IOS – iCloud Keychain sync: How to determine current sync status or force a sync (without removing and adding)

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Short version:

Is there a command-line or GUI method of determining when the local copy of the iCloud keychain has been syncronized (at least on a Mac) or, short of deleting the keychain and re-adding it, force it to sync with the iCloud copy?

More details:

I'm currently running iOS 12 on multiple devices macOS High Sierra on my MacBook. While performing some cleanup, including deleting items via Settings → Passwords & Accounts → Website and App Passwords on iOS, I observed that the changes did not appear to be syncing back to the Mac. To be clear, changes made in the normal method (i.e., organically through Safari) also are not making it back.

Note this is on a Mac where the user had only been recently created (so there should be no corruption). The Mac had full network connectivity.

I know my changes are going to iCloud because nearly all my iOS devices are synchronized nearly instantly.

Again, I know I can work around by deleting the Keychain, and re-adding it, but this is not a real solution.

Does Apple even document how the process should work?

Best Answer

There are no built-in OS X tools designed explicitly for showing you iCloud synchronize information. In easy to read way.

However, you can track connections to Apple's iCloud servers, measure traffic flow, and disk access.

These metrics will provide some insight but they will not provide expected duration's or percentage complete measures.

To explore the data flow, explore the OS X's built-in tools like lsof and netstat.