Notes Randomly Disappeared on iPhone for no reason, then opened new mac and same thing happened

I have had my iphone for 3 years and have tons of important notes on it including some recent information regarding my health. When I went to check my notes a few days ago, the notes were gone except some I had made in early 2017. I figured I could get them back somehow and didn't worry too much.


I checked yesterday and sure enough the notes were still gone. I googled every option out there to find deleted notes and nothing worked. So I thought I could still find the notes on my new macbook. I went to open the notes, and sure enough they were still there, but then deleted one second after the app was opened. They also showed the older notes from early 2017.


Now, I have tried every option. I haven't updated anything, I haven't changed anything, they just disappeared. After trying to find the notes, even the remaining notes from early 2017 disappeared from both the phone and computer.


Please help....Thx

iPhone 6s

Posted on Jan 11, 2019 11:45 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jan 13, 2019 11:54 AM

Greetings chrispreynolds,


Thanks for visiting the Apple Support Communities! I understand notes have disappeared from your iPhone and MacBook unexpectedly.


I suggest checking if your notes are viewable on iCloud.com. The following guide will show you how to check your notes on iCloud.com: iCloud: View notes on iCloud.com


If you see your notes on iCloud.com, then let's have you check your iCloud feature settings on your iPhone and Mac to ensure Notes are enabled. See how to enable iCloud Notes from the following guide: Change your iCloud feature settings


Your notes may also be syncing to your devices from one of your email accounts you've added to your device. To ensure the Notes featured is enabled for your email accounts on your iPhone, you can tap Settings > Passwords & Accounts, then tap and account.


If your notes aren't with iCloud and weren't syncing from an email account, you could attempt to restore from a backup to regain your notes on your iPhone, if you have a backup created from when the notes were available: Restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch from a backup


If additional assistance is needed, it would be helpful to know what the Default Account setting has listed for Notes on your iPhone. You can tap Settings > Notes to view the Default Account setting.


Cheers.

3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jan 13, 2019 11:54 AM in response to chrispreynolds

Greetings chrispreynolds,


Thanks for visiting the Apple Support Communities! I understand notes have disappeared from your iPhone and MacBook unexpectedly.


I suggest checking if your notes are viewable on iCloud.com. The following guide will show you how to check your notes on iCloud.com: iCloud: View notes on iCloud.com


If you see your notes on iCloud.com, then let's have you check your iCloud feature settings on your iPhone and Mac to ensure Notes are enabled. See how to enable iCloud Notes from the following guide: Change your iCloud feature settings


Your notes may also be syncing to your devices from one of your email accounts you've added to your device. To ensure the Notes featured is enabled for your email accounts on your iPhone, you can tap Settings > Passwords & Accounts, then tap and account.


If your notes aren't with iCloud and weren't syncing from an email account, you could attempt to restore from a backup to regain your notes on your iPhone, if you have a backup created from when the notes were available: Restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch from a backup


If additional assistance is needed, it would be helpful to know what the Default Account setting has listed for Notes on your iPhone. You can tap Settings > Notes to view the Default Account setting.


Cheers.

Jan 13, 2019 11:55 AM in response to chrispreynolds

Greetings chrispreynolds,


Thanks for visiting the Apple Support Communities! I understand notes have disappeared from your iPhone and MacBook unexpectedly.


I suggest checking if your notes are viewable on iCloud.com. The following guide will show you how to check your notes on iCloud.com: iCloud: View notes on iCloud.com


If you see your notes on iCloud.com, then let's have you check your iCloud feature settings on your iPhone and Mac to ensure Notes are enabled. See how to enable iCloud Notes from the following guide: Change your iCloud feature settings


Your notes may also be syncing to your devices from one of your email accounts you've added to your device. To ensure the Notes featured is enabled for your email accounts on your iPhone, you can tap Settings > Passwords & Accounts, then tap and account.


If your notes aren't with iCloud and weren't syncing from an email account, you could attempt to restore from a backup to regain your notes on your iPhone, if you have a backup created from when the notes were available: Restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch from a backup


If additional assistance is needed, it would be helpful to know what the Default Account setting has listed for Notes on your iPhone. You can tap Settings > Notes to view the Default Account setting.


Cheers.

Jan 22, 2019 1:46 PM in response to Joseph_S.

Hey Joseph,


Thank you for the reply.


I had already checked on iCloud, the notes were not there. I tried again after your suggestion, and they were still not there.


I have also checked the email accounts, no luck there also.


I don't want to try a backup on the phone, because it looks like I will loose data that I have created since the 11th when the Notes went missing.


The Default Account is my gmail which is 'chrispreynolds@gmail.com'.


Is there anything else I can do?


I am thinking about turning off iCloud (it's a pretty annoying system anyway and I have never used it) just so something like this won't happen again.


Thoughts?


Thanks

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Notes Randomly Disappeared on iPhone for no reason, then opened new mac and same thing happened

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