Top 5 Ways to Fix Google Drive Not Syncing on iPhone

When Google Drive is installed on your iPhone, changes made to files and documents are automatically synced and made available on all devices connected to your Google account. If you find that the Google Drive app on your iPhone is not syncing your files, you should read this guide to the end.

Closing and reopening the app may help. Restarting your iPhone can also fix the problem. However, if none of these work, follow the troubleshooting solution in the section below.

1. Check Internet Connection

The first thing you should do is confirm that your iPhone has an active internet connection. Also check if your internet source (Wi-Fi or cellular data) has strong connection/signal strength. Check if your iPhone’s Wi-Fi is working properly. You can also try boosting your router’s Wi-Fi signal. Mobile internet users should refer to our guide to fix iPhone cellular data.

If Google Drive is still not syncing your files, continue to the next troubleshooting solutions detailed below.

2. Remove the Infected Account

Closing your Google account from your iPhone’s Google Drive app and signing back in can help restart the app’s sync functionality. To do this, follow the steps listed below.

Stage 1: Launch the Google Drive app and tap the profile icon in the top right corner to reveal the account settings menu.

Step 2: Next, tap on ‘Manage accounts on this device’.

Stage 3: Tap the ‘Remove from this device’ button to delete the account whose files are not synced to other devices.

If you have multiple accounts connected to your iPhone’s Google Drive app and those accounts are not syncing your data, you will need to remove and re-add all accounts.

Note: Removing an account deletes all unsaved or unsynced data from Google Drive and other associated Google apps (Gmail, Google Docs, etc.) on your iPhone. Before continuing, be sure to save active tasks associated with the account you want to remove in other Google apps.

Step 4: Tap Uninstall at the confirmation prompt.

You should see a notification at the bottom of the screen that the account has been removed from your device’s Google Drive app.

Step 5: Tap the Sign In button that appears immediately on the screen to re-add the account.

Step 6: Select ‘Add another account’ and tap Continue at the prompt.

This will open a browser window where you need to provide the credentials of the account you want to add to the Google Drive app.

Check if Google Drive is now syncing files for the account you just deleted and re-added. If the app’s sync still isn’t working, move down to the next solution below.

3. Update Google Drive

The problem can also be caused by a bug in the Google Drive app. Fortunately, Google frequently releases app updates that provide bug fixes. Therefore, you should always make sure that you have the latest version of the app installed on your iPhone. Launch your phone’s App Store and update Google Drive or tap the button linked below.

Update Google Drive

4. Empty Google Drive

If the sync issue is due to an app-device conflict or malfunction, uninstalling and reinstalling Google Drive from your device may help. But emptying the app is much better than deleting it from your device. When you install an app on your iPhone, only the app is uninstalled; locally saved data and documents remain saved on your device.

Stage 1: Launch the iPhone Settings menu and select General.

Step 2: Next, select iPhone Storage.

Stage 3: Scroll through the list of apps and select Drive.

Step 4: Next, select Empty App and tap Empty App at the confirmation prompt.

This will remove Google Drive from your iPhone but keep its data. Select Reinstall App to have your device reinstall Google Drive and put the app’s data/document back. Alternatively, simply tap the Drive icon (with the cloud symbol) on your iPhone’s home screen to reinstall.

After reinstalling, launch the app and check if it syncs your data now.

5. Delete Google Drive

If the sync problem is caused by the (cache) data of the app, deleting and reinstalling its data from your iPhone as well as Google Drive can help. To do this go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage > Drive > Delete App. Tap Delete App again at the confirmation prompt to remove Google Drive (and all its data) from your iPhone.

Go to the App Store to reinstall the app on your device.

Install Google Drive (App Store)

Sync All

In addition to the troubleshooting tips mentioned above, you should also check if the Google Drive servers are up and running. A glitch on Google’s end can also cause some functions of the Google Drive app to malfunction. You can check the server status of Google Drive to see if it is facing any issues.

Next: Do you want to edit files in Google Drive? Learn how to use and manage Google Drive folders on Android, iPhone, and the web using the tips in the article linked below.