Notes created via Siri don't sync with Gmail until they're manually edited

Question

For years, I've successfully used Siri to create notes that were then synced with Gmail, as described here: http://lifehacker.com/5569758/seamlessly-sync-iphone-notes-to-a-gmail-account

A few weeks ago, this stopped working when the note is created using Siri.

This is how I get things out of my head into my GTD workflow, so it's a real problem!

Here's what I know:

If I create a new note by hand (go to Notes app, type in new note) it syncs immediately.

If I create a new note using Siri (for example, "Hey Siri, note, this is a test") the new note appears in the Notes app but not in Gmail.

 

If I subsequently manually edit that note in the Notes app (for example, add a space to the end of it) and save it, then it appears in Gmail.

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Setup details:

I use the Gmail account for Mail, Contacts, Calendars, and Notes.

In Settings/Notes, I'm using Gmail as the "Default Account for Siri."

I've tried all the options for "New Notes Start With" (Title/Heading/Body); they all seem to work the same.

Answer 1

I'm having the same problem on my iPhone 6 S. Like you, if I edit the Siri-created notes, they sync. In addition Siri won't create iCloud notes on that device (which is why I have reverted to Google notes.)

My work-around is to move all the notes to iCloud, which I then process on my Mac. That way, they keep the same time stamp, and I can do this in bulk on my iPhone 6 S (Notes.app) using Edit → Move All. Obviously not helpful if your other devices don't use iCloud.

my old iPhone 5, which I've kept, has none of these problems. Yet both my phones use the same OS (9.1). I'm considering keeping the old phone for Siri note-taking purposes until this gets sorted out, as I rely heavily on this feature.

I've logged a bug with Apple Bug Reporter.