IOS – Notes from iCloud account don’t sync with devices when added as secondary account

icloudiosmacosnotes.app

I have a "work" iCloud account – a couple of Macs and stuff at work which use that account. I added that iCloud account under Mail etc settings on my iOS 9.0.2 iPhone. However even though Notes is checked, I do not get the exact same content in Notes as is on those Macs at work, or the Notes that appear when I sign in iCloud.com with a desktop browser.

It looks as if the notes that appear for my work iCloud account on my iPhone are old.

  • I do not see any recent notes, especially not any from October 2015, just older ones.
  • I no longer see any changes made on the iPhone to the Notes appear on my work Macs/iCloud.com.

I am suspecting that iOS 9 and/or OS X El Capitan has something to do with it.

I have tried to sign out of and then in to the iCloud account over and over on my iPhone, but it seems I can no longer use that iCloud account for Notes on my iPhone. I use the job email account too on my iPhone – that works.

Update: I added the same work account to my personal Macbook Air – again as a secondary account. The funny thing is I get the SAME work notes that I have on my personal iPhone! So in essence, I have two sets of "work notes": (let's skip bold here)

  • A set of work notes that sync between Macs and iPhones at work, when that account is added as primary iCloud account. The notes are also accessible at iCloud.com when using a desktop browser.
  • Another set of work notes that sync between my private Macs and iPhones, because (I guess) those are added as secondary accounts.

How can this be? The account id and password are surely the same. Still iCloud somehow keeps two different content sets for these… This is getting beyond me…

Best Answer

I have the same problem syncing with my wife's notes. I found an obscure note in a marginally related Apple article about this: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205015. At the very end, under "Learn More" it says

"If you’re signed in to more than one iCloud Mail account on your iOS device or Mac and have notes syncing turned on, you can only use the new Notes features with your primary iCloud account. You can see your primary account in Settings > iCloud, or System Preferences > iCloud."

This really sucks since there is no workaround once you've upgraded.