what happened to the notes under contacts?

You completely misunderstood the question and the underlying issue.

I’m having the same problem (noticed sadly a week after applying the update and iCloud only has a contacts recovery option of yesterday and today) as the OP and very very upset.

Perhaps you don’t use the feature and instead have assumed that their statement of

“…notes" that I had attached with certain contacts have suddenly disappeared”

implies the contact(s) itself/themselves are missing. They’re not. It’s the Notes FIELD within specific contacts which are now blank. They previously had information which the update has now, and inconsistently at that, wiped out.

You can see the feature by simply opening your contacts and scroll down to see a field called “Notes”. Of course the braintrust at Apple should have called it something else so confusion won’t arise but that’s besides the point…

I’m attaching a screenshot for my contact for AAA (emergency car service in the US) where I previously had entered the membership number and expiration date in the notes section. It’s now blank. That’s not a big deal. What is?

Oh things like extensive notes saved under my own contact “My Card” that had important information gathered from MANY sources so they’re at my fingertips. Things like the alarm code for my folks house stored in the notes section of their contact entry. Things like notes saved under my partner’s contact where I had her dress & shoe size, ring finger size and other little tidbits of information I didn’t want to forget.

Guess what? Apple just “forgot” it all for me. Just great…

I am seriously considering abandoning Apple products over this.

This has just happened to me! I purchased a new iPhone in February, and the notes under certain contacts have just vanished. This includes ALL of the notes under my own contact - where I had lots of useful and important information stored. Now it is ALL GONE. Ugh!!!!! Apple - how do I get these notes back?

So you have no comment to make?

No thoughts?

No suggestions?

Not even that you have no idea what’s going on?

Not what one would expect from a level 10 community member…

Contacts on iOS and iPadOS devices are synced to an email account

Contacts on iPhones and smartphones are not stored locally but are synchronized with email accounts. The primary storage is on the email server, with a local copy on the device for offline access. Syncing allows changes made on any device to be updated across all connected devices. You can sync contacts with various email providers, enabling access from multiple devices. This method ensures convenience and seamless management of contacts across platforms.

When you add and enable the Contacts feature on your iPhone, it provides you with the ability to sync your contacts with a specific email account. This email account can be from various providers such as Google, iCloud, AOL, Exchange, Outlook, Yahoo or any Other email client server that supports contact synchronization.

Please see the pic below for a better understanding...

If you are unable to find your contacts which were stored on iCloud, then try this --> Restore contacts, calendars, bookmarks, and more using ...

Check if the email account has been removed from the iOS mail app.

Add the email account that stores your contacts in the IOS mail app and enable Contacts.

What is your default Contacts account? If none, please add an email account and enable contacts.

See the pic below

Unlike some Android devices, contacts are neither stored locally on an iPhone nor in SIM. They are synced to an email account that you had Google, iCloud, AOL, Exchange, Outlook, Yahoo or any Other

If you have a corporate email account added through a profile on your device, please check with your organization's system administrator.

I have the same problem. I sync my gmail contacts with the gmail app on my iPhone11. My notes exist in my gmail contacts when accessed through my browser, but:

• they are COMPLETELY missing on my iPhone contacts (accessed via the phone icon) when I update my contact's notes in gmail and then sync.
• they STILL EXIST on my iPhone contacts (accessed via the phone icon) for contacts that I have NOT changed recently.
• when I add a new contact in gmail and then sync, the notes SUCCESSFULLY come across.

I'm debating whether I should delete the gmail app completely on my phone and then resync to get everything. Gulp!

I took the following steps and got all my notes back:

• Settings > Contacts > Accounts > iCloud > Show All > Turn off: Contacts
• Settings > Contacts > Accounts > Gmail > Delete Account
• Settings > Contacts > Accounts > Add Account > Google > email > password > Ensure Contacts is on