Notes Not Syncing Between iPhone and Mac? 7 Fixes for 2026

When Apple Notes won't sync between your iPhone and Mac, the note is usually saved in an account that doesn't sync (On My iPhone or On My Mac), Notes is switched off in iCloud settings on one device, or the two devices use different Apple Accounts. Full iCloud storage, an iCloud outage or old software cause most of the rest.

It's an unsettling feeling: you wrote something down on your phone, you sit at your Mac to use it, and it isn't there. Take a breath: a note that hasn't synced is almost never gone. It's sitting on the device where you typed it, waiting for a path to iCloud. This guide covers seven fixes, cheapest check first, with the macOS 27 and iOS 27 menus, plus a quick test that tells you which device is the problem.

Not sure which device is at fault? Skip ahead to the iCloud.com test near the end first; one throwaway note shows which device is lagging.

How Apple Notes syncing works

Apple Notes only syncs the notes stored in your iCloud account, and only to devices that use your Apple Account and have Notes turned on. Apple's iCloud setup guide says that without both of those, you can't reach your iCloud notes on a device at all.

The catch is that the Notes app can hold several accounts at once, and only one of them is iCloud. Look at the sidebar on your Mac or the folder list on your iPhone and you may see three kinds of sections:

• iCloud: these notes sync to every device signed in to your Apple Account and to iCloud.com.
• On My iPhone or On My Mac: Apple's Notes guide says these are stored locally and can't be reached from your other Apple devices. They never sync, by design.
• Gmail, Outlook or another email account: these notes live in that account and show up only on devices where you've added it with Notes turned on.

So before any fix, find the missing note on the device where you wrote it and look at which section it sits under. That one glance answers the question more often than not.

Fix 1: Move notes out of On My iPhone or On My Mac

Notes saved in On My iPhone or On My Mac stay on that device, so the fix is to move them into a folder under iCloud. Once they're there, they sync like any other iCloud note.

This is the cause I'd bet on when only some notes are missing. After switching to a new iPhone, I found a handful of notes sitting under On My iPhone because I'd typed them before I signed in to iCloud. They looked normal on the phone and simply never appeared on my Mac.

Move notes into iCloud on iPhone

The steps below follow iPhone Life's walkthrough, which was written on iOS 27:

1. Open Notes and go to the On My iPhone folder.
2. Tap the More button (three dots) above the notes list and choose to select notes.
3. Tap each note you want to move.
4. Tap the folder icon at the bottom left.
5. Choose a folder under iCloud, such as Notes.

Move notes into iCloud on Mac

Apple's guide to moving notes on a Mac is drag and drop:

1. Open Notes and select the notes under On My Mac.
2. Drag them onto a folder in the iCloud section of the sidebar.
3. To copy instead of move, hold Option while you drag.

For anything important, use the Option-drag copy. You end up with the note in both places, check that the iCloud copy arrived on your iPhone, and only then delete the local one.

Stop new notes landing in the wrong account

If notes keep ending up local, change where new notes go. On a Mac, choose Notes > Settings and set Default account to iCloud; Apple's settings page notes that this is the account Siri uses for new notes. On iPhone, go to Settings > Apps > Notes, where Apple's iPhone guide lists Default Account and the switch for the On My iPhone account. If you don't need local notes at all, leave that switch off once your notes are safely moved.

Fix 2: Turn on Notes in iCloud settings on both devices

Notes syncs only when Sync this iPhone and Sync this Mac are both on in iCloud settings. Check both rather than assume, especially on a device you set up or signed in to recently.

On iPhone (iOS 27)

1. Open Settings and tap your name.
2. Tap iCloud, then See All (or Show All).
3. Tap Notes and turn on Sync this iPhone.
4. Open Notes and pick All iCloud in the folder list.

On Mac (macOS 27)

1. Click the Apple logo, choose System Settings and click your name, the first item in the sidebar.
2. Click iCloud.
3. Under Saved to iCloud, click Notes and turn on Sync this Mac.
4. Open Notes and select All iCloud in the sidebar.

Those paths come straight from Apple's iCloud Notes setup guide, which also covers older versions: on macOS 13.3 to 14 the switch is under Apps Using iCloud > Show All, and on macOS 13 to 13.2 you simply turn on Notes.

Fix 3: Confirm one Apple Account on both devices

iCloud Notes only syncs between devices that share one Apple Account. If your iPhone uses one account and your Mac another, each shows its own set of iCloud notes and they'll never meet.

Check it in two places. On iPhone, open Settings and read the name and email shown first. On Mac, the name heading the System Settings sidebar is the account in use. When the Mac shows Sign in instead of a name, you're signed out; Apple's setup guide says to click it and enter your Apple Account email or phone number and password. A work Mac is the usual suspect here: it's easy to end up signed in with a different address than the one on your phone, and Apple's Notes guide also mentions Managed Apple Accounts from school or work, which are separate from your personal one.

Fix 4: Make room in iCloud storage

When iCloud storage runs out, iCloud apps stop staying up to date across your devices. Apple says so on its iCloud storage page, and every account starts with 5 GB free, shared with photos, backups and mail.

A full account is easy to miss if you've learned to swipe the storage warning away. The last time notes stopped turning up on my Mac, the cause was the storage warning I'd been dismissing on my phone for days.

• On iPhone: Settings > your name > iCloud, then Storage or Manage Account Storage.
• On Mac: System Settings > your name > iCloud, then Manage.

Delete old device backups or large files, or move to a bigger iCloud+ plan, and syncing should pick up again. If iCloud Mail on your Mac has gone quiet at the same time, that's the same storage problem; my guide to iCloud email not working on Mac covers that side.

Fix 5: Check Apple's System Status page and your connection

If notes aren't syncing anywhere, open Apple's System Status page and look for iCloud Notes in the list. Apple uses that page to post iCloud Notes problems, as it did in a 2021 outage that affected some users. If there's an issue listed, there's nothing to fix on your end; wait it out and your notes will catch up.

If the status page is clear, check the network on the device that's lagging. Open a web page in Safari on that device. If it doesn't load, fix the Wi-Fi or cellular connection first. If it does, try a different network for a few minutes, such as switching your iPhone from Wi-Fi to cellular, or turning off a VPN on your Mac. A network that loads web pages can still get in the way of a background service, so a quick switch is a cheap way to rule it out.

Fix 6: Update both devices

Out-of-date software can stop an older device from seeing your notes at all. Apple's guide to iCloud notes on Mac says upgraded notes work on OS X 10.11 or later, iOS 9 or later and iPadOS 13 or later, and that devices on earlier versions can't open upgraded notes. Edits made on those older devices won't show up on your upgraded ones either.

If you see an Upgrade button next to iCloud in the Notes sidebar, that device hasn't upgraded its notes yet. Beyond that, putting both devices on current versions is the simplest way to rule out a software bug:

• iPhone: Settings > General > Software Update.
• Mac: System Settings > General > Software Update.

Fix 7: Restart, then sign out of iCloud and back in

If settings, account, storage and status all check out, restart both devices. Apple's own steps for missing iCloud notes end with a restart and then a second look at the settings, so it's the official next step.

Signing out of your Apple Account and back in is the last resort, and I'd only do it after a backup. Apple's sign-out page says your Mac asks whether to keep copies of iCloud data such as Contacts, Calendar, Reminders and iCloud Drive. Notes isn't on that list, so don't count on the Mac keeping a note that never made it to iCloud.

Then sign out from System Settings > your name > Sign Out on the Mac, or Settings > your name > Sign Out on iPhone, restart, sign back in, and turn Notes on again as in Fix 2. Give it time on a large library. The first sync after signing in can take a while.

How to tell which device is the problem

The fastest test is to write a note on iCloud.com and see who gets it. Apple's setup guide says any browser can open your notes at icloud.com/notes after you sign in.

1. Go to icloud.com/notes in a browser and sign in.
2. Create a note with one word in it, such as "test".
3. Wait a minute, then look for it in Notes on your iPhone and on your Mac.

When the test note reaches one device but not the other, the problem is on the device that missed it, so repeat Fixes 2, 3 and 6 there. If neither device gets it, the problem is with the account itself, which points to storage or an outage (Fixes 4 and 5). And if the note you can't find on your Mac is missing from iCloud.com too, it never left your iPhone, which sends you back to Fix 1. I do this test before touching any settings, because it tells me which half of the problem to look at.

Notes from Gmail or Outlook that don't show up

Notes stored in an email account, such as Gmail or Outlook, don't sync through iCloud. They appear only on devices where that email account is added with Notes turned on. Apple's guide to Notes accounts on Mac puts this under Notes > Accounts, where you pick the account and check that Notes is switched on for it. On iPhone, the same email account needs Notes switched on in its own settings.

If you'd rather have everything in one place, move those notes into an iCloud folder using the steps in Fix 1. Apple's moving notes guide says notes moved from other internet accounts into upgraded iCloud notes get all the same features.

One more thing: if the Notes app on your Mac crashes, freezes or won't open at all, that's a separate problem from syncing, with its own set of fixes.

How to keep Notes syncing from now on

• Set the default account to iCloud on both devices, so every new note starts in the right place.
• Turn off the On My iPhone and On My Mac accounts once they're empty, unless you want local-only notes on purpose.
• Act on the iCloud storage warning when it first appears, not when syncing has already stopped.
• Update your iPhone and Mac within a few weeks of each release, so neither device falls behind on note formats.
• Once a month, open a recent note on your other device. Spotting a gap early is easier than piecing together a week of missing notes.