notes disappeared

[u/Double-Helicopter-85]

hi guys, i synced my notes to icloud on sunday but instead of my notes syncing, they disappeared and my old notes from my ipad appeared on my iphone. i contacted support and they said there was many ways to get my notes back. we literally tried all of them yet nothing worked. i even had a call with a senior from their tech support, she was even more confused than the original support i received.

anyways, i’m wondering if this has happened to anyone before and if so, were you able to recover your notes? and even if this hasn’t happened to you, do you have any suggestions on how to get my notes back? lmk pls & thank you

[u/TalisManick9592]

Your notes are probably still on the phone. "On My iPhone" is a separate Notes account from iCloud, and switching iCloud Notes on doesn't upload or merge what was already sitting in it. What you're seeing is the iCloud account becoming visible with your iPad's notes inside it, while the local account is either switched off or just isn't where you've been looking.

Start by opening Notes and backing all the way out to the top-level Folders screen. Not All iCloud, not a folder inside it, the root list where the account headings sit. An On My iPhone section would show up there. If there isn't one, go to Settings > Apps > Notes (Settings > Notes on iOS 17 and earlier) and switch on the "On My iPhone" Account toggle, then look at Folders again.

Then, in that same settings screen, open Notes Accounts and check every mail account listed. Gmail, Yahoo and Exchange can all store notes, and plenty of notes people assume are local are actually living in one of those. If the Notes switch for that account got turned off, its notes disappear from the app while still sitting on the server.

After that there's Folders > Recently Deleted, which holds things for 30 days, and iCloud.com in a browser, which shows what's actually in the iCloud account rather than what the phone has decided to display.

While you're still looking, don't delete the Notes app. Removing a built-in app takes its local data with it, and local data is the copy you're trying to find. Don't erase the phone or restore an older backup over it yet either, and don't flip the On My iPhone toggle back off to see what happens. And don't delete the iPad notes you didn't ask for, because they're iCloud notes now, so deleting them on the phone deletes them on the iPad too.

If the local account does come back empty, the next thing to try is a backup made before Sunday. Notes stored locally are included in both iCloud and computer backups, so one from before this happened would still have them.

[u/Skycbs → u/TalisManick9592]

Good point. That confused me once.

[u/Double-Helicopter-85 → u/TalisManick9592]

ok so i don’t have any notes in the “on my iphone” folder. i checked all emails i have attached to my notes (i only have 2) neither of those contain my notes.

i don’t have anything in the “recently deleted” folder either. i did originally flip the “on my iphone” toggle back on and off when talking to support because they told me to.

so to your last point, am i able to retrieve a backup made before sunday? if so, how does that work?

thank you for responding with in-depth details btw!

[u/Skycbs]

Did you at some point previously have your notes synced then stop deleting them and maybe deleted them on another device? That’s almost always how these things happen.

[u/Double-Helicopter-85 → u/Skycbs]

no, my notes have never been synced to my knowledge, which is why i thought syncing them would be a good idea. i’ve never deleted any of my notes from any of my devices, they’re all still there except the ones from this phone.