iCloud Drive Won’t Sync on Mac: How to Fix the Issues

If you are trying to access your iCloud Drive cloud from the Mac and you are encountering problems because they do not load or only part of it, don’t worry because it could be normal or have a simple solution. In this article we will cover all the possible causes for these failures in macOS.

Check other synced iCloud data

When we talk about iCloud Drive we are referring only to Apple‘s cloud storage service and not to other services that this system includes, such as the synchronization of photos, calendars, notes or contacts, among others. Therefore, the first thing you should check is if this iCloud service synchronization is taking place on your Mac. Open, for example, the Notes app and check that all the synchronized annotations appear. If you have any other Apple equipment such as an iPhone or iPad, you can more accurately check its operation by creating a new note from one of them and checking if it appears on the Mac (it also works the other way around).

iCloud Drive Won't Sync on Mac

Could Apple’s servers be saturated?

Although it is not usual to have crashes on these servers and when there are they are resolved quickly, it is still likely that this is your problem. There is an Apple website that is precisely focused on showing possible crashes in one of its systems. You can access it by clicking here .

Servidores Apple

If you just restored your Mac

These iCloud Drive sync failures are usually common when you’ve just restored your Mac or started it for the first time, whether backed up or not. Therefore, it may be normal for it to take a little longer to load, considering that there are many services and processes that your computer is running in the background. If you also have a lot of data in iCloud, it is more than usual that this load is somewhat slower than expected and depending on that occupied space it could even take hours.

Have you logged in successfully?

It may seem absurd, but perhaps you have not successfully signed in to iCloud or you have not activated the corresponding tab that enables iCloud Drive. Therefore it will be necessary that you go to System Preferences> Apple ID> iCloud and verify that this tab is correctly activated. If you want to rule out that the process has been obstructed, you can restart it by deactivating the tab again and activating it again.

Sincronización iCloud Drive en Mac

Test from other devices

The iCloud Drive folder may appear blank in Finder, which does not necessarily indicate that it is empty. Therefore we recommend you go to another Apple device and access the folders you have in the cloud and add a document, folder or file there in order to see if it appears on the Mac. It is recommended that this new data that you store occupies little space for fast syncing. If you see that it doesn’t load on your Mac, try doing it the other way around, adding a file from your computer and seeing if it appears on your other device.

Check your internet connection

Uploading files and documents from iCloud Drive requires an internet connection on your Mac, either via cable or WiFi. We advise you to carry out a speed test to determine if you have a good connection or not. If you detect that it is slower than usual and you are using a cable, you should check that it is correctly connected to the router and the Mac. In fact, it is advisable that you try to change it if you have another.

router puertos If you are connected by WiFi, check that you are on the correct network. You could also try turning off the router for a few seconds and turning it on again, testing later if you have a better connection. Any other incident related to a bad or no internet connection must be reported to the company that provides the service so that its specialists can solve the problem.

If you are sharing the internet from the iPhone

Precisely spinning with the above, if the internet connection that your Mac has comes from sharing data from an iPhone you could be facing a problem. We understand that if you are using this internet connection it is due to the absence of a WiFi network in the place where you are and although it is true that you can browse and access a multitude of online services with this connection, there will be certain actions that you may not be able to perform because the iPhone is preventing it to save your rate data. Synchronizing data from iCloud Drive and iCloud in general could therefore be slower or even impossible to perform with this connection.

Update your Mac software

Although iCloud Drive should sync even if you are not on the latest version of macOS, the truth is that there could be some kind of problem in the software that prevents it. Therefore, a very important advice to keep in mind for this and many other problems is to update the device. Go to System Preferences> Software Update and check if there is a newer version of the operating system that you can download and install. If you are on a very old version, you may have to go to the Mac App Store and the “Updates” tab to find it.

macOS 11.2.1

Go to the web version if you need it urgently

At this point, if you have not been able to solve the problem and you have made sure that everything works correctly, you will only have to wait for the data to be fully synchronized and you can access it. It is understandable that the burden can become desperate, but there is no other and no matter how desperate you are, it is the most common solution in most cases . If you need immediate access to a file, you can visit the iCloud website from your browser (preferably Safari) and manage it from there. Unfortunately this web version has some shortcomings such as not being able to download complete folders unless you select all the files, just as you will not be able to upload them either. However, it may help you to get out of trouble.

Hardware is almost ruled out as a problem

If you have not been able to solve the synchronization problems even by waiting for the synchronization to be completed, you will have no choice but to contact Apple support to discuss this issue and request a solution. That it is a failure of computer components is strange, because they do not usually manifest themselves in this way. However, it will be the company’s own specialists who can assure you of this more accurately, and may even ask you to take the Mac to technical service. Remember that you can contact the company from its technical service website .