I have run into a problem where my Apple Notes on syncing. It’s not clear whether it’s a Catalina or iOS/iPadOS problem. But I can create a note on one device and it will (a) not sync at all, (b) sync text but not images/drawings, © sync placeholders for images and links that I cannot click or otherwise access, or (d) separate a single note into one note with text and another text with drawings (again, with placeholders only). Also, changes to folders don’t populate across devices thus far. I’m working with Apple tech support on it, and we captured a series of logs for engineering. I am just wondering if anyone else has experienced a similar problem. I rely heavily on Apple Notes so this is a dreadful problem.
i think it’s an icloud problem. iOS 13 and Catalina syncing is still very very bad
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I have 1003 Apple Notes. When installing my new iPhone just before the iOS 13 Update, it took nearly a week for all my Apple Notes to appear on the iPhone. It would only download 30 to 40 Notes at a time and then pause for a few hours.
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After upgrading to Caralina on my Mac and to iOS 13 on my iPhone, Apple notes are still not completely on sync on the two devices. Many Apple Notes deleted on my iPhone are still available on the Mac, after days.
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Adding to it, Apple Music and other iCloud services had issues some days ago, for many hours. Trying to listen to an album or playlist would result in skipping each song. And my shared grocery Apple Note shopping list takes at least 5-10 minutes to sync with my wife. And it only does it if we both open and close the Apple Notes App, thus forcing a more frequent update.
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That’s what the Sr. Advisor seemed to think based on a response he received from engineering. I’m expecting to hear back today, so I’ll post if there are any useful updates to share.
@espresso - I’m also in the >1,000 Apple Notes club.
I have the same problem. Exactly as you described it.
My 370 notes are out of sync. I have tried ”everything”…called Apple support, logged out from iCloud on all devices (Macbook, iPad, iPhone), turned iCloud syncing off and on, etc. Latest OS’es on all devices. The problems started after updating to 13 and Catalina.
Maybe the syncing problem is worst when I have made changes to an existing note, versus when I create a new note. If that could be of help to anyone troubleshooting.
As said by others, this is extremely annoying as I rely on Notes for my daily life and work.
Please if anyone knows a solution…
Or just wait for new releases of OS’es?
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According to the iCloud System Status page this is a “resolved performance issue” and “all systems are currently operating normally”.
My notes are still not syncing, though.
I have seen a small improvement: changes that I made in Notes for iPhone and iPad now seem to sync. However, syncing to and from Notes on Catalina is still wonky and just doesn´t work.
Hope they fix this.
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Just want to say that on another forum I found a temporary workaround that seems to work as a fix for my major problem which is now the syncing of notes from Catalina to the other devices, i.e. to and from the Mac:
Using the “Force quit” dialog (option-command-esc, I am unsure about the English terminology) just force quit Notes and then restart the app. Upon restarting, the app immediately syncs to iCloud (web) then to my other devices. This could be trivial for you guys, but it has (temporarily) helped me. So far anyway. But this seems to be a beast with many faces?
… still, waiting for updates to the iCloud service and/or Catalina etc…
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My iPad Pro, iPhone, and MBP would respectfully disagree with that status report! 
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So do I! I’m also have the exact same issues. My work around is to use my iOS devices exclusively with Notes for now. Everything seems to sync across iOS but not with Catalina. I’m sure Apple will get this corrected but in the meantime …
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Hi. Still no syncing that works in practice. iCloud Notes on the web syncs OK down to the devices (iPhone, iPad, Macbook Pro w/ Catalina), however there is no syncing at all up to the web from these devices.
How about you?
iOS 13.2 is apparently coming by next Wednesday, as the new Beats Solo page says “Requires an iCloud account and macOS 10.14.6, iOS 13.2, watchOS 6.0, or later versions” and they’re supposedly shipping next week.
So… fingers crossed on the update fixing sync.
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Similar. I think my phone is uploading to iCloud and changes then go to other devices. However, changes or new notes on other devices do not get uploaded to iCloud.
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It’s so interesting that everyone’s sync is broken in different ways…for me, everything is fine except the iPad. Anything done on iOS, iCloud.com, or Catalina works fine, but creations/edits on iPadOS don’t sync anywhere.
Has anyone had success getting a real solution with Apple support or should I just give up and wait for an official update?
I don’t think Apple released IOS 13 and Catalina. I think it must have escaped on its own.
IMO, Apple support can’t help if the developers don’t know how to fix it.
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Apple engineering wants the Sr. Advisor to collect more information from my machine and devices. I’ll be doing that sometime tonight.
FYI, I’ve seen people tweeting that they’re having the same problem.
Alongside the release of iOS and macOS it seems that Apple has also performed some updates iniCloud structures, and apparently this is having some unfortunate side effects.
I’ve had issues with notes and reminders ever since the 3rd beta, and they’ve not stopped yet.
My session with tech support was a fact-finding mission, so I have no meaningful progress update from my end.
Apple engineering wanted me to deactivate iCloud notes on my various devices and re-activate it. But I am unwilling to do that. I have unsynced changes to Notes on Mac, iPad, and iPhone that I cannot lose and deactivating iCloud notes will delete the notes from my device. I also have too many notes and folders and sub folders to do it by hand on three different devices. Maybe someone here who has a smaller database may want to try it to see if if fixes the problem.
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I just read this rather informative article about why iOS 13 and Catalina are so buggy. It’s a good read, if you haven’t seen it already.
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I am having the Notes issue now. If I create new note on phone it shows on Catalina pretty quickly. If I create on Mac, it never seems to sync the other way. Just realized when I went to share a note that a bunch are missing from phone! Back to Evernote.