When you go to the Notes app on your iPhone, you want to see all your saved notes. They could contain important information, such as contact details, information about an event, personal information, or anything else you might want immediate access to.
No matter what you keep in your notes app when you click on it to find that some or all of your iPhone notes have disappeared, you can become frustrated and confused. Today, I want to talk about what you can do to get your notes back once they’ve disappeared.
iPhone Notes Disappeared? 6 Solutions Offered
This article will cover several potential solutions to getting your notes back. Try all of them to see which one works for you.
1. Check iCloud.com immediately
Although your notes might have gone from your phone, Apple might not have deleted them completely. Sometimes, when notes disappeared from your device, they might be on www.icloud.com or other Apple devices which are using the same Apple ID.
It is recommended to cut the network connection on your iPhone and other Apple device to avoid data sync between them and iCloud, and then check iCloud.com to see if your notes are still saved.
- Visit www.icloud.com.
- Enter your Apple ID and Password.
- Click on “Notes”.
If you have found your “lost” notes here, congratulations! You can create a copy of them, and then re-enable Notes in iCloud settings on your iPhone.
Go to Settings > Your Name > iCloud, Make sure the green toggle next to “Notes” is turned on. If it is already enabled, toggle it off and then re-enable it. This will start a sync between your device and iCloud.
If you don’t see your notes, you may have accidentally deleted them. Here’s what to do- please note that this only works for notes deleted less than 30 days ago.
- Press the left arrow in the top left corner for the “Folders” menu.
- Select “Recently Deleted”.
- Select the notes you want to recover.
- Press “Recover”- located in the toolbar
This will move the notes from the “Recently Deleted” folder to the regular “Notes” folder.
2. Check your other Apple devices
If you still have access to your old Apple devices, you might be able to see your lost notes on them. Same as the above solution, you are recommended to disconnect the network connection on your Apple devices to avoid a data sync.
Open the Notes app on your old iPhone or iPad, and see if they are there. You can click the 3 dots on the top right corner and choose the Mail app to email the missing notes to yourself.
3. Check if you removed any email from the Mail settings
Some of your notes might be associated with certain email accounts. On iPhone, your notes are stored on iCloud or a server tied to an email address.
If the email address is removed from your iPhone, its notes will vanish too. But, you can still get your notes back by syncing your email account with your iPhone again. To check whether the email is there or not, go to Settings app > Mail > Accounts.
However, if you look at Mail in the Settings app and the account associated with your notes isn’t there, you can still add it.
- On the interface of “Accounts”, select “Add Account”
- Select your email provider.
- Enter your email address and password.
- Select “Next”
- Wait for it to verify
- Select “Save”.
If you don’t see your email provider…
- Select “Other”.
- Enter your email address and password.
- Select “Next”.
- Select either IMAP or POP- Use Google to find out which one your email server uses- or if it’s a work email, contact your boss or the IT department.
- The “Host Name” is imap@servername.com or pop@servername.com. Of course, replace the server name with the name of your server.
- The username is the part of your email before @. So, if your email is johnsmith12@clarifyhow.com, your username will be johnsmith12.
- Press “Save” to finish.
Besides, it could be that the email account is still there, but for one reason or another, Notes has not been enabled in the settings.
To rectify this issue go to the Settings app > Mail, select the email you want to check, and make sure the green toggle next to “Notes” is on. It could also be wise to make sure you’ve also toggled the Mail button green.
4. Make sure you have checked all folders in the Notes App
Perhaps, the notes haven’t even been removed from your phone. There is a chance that they have been moved to another folder. Perhaps automatically, or maybe you did it but just forgot. Either way, here’s how to check.
On your iPhone, open the Notes app. Swipe down to reveal the search bar. In the search bar, type out as much of your missing note as you remember. If it’s still on your phone, it should pop up.
Alternatively, you could also select “Folders” in the top left corner and browse through them until you find what you’re looking for.
5. Recover missing Notes from iCloud backup
If all the above methods don’t get your missing notes back, then it means your notes completely disappear from all your Apple devices and icloud.com.
In this case, one of the helpful solutions is to restore notes from iCloud backup which is independent of the data on icloud.com. If it is a backup made before the notes disappear, you can restore it to your iPhone.
Be very careful about doing this, as restoring from an iCloud backup will require you to erase everything first. Although you will restore a backup later, the data created after the backup will be lost forever.
Start by erasing everything from your iPhone. Go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Erase All Content and Settings, and enter your Apple ID and Password to confirm that you wish to delete everything.
Then, restore the iPhone from an iCloud backup follow the steps below.
- After the factory reset, your iPhone will restart automatically.
- Follow the on-screen instructions to set up your iPhone until you see the “Apps & Data”.
- Select “Restore from iCloud backup.”
- Sign in with your Apple ID and Password
- Choose the latest backup file that you know for a fact will have your lost notes on it.
- You may be asked to sign in again to restore apps, etc.
- Stay connected to the Wi-Fi while it restores.
6. Recover disappeared Notes from iTunes backup
Some people may not have an iCloud backup but have an iTunes backup which backs up iPhone to a computer. Notes app will also be backed up. The shortage of this method is the same as restoring an iCloud backup because the data on your iPhone currently will be completely overwritten.
If you are sure to restore the iPhone from an iTunes backup in order to get back the disappeared notes, follow the guide below.
- Connect your iPhone to a computer using the original cable.
- Open iTunes.
- Click the Phone Symbol in iTunes.
- Select “Restore Backup.”
- Choose the latest backup file that you know for a fact will have your lost notes on it.
- Select “Restore”
- Wait for it to restore.
- After the restoration, you can check the Notes app to see if there are notes that have disappeared.
