Notes On My iPhone disappeared

Hi, my daughter has an iPhone (with no iOS Mail set up) and has many Notes stored in the On My iPhone folder

Today I added an iClould email to her iPhone via the Mail app, and there was a message that appeared saying somethig like "do you want to merge data" or something to that effect.

I said "yes"

Now the Notes folder "On My iPhone" is blank - every note has disappeared!

I've checked her iCloud account and they are not there

I've checked the "recently deleted folder" - they are not there

Where have they gone???

iPhone 8 Plus

Posted on Dec 4, 2022 5:37 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Dec 6, 2022 1:07 PM

Hello storkman14,


Thank you for reaching out to Apple Support Communities.


Let's try these steps:


"Use Search to find your notes 

  1. Open Notes, then tap the back icon Tap the arrow icon until you see your list of notes.
  2. Tap the Search bar and type a word, phrase, or the title from the note that you're looking for.
  3. Make sure All Accounts is selected. Search will check all of your notes in each folder across your accounts, like an email account.

If you don't see the Search bar, you might need to scroll to find it. If you still can't find a note, you might have the note locked. Search will only see the title of locked notes, so you might need to check all of your locked notes to find the specific note that you're looking for.


Manually search for your notes

If Search doesn't show results, you might need to check a different folder and scroll down the list:

  1. Open Notes, then tap the back icon Tap the arrow icon until you see your Folders list.
  2. If you have more than one folder, tap a different folder to see if your note is in there.

If you still can't find your note, it's possible that you're not using the correct word, phrase, or title from the note."


Let's also review all of the recommendations outlined here: If you're missing notes on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch


If the issue persists, c an you provide a few more details? Which iOS version does she have installed? Also, was her device previously backed up?


Cheers!

1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Dec 6, 2022 1:07 PM in response to storkman14

Hello storkman14,


Thank you for reaching out to Apple Support Communities.


Let's try these steps:


"Use Search to find your notes 

  1. Open Notes, then tap the back icon Tap the arrow icon until you see your list of notes.
  2. Tap the Search bar and type a word, phrase, or the title from the note that you're looking for.
  3. Make sure All Accounts is selected. Search will check all of your notes in each folder across your accounts, like an email account.

If you don't see the Search bar, you might need to scroll to find it. If you still can't find a note, you might have the note locked. Search will only see the title of locked notes, so you might need to check all of your locked notes to find the specific note that you're looking for.


Manually search for your notes

If Search doesn't show results, you might need to check a different folder and scroll down the list:

  1. Open Notes, then tap the back icon Tap the arrow icon until you see your Folders list.
  2. If you have more than one folder, tap a different folder to see if your note is in there.

If you still can't find your note, it's possible that you're not using the correct word, phrase, or title from the note."


Let's also review all of the recommendations outlined here: If you're missing notes on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch


If the issue persists, c an you provide a few more details? Which iOS version does she have installed? Also, was her device previously backed up?


Cheers!

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Notes On My iPhone disappeared

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