Notes from my iPhone disappeared post accepting new iCloud Terms and Condition.

I experienced this too on my iPhone 7 the day after I agreed to the updated iCloud terms and conditions (11/5/2024). No notes existed within the Notes app. However, I found that my Notes are tied to my iCloud account so I logged into icloud.com and found them there, yay! Next was to figure out how to get them on my phone. My iCloud account was listed under Settings > Notes > Accounts, but I was afraid to make any changes. So, I contacted Apple Support and we found a solution:

1. Deleted the Notes app
   1. Since my notes data was tied to my iCloud account, it retained it. If your notes are local, it would delete them if you delete the Notes app.
2. Redownloaded the Notes app from the Apple Store
3. Opened the Notes app. No notes were there.
4. Once the Notes app was opened, it prompted me to connect my iCloud account with a pop up that took me to Settings > Notes > Accounts > my iCloud account > iCloud. From there, we toggle the button next to Notes so it was On (aka Green) - screenshot below with the backup option for Notes toggled On
   1. 
5. I may have had to close the Notes app again but I forget. Either way, once we toggled the iCloud backup icon to On for Notes, this allowed for the notes to start downloading to my phone again!

I hope this may help someone too! So sorry folks are going through this.

I had the same issue with iCloud notes disappearing after I accepted the recent iCloud terms and conditions (a few days ago). I am using an iPhone 13, iOS version 16.3.1. I managed to resolve the issue and re-synchronise all my notes by doing the following:

1. Log in to your iCloud account online (icloud.com) to check that your Apple Notes are still there.
2. Turn the Notes option off and on under Settings/[user]/iCloud/Notes/Sync this iPhone; when prompted to "Delete from My iPhone," select Delete. I restarted the handset (though this may not be necessary) and then turned Notes back on.
3. Open Apple Notes, and you should see the notes begin to synchronise automatically.

None of these solutions worked for me. I logged into iCloud and could see all my Notes were there but I could not get them to download to my phone. I confirmed that the Default Account was already set to "On My iPhone" and I restarted my phone several times. Nothing. Then I tried this, which did work! Go to Settings, select Accounts, there were 3 accounts listed but only my Gmail account listed Notes as one of the apps tied to it. I selected my Gmail account, flipped the toggle for Notes to the On position, and all my Notes showed up on my phone. Success!

Please read all of this to see if it applies to you.

I was in the same position as everyone else but was too nervous to accept delete, or delete the app or any of that.

Instead, I rebooted my phone and waited. Nothing happened.

I opened the notes app and at the bottom of the screen it said SYNCING ICLOUD, or something similar. Then underneath that it said NO INTERNET CONNECTION.

Now, like most of you, at some point I have changed my settings to not sync anything through cellular data. So, I connected to the work WiFi and BINGO... all my 200 notes were back in 30 seconds.

So, make sure you're connected to WiFi, even if you're unaware if you have set any kind of restrictions on cellular data.

Good luck all of you, it just shows you we can't rely on Apple, this isn't the first time they have screwed up royally and won't be the last. iCloud is meant to be an extra layer of security, not an extra layer of risk... and we all know it is.

Turn your phone off and turn it on again. Simples 🙂

"Have you tried turning it off and on again...?" isn't just a comedy line, it's often the solution.

That's what I did - turned my iPhone off and restarted it - and hundreds of Notes are now synching back from iCloud to my phone.

Toggling Notes off and on in iCloud settings would also work, but I got a warning that some edits made on my phone hadn't synched to the cloud and would be lost if I did that.

Simple is best.

The solution of deleting the Notes app and then redownloading it worked for me when the other solutions mentioned above didn't. Luckily I could see that the notes were still there on my laptop. On the new download I could see the On my iCloud option which was previously not there. Once selected, all my notes came back.

Obvious solution really, but it should not have happened. Everyone I know with an older iPhone has been affected. Mine is an XR

sifumanny wrote:

Exact same problem here. Nothing is helping to fix the issue. Come on Apple. Do something.

"Nothing is helping" doesn't confirm what steps you have tried. The steps that have worked for the users here are:

• Go to Settings > [name on top] > iCloud
• Turn off the switch for Notes. If it is already off, just turn it on and your are done.
• When asked if you want to delete the notes from your device, confirm that action, they still remain in iCloud.
• Restart your phone
• Turn on the switch for Notes in the same location.
• Wait for the notes to download and you are done.

You can make sure you have notes saved in iCloud by signing into icloud.com. Only those notes will be downloaded to your phone.

I was incredibly shocked and unsure what to do. Thanks to your suggestions I have my notes back. Go to: Setting>notes>default>account the choose “on my iPhone”.

Bingo!! I could see them going back into my Notes.

It happened to me! 6 Nov 2024 on iOS 17.6.1 I accepted new T&Cs. Shocked to see everything gone, empty, zero. I turned my phone off and on again. I opened iCloud in browser on my phone and confirmed my notes were all there, and weren’t fully *gone*. Then they just… started downloading… and now seemingly it’s all fine again.

DO NOT FOLLOW THE STEPS SUGGESTED TO TOGGLE NOTES OFF AND ON IF YOUR ICLOUD IS NOT UPDATED and CURRENTLY BACKED UP!!!!! This will only allow whatever is on your iCloud to pull in and you’ll lose everything else that was local on your phone. The Apple support rep said if you don’t do this and call them, they can likely restore all your notes. Once you’ve done this, you can’t get them back. I hit cancel when the message “Will delete…” came up, but she’s still looking to see if maybe she can restore them. She can’t find anymore notes currently though….. so fingers crossed.

Also, apparently Apple doesn’t monitor this community, so if you don’t report issues to them, they never track the data of people having issues. There may be a ton more out there that the engineers could be tracking and finding out what went wrong if you call

apple and don’t just post here. Something I learned today. 🤪

Super frustrating. Sorry to everyone who experienced the panic :/

After downloading an update on 12/01/2024 I lost all my notes too. This forum was really helpful tho, and I got them all back after the first method I attempted.

I simply went to Settings > Notes > Toggled On the “On My iPhone” switch, then toggled it off.

My linked Notes accounts and emails came back immediately, and I went back to my notes app and they were all starting to sync again already. Thankfully I got all of them back!

I hope this is helpful to others too.

I posted this which worked for me after all other suggestions failed. Hope it works for you.

None of these solutions worked for me. I logged into iCloud and could see all my Notes were there but I could not get them to download to my phone. I confirmed that the Default Account was already set to "On My iPhone" and I restarted my phone several times. Nothing. Then I tried this, which did work! Go to Settings, select Accounts, there were 3 accounts listed but only my Gmail account listed Notes as one of the apps tied to it. I selected my Gmail account, flipped the toggle for Notes to the On position, and all my Notes showed up on my phone. Success!

@AdamsiThings. Thanks for this fix!! Adding to your instructions, on my iPhone I had to

1) Go to Settings and find iCloud

2) Select iCloud Drive as one of the apps using iCloud

3) Turn off 'Syne this Phone' and wait for a few seconds

4) Turn 'Sync this Phone' back on

And within 5 minutes all my 'lost' Notes came back into the Notes area.

Phew!

I also lost my Notes on my iPhone but not on my iPad after getting this t&c message. The iPhone had several accounts for notes, including iCloud. iPad only had one account for iCloud. So I added the iCloud account again and the notes came back.

Also just got an email about Find My being disabled on my iPhone. Went to the Find My app and turned it back on.

Time to do a backup…

Hey! I know you’re not replying to me but if your notes are on iCloud.com and not your phone, there should be a way to get them back. People have had various solutions - mine is listed in the forum replies — but to briefly describe, was resolved by deleting the Notes app, reinstalling Notes, open Notes then it took me to Settings > Notes > Accounts > iCloud account and I toggled the iCloud backup option for Notes On. Slowly the notes loaded on my phone!

I hadn’t tried just togging the iCloud backup option off and on for Notes so I wonder if starting there is a better/faster option - just in case you have any local notes saved, since deleting Notes would remove them.

Sending much luck! 🍀 So sorry this happened!