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Note lost after app crash…possible to recover?

I was editing a note in the Notes app, when I had an app crash and lost the entire content of my note. Possible to restore in any way?


I was editing a lengthy note, and while in the process of highlighting several blank rows to delete them from the text, my entire phone froze for several seconds. The entire screen greyed out and did not respond to any inputs. Then the app crashed altogether. When I restarted, my lengthy note that I had been editing was gone, and a new, blank note was open. The recently deleted folder was empty both on my phone and in iCloud.


Im not entirely sure what happened, but as best as I can piece together, at some point during the freeze while I was trying to get the phone to respond, the “select all” option may have been activated and the entire text was deleted or cut. Which I guess aligns with the empty “new” note when I reopened the app.


I tried to shake/undo inside the new note, but this didn’t do anything, as there was apparently nothing in the clipboard to restore.


Is there any possibility of restoring the lost text?


The entire note, though quite long and compiled over several days, is still newer than my most recent total phone backup.

iPhone 13 Pro

Posted on Jan 27, 2023 6:47 AM

Reply
Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Jan 29, 2023 2:27 PM

Hello Johnny_AppleFeed,


It sounds like you were creating a note and some how the iPhone went unresponsive. The Notes app stopped responding and you had to restart the iPhone.


Your only option would be to use these steps to try and locate this missing note: If you're missing notes on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support


If you're missing notes on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

If you're missing notes, they might have been accidentally deleted, or you might need to change your settings.

First, update all of your devices to the latest version of iOS, iPadOS, or macOS to make sure that the issue isn't related to previous software. Then try the following steps.

To make sure your Notes work is associated with an email account, find the email settings screen located at Settings > Mail > Accounts.

Check your account settings

If you store your notes with a third-party account or email service, like Gmail or Yahoo, check your settings:
1. In the Settings app, tap Mail.
2. Tap Accounts, then tap the email account that you want to check.
3. Make sure that Notes is on.

If you use Notes with more than one email account, just repeat the steps for each account. If your account is missing, learn how to add an email account to your device.

The recently deleted folder in Mail holds recently deleted notes for 30 days.

Check your Recently Deleted folder

If you store your notes on iCloud, check your Recently Deleted folder:
1. Open Notes, then tap the back icon Tap the arrow icon until you see your Folders list.
2. Tap Recently Deleted and search for your note.

If you find your note in Recently Deleted or in another folder, you can move it:
1. In the Notes list, tap Edit.
2. Select the note that you want to move.
3. Tap Move, then select the folder you want to move it to.

If you use notes with another service, like Gmail or Yahoo, check the Trash folder of that account in the Mail app. If you delete a note from the Notes app, your third-party account will usually keep it in the Trash folder. To recover a note from the Trash folder, you need to copy and paste the note to a new note in the Notes app.
Using the search function in Notes


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.
 

Learn more about Notes 

Use Notes to do things like create checklists, sketch ideas, and share notes.


Some of these steps may sound like repeated steps you've taken, but they may provide additional steps or details not mentioned in your post.


With that said, if you're unable to recover the missing note using these steps, then there wouldn't be a way to restore this note. Shaking to undo, only applies when you immediately need to erase or undo something. It will not work after restarting the device.


We hope this helps out, take care.

Similar questions

1 reply
Question marked as Best reply

Jan 29, 2023 2:27 PM in response to Johnny_AppleFeed

Hello Johnny_AppleFeed,


It sounds like you were creating a note and some how the iPhone went unresponsive. The Notes app stopped responding and you had to restart the iPhone.


Your only option would be to use these steps to try and locate this missing note: If you're missing notes on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support


If you're missing notes on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

If you're missing notes, they might have been accidentally deleted, or you might need to change your settings.

First, update all of your devices to the latest version of iOS, iPadOS, or macOS to make sure that the issue isn't related to previous software. Then try the following steps.

To make sure your Notes work is associated with an email account, find the email settings screen located at Settings > Mail > Accounts.

Check your account settings

If you store your notes with a third-party account or email service, like Gmail or Yahoo, check your settings:
1. In the Settings app, tap Mail.
2. Tap Accounts, then tap the email account that you want to check.
3. Make sure that Notes is on.

If you use Notes with more than one email account, just repeat the steps for each account. If your account is missing, learn how to add an email account to your device.

The recently deleted folder in Mail holds recently deleted notes for 30 days.

Check your Recently Deleted folder

If you store your notes on iCloud, check your Recently Deleted folder:
1. Open Notes, then tap the back icon Tap the arrow icon until you see your Folders list.
2. Tap Recently Deleted and search for your note.

If you find your note in Recently Deleted or in another folder, you can move it:
1. In the Notes list, tap Edit.
2. Select the note that you want to move.
3. Tap Move, then select the folder you want to move it to.

If you use notes with another service, like Gmail or Yahoo, check the Trash folder of that account in the Mail app. If you delete a note from the Notes app, your third-party account will usually keep it in the Trash folder. To recover a note from the Trash folder, you need to copy and paste the note to a new note in the Notes app.
Using the search function in Notes


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.
 

Learn more about Notes 

Use Notes to do things like create checklists, sketch ideas, and share notes.


Some of these steps may sound like repeated steps you've taken, but they may provide additional steps or details not mentioned in your post.


With that said, if you're unable to recover the missing note using these steps, then there wouldn't be a way to restore this note. Shaking to undo, only applies when you immediately need to erase or undo something. It will not work after restarting the device.


We hope this helps out, take care.

Note lost after app crash…possible to recover?

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