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pizzasauce

macrumors newbie
Oct 15, 2014
8
4
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?
I restored from back-up. What do you see in your reminders app currently on your watch? Is it blank or just semi up-to-date?
 

loyking

macrumors member
Jul 28, 2012
31
34
Hmm, for me, nothing was showing up initially and then it was slow for a day or two before it all started coming through. I know that‘s not very helpful but that was at least my experience!
Thanks. I am going to try it out again. Did you disable iCloud reminders on the iPhone (and hence the watch) before you reset and restore?
 

Talarian

macrumors newbie
Sep 17, 2021
17
12
Connecticut, United States
This may not be related to your problems, but my iPhone stopped uploading changes in Reminders as soon as iOS 15.1 was released. I was still using 15.0 and my iPhone was downloading Reminder changes made on other devices, but not uploading changes made on the iPhone. I upgraded to 15.1 and it immediately started working again.
 

pizzasauce

macrumors newbie
Oct 15, 2014
8
4
Thanks. I am going to try it out again. Did you disable iCloud reminders on the iPhone (and hence the watch) before you reset and restore?
No, I left it enabled on the iPhone before I reset but disabling could be worth trying!
 

Alhagar

macrumors 6502
Apr 19, 2015
423
255
Running all of the betas and my reminders have stopped syncing again. Anyone else running the betas experiencing this?
 

loyking

macrumors member
Jul 28, 2012
31
34
Running all of the betas and my reminders have stopped syncing again. Anyone else running the betas experiencing this?
Did the problem resolve after the official version was launched? I am still having no luck with my Apple Watch.
 

Alhagar

macrumors 6502
Apr 19, 2015
423
255
Did the problem resolve after the official version was launched? I am still having no luck with my Apple Watch.
No, but someone on this thread (I think) suggested an unlikely fix that worked for me and others. Under Settings, Reminders, hit “Siri & Search.” Turn everything off under “Siri & Search.” Things sync a little slowly but now they sync.
 

scouser75

macrumors 68030
Oct 7, 2008
2,951
619
Tried the siri method but no luck here. If I change date and time reminder details on my old mac running el capitan, on my iPhone the date stays the same as the old date and the time changes to 16:10 and not the time I changed to.

But if I edit the reminder on the iPhone it changes fine on the Mac.
 

loyking

macrumors member
Jul 28, 2012
31
34
Just to update… iOS 16 and watchOS 9 seems to have solved the syncing woes I had on my Apple Watch Series 5. The first time I loaded up reminders on the watch it paused for a long time syncing and the app even shut itself down. Since that, things appear to be working fine. Going to monitor and hope things stay the same. Synchronisation worked like a charm also to my iPad Pro 2018 running iPadOS 15
 

scouser75

macrumors 68030
Oct 7, 2008
2,951
619
Just to update… iOS 16 and watchOS 9 seems to have solved the syncing woes I had on my Apple Watch Series 5. The first time I loaded up reminders on the watch it paused for a long time syncing and the app even shut itself down. Since that, things appear to be working fine. Going to monitor and hope things stay the same. Synchronisation worked like a charm also to my iPad Pro 2018 running iPadOS 15
That's great. From what OS are you syncing from?
 

loyking

macrumors member
Jul 28, 2012
31
34
Just to update… iOS 16 and watchOS 9 seems to have solved the syncing woes I had on my Apple Watch Series 5. The first time I loaded up reminders on the watch it paused for a long time syncing and the app even shut itself down. Since that, things appear to be working fine. Going to monitor and hope things stay the same. Synchronisation worked like a charm also to my iPad Pro 2018 running iPadOS 15
Another update. Sync still working but the reminder app is really _slow_ on the watch. Reminder lists take forever to load and the app freezes when loading lists. Looking through the Watch diagnostic logs, I’m seeing multiple logs of NanoReminder processes causing crashes whenever I access the reminders app on the watch. Before iOS 16, it used to be remindd processes. At least the sync gets through eventually. On iOS 15, it would fail to get through. I’ve also reinstated the Siri options for Reminders in my iPhone which were recommended to be turned off from a previous post. Seems that the Siri settings is no longer an issue.
 
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Talarian

macrumors newbie
Sep 17, 2021
17
12
Connecticut, United States
I’ve also reinstated the Siri options for Reminders in my iPhone which were recommended to be turned off from a previous post.
That was me. Sadly, my iOS 16 experience has been a little different. Despite keeping the Siri settings off for Reminders, my iPhone SE (2020) is now having trouble syncing reminders from iCloud. I mostly use them on my Mac Mini (running macOS 12.6), which is uploading changes to iCloud (I can see them apply on icloud.com), but those same changes are not coming down to the iPhone. But that little wheel on the app does love to keep spinning.

Edit: 2 days after posting this and I'm still waiting for reminders on my iPhone to fully sync. I have ~350 reminders. Not sure if that number is part of the problem. I do regularly delete completed reminders to help keep things working...but the mere fact that I'm worried about bogging down the app is bothersome. Microsoft's To Do app NEVER has sync issues and is never slow. I should switch over entirely, but I'm still nursing an affection for Apple Reminders' location-based reminders and robust tag system, neither of which To Do has.

I still wonder -- do other Reminders users have problems like this? Or is the problem relegated to some Apple IDs? And, if so, what is causing those specific users to have issues? If we're going to be honest, I spend FAR too much time thinking about the Reminders app.
 
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loyking

macrumors member
Jul 28, 2012
31
34
Just an update in case if anyone is still monitoring this thread. Was on iOS16 and upgraded my watch to an Ultra. Much improved syncing although Reminders on watchOS 9 was still a little laggy with sync taking a much longer time. Just updated to iOS 17 and watchOS 10. Must say that the latest updates seems to have fixed most of the issues I had previously. Finally glad that reminders on the watch seems to be working for most uses and purposes.
 
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Talarian

macrumors newbie
Sep 17, 2021
17
12
Connecticut, United States
Must say that the latest updates seems to have most issues I had previously.
Not sure if you meant to say "the latest updates seems to have fixed most issues I had previously" or if, in fact, the issues have persisted.

I've continued to have terrible syncing issues from my iPhone SE to iCloud -- in fact, I now only use Reminders on my iPhone so I at least know what I've completed and what remains to be completed. BUT, I'm still on iOS 16. I plan to upgrade this weekend, when I have time to work with the new OS features, and I'll try to update this thread after a few days with how my Reminders experience is. (I should note that I do not have an Apple Watch so cannot comment on its functionality with Reminders.)
 
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loyking

macrumors member
Jul 28, 2012
31
34
Not sure if you meant to say "the latest updates seems to have fixed most issues I had previously" or if, in fact, the issues have persisted.

I've continued to have terrible syncing issues from my iPhone SE to iCloud -- in fact, I now only use Reminders on my iPhone so I at least know what I've completed and what remains to be completed. BUT, I'm still on iOS 16. I plan to upgrade this weekend, when I have time to work with the new OS features, and I'll try to update this thread after a few days with how my Reminders experience is. (I should note that I do not have an Apple Watch so cannot comment on its functionality with Reminders.)
My bad. Typos as a result of typing the reply on my iPhone just before bedtime 😬 have amended my post. Hoping that the upgrade to Sonoma soon will not disrupt the improvements I’ve seen so far. For interest, I’ve also turned the Siri suggestions for Reminders back on on my devices. Previously, it was suggested that turning them off will help with the issues.
 
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Jason_G

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 24, 2009
126
57
London, UK
My bad. Typos as a result of typing the reply on my iPhone just before bedtime 😬 have amended my post. Hoping that the upgrade to Sonoma soon will not disrupt the improvements I’ve seen so far. For interest, I’ve also turned the Siri suggestions for Reminders back on on my devices. Previously, it was suggested that turning them off will help with the issues.
Thanks for this, bit of an overhaul for me as I'm finally upgrading my watch from a Series 4 to Ultra 2 or Series 9 (depending on fit). Hopefully that combined with iOS 17 on a 15 Pro and Sonoma, Reminders will be back performing/syncing with the levels that seem like a distant memory now!

iOS 17 Public Beta on a temporary iPhone 13 hadn't made any difference and in fact, having categories (for a shopping/grocery list) really messed with it too, was unusable on the phone until I 'reset categories'
 

Talarian

macrumors newbie
Sep 17, 2021
17
12
Connecticut, United States
I'm long overdue in updating this ancient thread on my continued syncing issues with Reminders. I've posted on Apple's official support community forums, though I've yet to see any responses to Reminders issues there that do more than link to Apple's support pages, and the solutions offered on those have never helped me. I'll copy my post below, as I've found the responses here on MacRumors to be far more constructive. Thanks, in advance, for any thoughts or feedback anyone can offer.

I have been having iCloud syncing issues with Reminders (and only Reminders) since the app upgrade many years ago. (I believe this was during the iOS 13 cycle.) My iPhone SE (as well as my iPhone 6, before it) syncs only occasionally (and rarely in full) with iCloud. Because of this, I'm unable to use Reminders on my other Apple platforms as they are always out of sync. For the past couple of years, I have used iCloud Reminders solely on my phone.

I've tried various corrective measures without success (including everything that Apple's support pages advise), but I recently noticed something unusual. I created a shortcut to try to assess the situation, which is as follows:

95f7b0f3-ad58-414c-866d-302c49b17736


This shortcut will give me a count of how many uncompleted reminders I have, but that number is not consistent with what the app on my iPhone shows. For instance, as of today the app tells me that I have 383 reminders (in the All smart view). This shortcut, however, returns the number 400 as my actual count of uncompleted reminders. Over the course of a few months, this shortcut has consistently returned a count of 17 more uncompleted reminders than the app is showing.

So I created an additional shortcut to try to find what these reminders are:

f3c5262b-a929-4272-862d-89df35b41e5e


This shortcut provides the full list of uncompleted reminders as a text file, and though laborious (due to my large number of reminders), I can go through it and find the ones that don't appear in the app. But that's as far as I can go. I search for them in the app on my iPhone (by name) and they do not appear. There is no search functionality for Reminders in iCloud.com, so I cannot find them there, nor do they appear in a manual search/scroll of each reminder list either on iCloud.com or on my phone.

I'm left befuddled. I don't even know if finding/deleting these "ghost" reminders would solve my syncing problem, but I have to imagine that they are somehow related to it.

I'm grateful for any thoughts or feedback. I'm willing to "reset" my iCloud reminders to a fresh status and rebuild them manually if such an option is available, assuming that doing so would fully and permanently remove all my iCloud reminders, including the 17 "ghosts" that are floating around in there.
 
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Jason_G

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 24, 2009
126
57
London, UK
I'm long overdue in updating this ancient thread on my continued syncing issues with Reminders. I've posted on Apple's official support community forums, though I've yet to see any responses to Reminders issues there that do more than link to Apple's support pages, and the solutions offered on those have never helped me. I'll copy my post below, as I've found the responses here on MacRumors to be far more constructive. Thanks, in advance, for any thoughts or feedback anyone can offer.
I think I see what you're trying to achieve here and why, I'm afraid I don't really have any suggestions specific to what you're doing, but have you read on from this post (apologies if you have)?

This has got the sync working between devices for me, although launching Reminders and viewing different lists on my iPhone is pretty slow! I'm not sure if it makes a difference but going through each device and deleting all 'completed' reminders might help tidy things up if nothing else (I've come to terms with not having them for future reference).

 
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