Sync Issues

Fresh Cards on Mac and iPhone / iPad shares your data across devices through iCloud, using Apple’s CloudKit service. Most of the time sync just works in the background. When it doesn’t — or when it’s slower than you expect — this page covers what to check and what’s normal.

For an overview of how sync works in the first place, see Sync & Devices.

Did you just upgrade from a pre-3.0 version of the app? Slow sync (and a “Sync may be slower than normal…” status message) is expected for a while after that upgrade — possibly hours, depending on how much data you have. See Upgrading from an earlier version before working through this page.

First, set expectations

Sync over iCloud is not instantaneous, and that’s by design — Apple batches and rate-limits changes rather than pushing every edit immediately. Some normal timings to keep in mind:

A card edit on one device appearing on another: usually seconds to a couple of minutes when both devices are online and active. Longer is possible if a device is asleep, on a poor connection, or in Low Power Mode.
First install on a new device: can take a long time. Text-only cards typically arrive within minutes. Attachments (images and audio) come down separately and can take minutes to hours depending on how much content you have and your connection. This is expected — the app is fully usable while it happens.
A long-idle device coming back online: it may take several minutes to catch up after waking, especially if a lot has changed since it was last used.

If you’re inside these ranges, the best thing to do is leave the app open and connected and let it work.

Check these first

If something seems wrong, walk through this list before anything more drastic.

Both devices signed into the same iCloud account. Settings → [your name] on iOS; System Settings → Apple ID on Mac. The account email must match exactly. A different account, even one that shares your name, will not see your data.
iCloud Drive turned on. CloudKit relies on iCloud being enabled for the device. On iOS: Settings → [your name] → iCloud. On Mac: System Settings → Apple ID → iCloud.
Internet connection. CloudKit cannot sync offline. Open another app or a webpage to confirm you actually have connectivity.
The app has been open recently. Sync happens while the app is running and for a short window after. If a device has been closed for weeks, give it a few minutes after launch to catch up.
Enough iCloud storage. If your iCloud account is full, new uploads will fail. Check your iCloud storage in Settings (iOS) or System Settings → Apple ID → iCloud → Manage (Mac).
Low Power Mode (iOS) / Low Power Mode (Mac laptops). Both can defer background activity, including sync. If you’re in a hurry to see changes, turn it off temporarily.

After any of the above, give it a few minutes — sync doesn’t always resume instantly.

“Is it still working, or is it actually stuck?”

This is the most common question with CloudKit-backed apps. A few ways to tell the difference:

Cards arriving in batches over time — even slowly — means sync is working. Leave it alone.
Attachments showing as placeholders that gradually fill in — also working. Images and audio are fetched lazily.
Nothing changing for an hour or more, with both devices online and the app open — something is likely stuck. Continue to the next section.

If sync seems truly stuck

Try these in order. Stop as soon as things start moving.

Force-quit and reopen the app on the device that’s behind. This nudges CloudKit to re-check.
Toggle Wi-Fi / cellular off and back on. Sometimes the device’s network state is the actual problem.
Open the app on the other device too. Sync is most active when both endpoints are awake.
Restart the device. Boring, but it clears a surprising number of CloudKit hangs.
Sign out of iCloud and back in. Only do this if the previous steps haven’t helped — signing out can temporarily remove iCloud-backed data from other apps too. Sign out from Settings → [your name] (iOS) or System Settings → Apple ID (Mac), wait a minute, then sign back in with the same account.

Do not delete and reinstall the app as a first response — on a device that has unsynced local changes, reinstalling can lose them before they make it up to iCloud. Try the steps above first.

Account-switching and signed-out states

A few situations cause data to behave unexpectedly:

Switching iCloud accounts on a device. Data tied to the previous account will no longer appear, and data created while signed out (or under a different account) won’t merge automatically when you switch back.
iCloud signed out at install time. If you installed the app while iCloud was signed out, the app starts as a local-only install. Signing into iCloud later doesn’t automatically migrate that local data into your iCloud library.
Family Sharing. Decks are not shared across Family Sharing — sync follows the iCloud account that owns the data. Premium purchase, however, does work across Family Sharing.

If you think your data has ended up split between accounts or between local-only and iCloud-backed installs, contact support before doing anything destructive — it’s usually recoverable, but the wrong sign-out at the wrong time can make recovery harder.

When the streak or “studied today” count looks wrong across devices

Streak and “studied today” counts are computed from your study history, which is itself synced. If you study on one device and the streak doesn’t update on the other right away, that’s almost always normal sync latency — give it a few minutes and reopen the app.

If it persists across a full day, treat it as a sync issue and work through the checks above.

Premium not appearing on a second device

Premium is tied to your iCloud account, not the individual device. If you’ve purchased on one device and Premium isn’t showing on another:

Confirm both devices are signed into the same iCloud account.
Open the app on the second device with an internet connection and give it a moment.
Use the Restore Purchase option from the upgrade screen — see Premium.

When to contact support

If you’ve worked through this page and sync is still broken — or you suspect data loss — get in touch. The in-app feedback option (see Settings & Customization) is the best way, because it can include diagnostic information. When you write in, it helps to mention:

Which devices are involved (model and OS version).
What you’ve already tried from this page.
Roughly when the problem started, and whether it correlates with anything (account change, OS update, large import, etc.).
Whether you can see any of your data, or none of it.