Thanks for the reply and clarification. It’s really a shame the docs don’t make that clear (if they do, I didn’t find it - I can’t post links here but it doesnt’ seem to be mentioned in the “Sync your notes across devices” page). It’s a pretty frustrating experience as a new user, this thread (and many others I came across while searching for help) show it is a common one.
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This is a hack that I’ve seen in another forum and it worked in this case for my ipad:
- Delete Obsidian
- Go to
Settings > Apple Account (first option with your photo) > iCloud > Saved to iClouc - Go to
iCloud Drive - Deselect
Sync this iPad, confirm it - Select again
Sync this iPad - Reinstall Obsidian
I think I understood my issue now. Here is an ai generated summary of my back and forth with ChatGPT:
# Obsidian iOS vault not appearing on macOS iCloud Drive
## The problem
You create a vault in **Obsidian on iPhone/iPad**.
The vault appears in the **Files app → iCloud Drive → Obsidian**.
But on macOS:
> Finder → iCloud Drive → the “Obsidian” folder is missing
It looks like iCloud sync is broken — but it actually isn’t.
## The real explanation
Apple has **two different iCloud storage types**:
| Type | What it is | Visible in Finder |
| ----------------------- | ------------------- | ----------------- |
| User iCloud Drive | Normal documents | Yes |
| App container (sandbox) | App-private storage | Hidden by default |
Obsidian on iOS stores vaults inside its **app container**, not the normal iCloud Drive root.
So the vault exists here:
```
/Users/your_user_name/Library/Mobile Documents/iCloud~md~obsidian/Documents
```
But Finder normally only shows:
```
iCloud Drive (user documents container)
```
The Files app merges both visually → so on iPhone it *looks* like a normal folder.
macOS Finder does not.
Nothing is broken. The folder is simply hidden.
## The solution
### 1) Open the hidden Obsidian container
In Finder press:
```
Cmd + Shift + G
```
Paste:
```
~/Library/Mobile Documents/iCloud~md~obsidian/Documents
```
(due to the spaces this might not work, so you might need to use the full path: ~/Library/Mobile\ Documents/iCloud~md~obsidian/Documents)
You will now see your Obsidian vault(s).
And here the magic happens: The vault(s) now appeared in Finder.
### 2) (Optional but recommended) Make it visible in iCloud Drive
Create a symlink so Finder shows it like a normal folder:
```bash
ln -s ~/Library/Mobile\ Documents/iCloud~md~obsidian/Documents \
\~/Library/Mobile\\ Documents/com\~apple\~CloudDocs/Obsidian
```
Now Finder → iCloud Drive will contain an **Obsidian** folder.
THANK YOU! The symlink step is the only thing that fixed this for me. Once I did that, the app specific Obsidian folder appeared along with the symlinked folder.