a couple of years!! I have no idea how you even thought to disable those settings but let’s hope it continues working! You’re my hero haha!
it’s working on:
iPhone 12 (iOS 15.0.1)
Apple Watch series 4 (watchOS 8)
iPad Pro 2018 (iPadOS 15.0.1)
Haven’t enabled on Mac mini yet
Thank you thank you!!
thanks very much for the tip! Like everyone here, this bug has been bothering me for at least half a year.
My iPad Pro 2018 and MacBook Pro 2020 has been working well but my iPhone 11 Pro and Apple Watch Series 5 refuses to play ball with extreme battery drainage from remindd processes. I had to switch to Microsoft Tasks but the Apple Watch implementation had to be taken care off with a shortcut and doesn’t work consistently.
Came back in search of a solution after changing to an iPhone 13 Pro but had no luck until I saw this reply. Now reminders are syncing well on the phone. The Watch appears to be still plagued with syncing issues and battery drain. I saw that some of you with the Apple Watches are doing fine. Do you have any tips for me?
Would appreciate your kind advice!!!
Bummer to hear that! For me, it took a little bit of time for the Reminders app to work on my Watch. I ended up unpairing and repairing the watch two times (which is tedious) and after the second try, things started working. Not sure if that’s the fix for everyone but that‘s what worked for me!
That is tedious and I did that multiple times before coming across this tip with turning off Siri for Reminders. Perhaps I will try it out again. Did you restore your watch from a backup or did you set it up as new again?