I’ve made this transition a few times (EN–>AN). The first “sync” is always the worst, but once you tinker with it long enough (restart devices, check the web version to see how it lines up, turn off/on sync) it will eventually line up. I find the sync to take a while, at least initially.
Once everything lines up count-wise, then I don’t have any issues from that point.
The Achilles heel of Apple Notes, IMO, is the inability to restore a note after 30 days. Once it is gone, to recover that one file, you have to replace the entire database with that from a backup created before the file was deleted. And that erases any newer files.
Hi all. After all the initial problems I was experiencing with my Evernote migration to Apple Notes, I have to say that all my devices have now caught up with the sync and are showing (roughly*) the same total notes. The whole sync of the 3700 notes took around 1.5 weeks. As so many who posted above pointed out, I had to be patient!
[*] those who question the robustness of Apple Notes sync are also right in that I have 2 more notes on my phone than all the other devices! I can’t easily find which they are or why.
I think that I am going to accept that it is good enough for me now and cancel my Evernote subscription. Thanks for all the feedback for those who have posted.
That is exactly why I stopped using AN for anything important. I spent too much time trying to find those missing notes. And, the poor export options…
I have bounced from Keep It, Apple Notes, Evernote and a few others I don’t remember their names to find the “perfect” solution. But that’s another discussion. What I DID learn in all the transitions, it seems iCloud sync throttles after a while. I ran into the problem with anytime I dumped a large number of records at one time (ie., 500+). A few hours later it would catch up. I reported it to the author Keep It and he seems to have written code to accommodate the issue.
If you plan to delete your EN account I suggest you save your .enex export file. It makes a good initial backup for your Apple Notes and a program like EagleFiler can import it if you ever need to search for a missing note.
I have always had a reliable sycn experience with Apple notes and as such, I never really understood why others are having issues. That changes today.
I have 4 devices made by apple. Two of them are not sycning at all. These two are only showing 2 notes while the sycned devices are showing over 100 notes
I went to Icloud.com to check and this is what it showed me:
checking Apple - Support - System Status shows everything is working fine.
so… this a WHAT THE HELL moment.
I am trying to avoid using iCloud in general as much as I can avoid it. As we speak, I am removing my photos from iCloud. Notes app itself is good but the sync part is bad because of iCloud. I really really hate iCloud
If you think sync is bad try restoring a note that was deleted 31 days ago.
So sorry you have having this trouble. Thus far 
my 620 notes are syncing perfectly and quickly. However, I do a monthly export of all Notes to markdown using the Exporter app to ensure I have all of the basic text if I run into problems. I’d lose attachments, e.g, PDFs but even if sync stops working I’m assuming that I could still download all of my notes as PDFs from iCloud. It takes a day or two but at least I’d have what I needed.
With that said, I’ve had a very hard time settling on a note taking app. There are so many pros and cons to each. My primary experiments have included Obsidian, Craft, iA Writer and of course Apple Notes. I’ve settled on the latter for a number of reasons but as noted above, I’m taking precautions to avoid data loss.
I hope you are able to resolve the issue soon.
fingers crossed indeed. I hope this is a temp setback and sync returns to its reliabel sense. I, most certainly mentally am not ready and/or motivated to embark on a journey of finding a note taking app for myself.
It would not do any good anyway! 
You would probably end up like me and others—searching for the perfect app only to not find one.
Theoretically I’d love to use something like Obsidian or Craft but they all have drawbacks. I need the ability to easily attached images, PDF files, spreadsheets, Pages and Word docs, create tables, etc, in my notes. While possible with apps like Obsidian and iA Writer—it is inefficient and a cluttered mess plus accessing your notes in another application only preserves the text; the linked documents are elsewhere and not truly embedded. Craft is better in this regard but I don’t like writing and navigating in a block-based system. So, I’ve settled on AN and just hoping that syncing does not become a problem. I’m baffled by the inability or unwillingness of Apple to build a truly world-class syncing/sharing platform given their talent and resources.
years ago, when I first settled on Apple Notes, I told myself that if that doesnt work out, I will give Simplenote a real go. Its free, backed my Automattic and supports Markdown and internal note linking
so if Apple note syncing issues persist, I will start with SImpleNote.
My note taking needs are relativly simple
I like to think of a reliance on iCloud syncing as a bad gambling habit. Early experiences were often positive. I was elated. My hopes rose up to the heights. But the house always won in the end and the marker came due… I have recently moved most of my content out of iCloud. 
I’m afraid that Apple thinks it only has to be “good enough.”
A pity really. I think they strive to be world-class with hardware but only good enough when it comes to cloud services and applications. I may be wrong on that, it may be that they are really excellent given, what David sparks in a recent podcast referred to as, scope. They may be excellent based on the scope that they have defined.
Nevertheless, one would think that as important as services are to Apple that they would go all out on making sure that iCloud sync was rock solid.
If my notetaking needs were restricted to 95% text, I could use a lot of applications. But alas, my notes tend to be more complex with multiple attachments, tables etc. depending upon the project or department level meeting.
Positive reinforcement doesn’t have to happen every time. As long as our files successfully sync sometimes and often enough, that reinforcement schedule will be effective for many people.
In fairness, I should add that I’ve never had a syncing problem with Apple Mail, Calendar, or Reminders. A year or two ago I did have some problems with Apple Notes syncing but thus far it has indeed been rock solid.
I like Apple Note as the app, especially on the ipad. Just wondering whether there is a 3rd party app that can sync with Apple Note using some sort of automation. I know this is not ideal but may be a workaround ?
