Icloud Safari tabs not syncing

[fiveainone]

No, unfortunelty Safari 11 does not fix iCloud tabs in El Capitan.

It is frustrating that such a simple feature is deliberately broken and the fix is withheld from El Capitan despite Safari 11 being released. I too will have to live without iCloud tabs.

Thanks for this thread. I didn't even notice till I saw this. Was on Sierra Safari 10 and iOS 11, and was just as you described.

Upgraded to Sierra Safari 11, and iOS tabs are showing up now. But.. doesn't update all that quick (have to close a iOS tab through Sierra for Sierra to update the current iOS Safari tabs.) Will probably sort itself out later like iCloud sometimes does.

 

[archvile]

With iOS 11 and High Sierra, Apple has changed how safari synced tabs work. They have added additional security and faster sync, so for it to work correctly all of your devices must be on the most recent software. iOS 11 will be able to see tabs on devices with older software, but not the other way around. For it to work 100%, all your devices must be running the latest respective OS.

 

[Wilson1313]

Heard back from my bug report I sent to Apple.

The expected behavior is:
- Devices using Safari 11 (eg the Mac in this case) can see tabs from other Devices using Safari 11 or earlier
- Devices not updated to Safari 11 (eg the iPhone/iPad) can see tabs from other pre-Safari 11 devices, but cannot see tabs from devices running Safari 11

 

[bmac89]

Heard back from my bug report I sent to Apple.

The expected behavior is:
- Devices using Safari 11 (eg the Mac in this case) can see tabs from other Devices using Safari 11 or earlier
- Devices not updated to Safari 11 (eg the iPhone/iPad) can see tabs from other pre-Safari 11 devices, but cannot see tabs from devices running Safari 11

Thanks but it doesn’t seem to work on El Capitan with Safari 11 from what I have heard. Also the Safari 11 release notes are basically the same for El Capitan, Sierra, High Sierra... except the fix for iCloud tabs is missing from the El Capitan release notes.

Do you have any devices running El Capitan that you can try out?
Also are you able to respond to the bug report specifically regarding ICloud tabs in El Capitan?

Thanks

 

[winterquilt]

I am running El Capitan (v10.11.6 (15G1611)) on my iMac, with Safari (v11.0 (11604.1.38.1.7)) and find that the tabs from my iPhone (11.0.3 (15A432)) do not show up, but the iPad ones (still on iOS 10) still show up.

However, tabs from Safari (iMac) do still show up on both iDevices.

It's iOS 11 causing the trouble.

 

[bmac89]

I am running El Capitan (v10.11.6 (15G1611)) on my iMac, with Safari (v11.0 (11604.1.38.1.7)) and find that the tabs from my iPhone (11.0.3 (15A432)) do not show up, but the iPad ones (still on iOS 10) still show up.

However, tabs from Safari (iMac) do still show up on both iDevices.

It's iOS 11 causing the trouble.

Yes it never worked between iOS 11 beta to older devices until Safari 11 was released for El Capitan, Sierra and High Sierra, except the fix was withheld from El Capitan. The release notes for Safari 11 are the same for each version of MacOS with the exception of iCloud tabs fix missing from El Capitan. There is really no reason why it could not work on El Capitan if Apple had released the fix.

 

[Traverse]

My tabs show up, but when I try to close them from another device and then later pick up that device, the tabs are still there and safari crashes

 

[Chidorin]

Safari tabs don't sync from macos 10.12.6 to ios 10.3.3, but ios tabs visible on macos. Made 2 feedbacks: macos and ios, - idk what can cause the trouble

 

[mansruin]

Apple's iCloud system requirements page still has iOS 6/ OSX 10.10.3/ Safari 6 as the minimum requirements for iCloud Tabs:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204230

When I called support they directed me to the iCloud Tabs page, with iOS 11/ OSX Sierra/ Safari 11 listed as the current requirements. That's quite a jump.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202530

Support guy said if there were enough messages sent to feedback maybe El Capitan would be supported again, but knowing Apple's push for progress/obsolescence...
https://www.apple.com/feedback/icloud.html

 

[Bbafett]

I can see iCloud tabs from iOS 10.3.3 iPhone and sierra Mac on iPad. I can see Mac tabs on iPhone but not the iPad tabs.

Any fixes other than turning off safari sync for a few minutes then back on?

 

[vault]

My Mac with El Capitan stopped showing iOS tabs some time after updating to iOS11 and Safari 11. It doesn't look to me like the updates caused it, more like Apple flipping a switch somewhere in the cloud. Or maybe it just broke and reinstall would fix it?

I upgraded to High Sierra and it's working again. Well, mostly - closed tabs still don't close on Mac after waking from sleep, so there's that.

The whole iCloud sync is kinda fragile, isn't it?

 

[Irishman]

I am having the same problem with safari tabs not syncing, and it just seems to have started with the most recent update on my Mac

 

[Bbafett]

Once both phone and iPad were on iOS 11 I haven’t had an issue since. Still on Sierra for Mac. I think it is something major they changed with iOS 11 and High sierra cloud tab syncing.

 

[mccltd]

same problem here, tabs not syncing and all devices are on the most current version of software. What I did do was create another user on my mac and sign that into iCloud and tabs now sync. tried login in out of iCloud, safari off/on etc but still no go. So it appears to be a profile problem.
Is there any way to reset the profile or may a way to copy all my current setup into the new user profile that works?

 

[Sir Not Cusa]

Similar issue here (all devices on the same Apple ID):

iPhone 5 with iOS 10.3.3: iCloud Safari tabs works.
iPad Air with iOS 11.1.2: iCloud Safari tabs works.
iPhone SE with iOS 10.3.3: iCloud Safari tabs gone/broken.
MacBook Pro with macOS 10.12.6: iCloud Safari tabs gone/broken.
iMac 27'' with macOS 10.12.16: iCloud Safari tabs gone/broken.
Mac mini with macOS 10.12.6: iCloud Safari tabs gone/broken.

What is even odder is the fact that despite the fact that my iPhone SE refuses to show any iCloud tabs (and most visited), the devices where iCloud tabs works knows still get the correct data from the iPhone SE. E.g. if I surf into nytimes.com on my iPhone SE my iPhone 5 will know that my SE is on nytimes.com.

But if I surf into nytimes.com on my iPhone 5, my iPhone SE will not know that my iPhone 5 is anywhere.

 

[frenchcamp49er]

Apple's iCloud system requirements page still has iOS 6/ OSX 10.10.3/ Safari 6 as the minimum requirements for iCloud Tabs:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204230

When I called support they directed me to the iCloud Tabs page, with iOS 11/ OSX Sierra/ Safari 11 listed as the current requirements. That's quite a jump.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202530

Support guy said if there were enough messages sent to feedback maybe El Capitan would be supported again, but knowing Apple's push for progress/obsolescence...
https://www.apple.com/feedback/icloud.html

So it sounds like unless we update this is all we are going to get.

 

[Populus]

Same here!

My situation: I've had a MacBook Pro on Sierra 10.12.1 for a long time, I suppose, with Safari 10.
On my iPhone, iOS 10.2, all the Mac tabs were visible, and all the iPhone Safari tabs were visible on the Mac.

Now I've updated the MacBook Pro to High Sierra 10.13.3, and my iPhone stays at iOS 10.2
The tabs of iOS 10 are visible from Safari 11, but tabs from the Safari 11 are not visible anymore on iOS 10.

I think the older software version stops showing the iCloud tabs of the newer version, doesn't matter if thats the iOS device or the Mac.

 

[UntitledImage]

Same here!

My situation: I've had a MacBook Pro on Sierra 10.12.1 for a long time, I suppose, with Safari 10.
On my iPhone, iOS 10.2, all the Mac tabs were visible, and all the iPhone Safari tabs were visible on the Mac.

Now I've updated the MacBook Pro to High Sierra 10.13.3, and my iPhone stays at iOS 10.2
The tabs of iOS 10 are visible from Safari 11, but tabs from the Safari 11 are not visible anymore on iOS 10.

I think the older software version stops showing the iCloud tabs of the newer version, doesn't matter if thats the iOS device or the Mac.

I just managed to fix this. There was some kind of problem with the current cache set of tabs.

What I did was

Add my bazillion tabs to my reading list (yes, a bazillion- I'm doing my master thesis, I have ALL the tabs open).

Then I closed each and every tab.

Then I closed Safari completely.

Then I went to iCloud and turned off Safari.

Then I opened Safari again.

Then I closed it.

Then I turned Safari back on in iCloud.

Then I opened Safari and went to some random page.

And there it was! It showed up in my devices again.​

The only thing I can think is there was something wrong with that cache list that wasn't syncing. Closing it all out completely forced it to start fresh. Maybe this can work for you?

 

[Chidorin]

Are you sure about os and safari versions and what you did was it on all devices?

 

[UntitledImage]

Are you sure about os and safari versions and what you did was it on all devices?

Me? Which part? For me it was the tabs from my Mac that weren’t showing up in the rest of the devices, so I figured it had to be a problem with that cache. I would say if it was for instance your iPhone that wasn’t showing up on other devices do it there. I think what’s happening is that the list that gets uploaded to the cloud get corrupt or something and doing those steps forces it to clear that list and start a new error free one that gets shared from where ever the problem was.

 

[Chidorin]

Me? Which part? For me it was the tabs from my Mac that weren’t showing up in the rest of the devices, so I figured it had to be a problem with that cache. I would say if it was for instance your iPhone that wasn’t showing up on other devices do it there. I think what’s happening is that the list that gets uploaded to the cloud get corrupt or something and doing those steps forces it to clear that list and start a new error free one that gets shared from where ever the problem was.

i meant you replied to "The tabs of iOS 10 are visible from Safari 11, but tabs from the Safari 11 are not visible anymore on iOS 10" are these also yours versions or you may be have ios11?

 

[UntitledImage]

i meant you replied to "The tabs of iOS 10 are visible from Safari 11, but tabs from the Safari 11 are not visible anymore on iOS 10" are these also yours versions or you may be have ios11?

I don’t think in my case anyway, that matters as I think it was a problem with the bundle that gets uploaded to the cloud and less a problem with the actual app. All I did was to basically clear the list of tabs for the specific device and start a new one. I had just gone to a new computer with migration when the problem began, and that’s probably why it happened. But everything’s the newest versions 11/11.

 

[MrBungleBear]

I have an older iPad that can't take IOS 11, but am running an iPhone X on 11 and a MBP on High Sierra. Everything is perfect between iPhone and MBP, but nothing is shared between the iPad and the other devices. Maybe a clean rebuild would fix it, but what a major PITA to do. I don't think it will remember all the app organisation unless I restore, which defeats the object of the exercise...

Anyone found a way to fix this? I don't even remember when this stopped working, but I think it was before iOS 11 and High Sierra came out...

Ironically, the chrome tabs sync beautifully...

 

[Chidorin]

Apple's iCloud system requirements page still has iOS 6/ OSX 10.10.3/ Safari 6 as the minimum requirements for iCloud Tabs:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204230

When I called support they directed me to the iCloud Tabs page, with iOS 11/ OSX Sierra/ Safari 11 listed as the current requirements. That's quite a jump.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202530

Support guy said if there were enough messages sent to feedback maybe El Capitan would be supported again, but knowing Apple's push for progress/obsolescence...
https://www.apple.com/feedback/icloud.html

Looks like these are the only ways: update or write bug report/feedback to add compatibility

P.s. Tried disabling and cleaning on all devices - didn't help

 

[yurki]

Same problem with Sierra on iMac and Mojave on macBook. Updated safari to the lastest on Sierra and it was solved