Top 7 Ways to Fix Reminders Not Syncing Between iPhone and Mac

Apple Reminders lets you easily manage your tasks. You can create reminders, lists, smart lists and even collaborate with other users. But when it comes to syncing these things with a Mac, things often go down with a problem or two.
Sometimes Reminders don’t send a notification or sync your tasks across devices. In this article, we will show how to fix reminders not syncing between iPhone and Mac.
1. Verify your Apple ID
It is very important to check if you are using the same Apple ID on all of yours and if syncing is also enabled for Reminders. To sync reminders across devices, you need to search for the same Apple ID across all our devices.
Step 1: Launch the Settings app on your iPhone and tap your name at the top.
2nd step: Write down your Apple ID.
Step 3: On your Mac, click the Apple menu in the upper left corner and select System Preferences from the drop-down menu.
Step 4: Click Apple ID and make sure both devices are using the same Apple ID. If they are different, you will need to sign in with the same Apple ID on both devices.
Step 5: If both devices are on the same Apple ID, you need to sign out and sign back in once to ensure a new sync action between reminders and your devices.
2. Enable iCloud Sync for Reminders on iPhone and Mac
Like other Apple apps, Reminders uses iCloud to sync across devices. If you’re having syncing issues, you’ll need to check if iCloud syncing is enabled on your iPhone and Mac.
iPhone
Step 1: Launch the Settings app on your iPhone and tap your name at the top.
2nd step: Next, tap on the iCloud option.
Step 3: Scroll down to find Reminders and make sure the toggle is on. If it is already enabled, disable it and re-enable it.
Mac
Step 1: On your Mac, click the Apple menu in the upper left corner, then click System Preferences.
2nd step: Click Apple ID on the right side.
Step 3: Select iCloud in the left column and check the box next to Reminders in the right pane. If it’s already on, turn it off and back on.
3. Update your iPhone and Mac to the latest firmware
Sometimes iCloud has sync issues between devices if not all devices are on their latest update. Most often, updating your Mac and iPhone to the latest firmware will fix the Reminders sync issue.
iPhone
Step 1: On your iPhone, launch Settings and open General.
2nd step: Now tap on Software Update.
Step 3: Update your iPhone if a pending update is available.
Mac
Step 1: On your Mac, click the Apple menu and select System Preferences from the drop-down menu.
2nd step: On the System Preferences page, click Software Update.
Step 3: Install any pending updates if available.
4. Check date and time settings
Sometimes different date and time settings of the device can lead to sync error. We need to make sure the iPhone and Mac are in the same time zone to fix it on your iPhone and Mac
iPhone
Step 1: On your iPhone, open the Settings apps and tap General.
2nd step: Tap “Date & Time”.
Step 3: Enable the toggle next to Set automatically.
Mac
Step 1: On your Mac, use the Apple menu to open System Preferences.
2nd step: Now click on “Date and time”.
Step 3: Click the lock icon and authenticate with your password to open.
Step 4: Check the box next to “Set date and time automatically”.
Step 5: As an additional measure, click Time Zone and enable “Automatically set time zone using current location”.
5. Restart the Reminders app
Once you’ve made all the changes, restart the Reminders app on both devices. On your Mac, use the CMD + Q keyboard combo to quit the app. On your iPhone, enter app switching mode and swipe up to close the Reminders app.
6. Reset Network Settings on iPhone
If the above steps do not work, you will need to reset network settings on iPhone. Once you do this, it will most likely fix any syncing issues with your iPhone. You will need to reconnect to Wi-Fi because resetting network settings deletes Wi-Fi connection information.
Step 1: Launch the Settings app and tap on General.
2nd step: Scroll down and tap “Transfer or reset iPhone”.
Step 3: Tap Reset.
Step 4: Select Reset Network Settings.
Step 5: Enter your phone password to start the network reset process.
7. Restart your iPhone and Mac
Finally, restart your iPhone and Mac for all changes to take effect.
To restart your Mac, click Go to Apple menu > Restart.
For those unfamiliar with the shutdown process on newer iPhone X models and later, press and hold the power and volume up buttons to bring up the power off screen.
Next, swipe the power button icon from left to right to turn off the phone.
Wait a minute and then press and hold the power button to restart the device.
Fix reminders not syncing between iPhone and Mac issue
After following the solutions mentioned above, the reminders should sync across all devices without a hitch. If this becomes a recurring problem on your devices, you might want to consider reminder alternatives like TickTick.