I’m replying for the community’s sake. I turned this over in my head for a bit before I realized I had no idea how to account for deleted items in the workflow/shortcut. I ended up on the couch late at night (relatively) after catching up on the second season of the Witcher. I opened YouTube on my tv and used the remote mic to throw a free-thought query into the YouTube search void. What returned at that moment is the answer I share now.
Let me link the video and the solution real quick for those who’d rather not skim this.
Solution: Mac Backup and Synchronization Free
OG Video that turned me onto the solution: The Best Video Backup App! Sync Folders Pro is Amazing - YouTube
The solution is an app called Sync Folders, winner of no design awards but exceptional at its job. It’s available for Mac and iOS, and it has free and paid flavours, but the free version works for my needs at the moment, and I’m happy enough to promote the app like a shill.
iCloud was noticeably not syncing Obsidian between desktop and phone. I would look for a daily note to add to it or whatnot, and it wouldn’t be there, and there’s no “Sync Now” button to force the issue.
I ended up moving my Obsidian Vault out of the iCloud Drive on my phone and desktop. I installed Syncthing, which I run on my little always-on mini, and it points to a folder, watches my Vault grow, and syncs it to a folder on my phone when I run the Syncthing iOS app Mobius Sync (https://www.mobiussync.com).
But I can’t just point Obsidian on my phone to that Vault. I also need to sync the Syncthing folder to my mobile Obsidian Vault, so I needed a solution: Sync Folders.
It’s an ugly little app that I set up on my phone with a task, the sync logic I want, exclusions, etc. It syncs my mobile Obsidian Vault with my Syncthing Vault when I run it.
TLDR: I write primarily on my desktop, but if I’m looking for notes on my phone and they are not there, I can now open Mobius Sync and Sync Folders, sync my desktop Vault to my phone and then sync my synced desktop Vault to my phone Vault.
It doesn’t seem like the best solution, but it works consistently and is new enough to be still fun.