Data loss is one of the most terrifying experiences to encounter in our digital lives, and so it’s no surprise that iPhone and iPad users who encountered a recent issue with iCloud Notes disappearing from their devices caused significant distress. But Apple has now officially acknowledged the disappearing iCloud Notes problem, and has provided a solution to those affected.
For some background, a fair number of reports began to surface from some iPhone and iPad users, who, either after updating their iPhone or iPad to a new version of iOS/iPadOS system software, or after accepting the new iCloud Terms & Service agreement, suddenly discovered their Notes were missing from their devices. Given how many people rely on the Notes app to store critical information, it’s easy to see why Notes going missing is problematic. Some users had discovered a few troubleshooting tricks to fix the issue, however, and a variation of one of those troubleshooting tips is basically what Apple has issued as their official resolution.
How to Restore Missing iCloud Notes in Notes App on iPhone & iPad
If your Notes went missing, disappeared, or vanished recently from your iPhone or iPad, here’s what Apple recommends to get them back:
- Open the Settings app, then tap on your name at the top to access your Apple account settings
- Choose “iCloud”, then choose “Notes”
- Check your syncing settings, making sure that “Sync this iPhone/iPad” is toggled on
- Now return to the Notes app, and check to see if your iCloud Notes being appearing again
- If your iPhone or iPad still does not display any Notes, restart your iPhone or iPad by pressing Volume Up, Volume Down, then holding Power/Lock until you see an Apple logo on screen. After the iPhone/iPad has booted back up, return to Settings > your name > iCloud > Notes and make sure that Notes syncing is enabled on the device
- Again return to the Notes app to confirm that Notes are properly syncing from iCloud to your iPhone or iPad
Your missing iCloud Notes should now sync and appear on your iPhone or iPad again, according to Apple in their new support document, titled “If you don’t see your iCloud notes in the Notes app”.
It’s not clear how widespread the missing Notes issue is or was, but it gathered enough attention to appear in the usual support and troubleshooting forums on Apple, MacRumors, and elsewhere on the web. Fortunately, it’s a relatively easy fix, so if your Notes did go missing, follow the instructions above and you should be returned to normal shortly.
These type of issues are rare, but do demonstrate why it’s important to have offline backups made of your important personal data. While cloud-based services are usually fairly reliable, and Apple markets iCloud as a safe place to store all of your data, stuff happens, and this serves as a reminder to make local backups of your critical information, whether that’s notes, passwords and login information, photos, videos, documents, or whatever else you’d be greatly distressed by potentially losing, even if temporarily. One helpful trick is to create local backups of Notes, which you can easily do on Mac using a variety of different methods. It’s also a good idea to backup your iPhone or iPad to your Mac for local backups, though if you use iCloud Notes those will sync to your Mac automatically as well, and you’d still want to make a manual offline backup of important notes and their data.
Apparently this issue also impacted some Apple Vision Pro users, and the solution is the same on that device as well. Apple Vision Pro remains premium priced and fairly niche, and has not yet had widespread adoption however, so it’s probably a smaller subset of people who experienced the problem on that particular Apple device.
Did you experience the disappearing Notes issue on your iPhone or iPad? Did toggling the Notes sync feature in iCloud back on again fix the issue for you? Share your experiences in the comments.
