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

I got a notification from settings saying to accept the new iCloud terms and conditions if i wanted to keep using iCloud on my phone (iPhone 12 pro max) I accepted and everything was normal but then I opened my notes app and all of my notes were GONE. I logged into my iCloud account and saw my most recents were there but I still don’t understand why all of my notes are completely deleted from my phone. They’re very important to me and I need them in my phone. Is there any way I can get them back? How could this happen?


[Re-Titled By Moderator]

iPhone 6s Plus

Posted on Nov 5, 2024 8:11 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Nov 5, 2024 7:35 PM

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
  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.

302 replies

Nov 8, 2024 8:11 AM in response to waitinthefire

I had the same situation. My heart nearly stopped when I found my Notes gone from my iPad. I read some of the other responses here, then logged into iCloud.com, and was relieved to find all my notes - but I didn’t change any settings. I then opened Notes on my iphone, and they were all there. Just doing that one thing slowly began repopulating the Notes on my iPad, oldest to newest. It took a couple minutes but they’re all back.

Nov 8, 2024 11:19 AM in response to Carpathia14

I had the same issue. Try:

  1. Connect your iPhone to your computer/laptop using your charger.
  2. Log into iCloud.com on a computer and go to your Notes.
  3. On your iPhone, go to Settings > iCloud > Notes, and make sure "Sync this iPhone" is on. (If you'd like, turn it off and then back off)
  4. Delete your Notes app.
  5. Redownload it from the App Store.
  6. Go to your Notes and reconnect it to iCloud when the automated message pops up.
  7. Then, stay on the Notes app until ALL of them come back. Do not exit the app as it will start over each time.


Please let me know if you have any troubles.

Nov 8, 2024 11:22 AM in response to waitinthefire

I had the same issue. Try:

  1. Connect your iPhone to your computer/laptop using your charger.
  2. Log into iCloud.com on a computer and go to your Notes.
  3. On your iPhone, go to Settings > iCloud > Notes, and make sure "Sync this iPhone" is on. (If you'd like, turn it off and then back off)
  4. Delete your Notes app.
  5. Redownload it from the App Store.
  6. Go to your Notes and reconnect it to iCloud when the automated message pops up.
  7. Then, stay on the Notes app until ALL of them come back. Do not exit the app as it will start over each time.


Please let me know if you have any troubles.

Nov 9, 2024 8:45 AM in response to StupidSimple

StupidSimple wrote:

I tried this but got a message asking if I was sure I wanted to unsync. Saying if I did my date would be lost. So I didn’t complete the step. I don’t want to lose the previous info just in case. Any one else get this?

First view your notes that are stored in iCloud:

View notes and locked notes on iCloud.com - Apple Support


These are the notes that will be synced back to your device when you turn off Notes in iCloud and choose to delete them from your device. Doing this does not delete them from iCloud. After you turn the switch for Notes back on, all the notes you viewed in iCloud using the previous link will then be downloaded back to your device.

Nov 10, 2024 8:02 AM in response to waitinthefire

My notes are back, but none of the methods being shared here were the reason. I tried a lot of these and none worked for me. It appeared that I didn’t have the most recent update, so I updated it and my notes came back after my phone restarted itself. It sounds like a relatively easy solution, but there’s still multiple things I’m confused.


At one point, the notes in my phone and the notes in my iPad were the same. Making a note on one device would show up on the other as well. At some point it stopped doing this. The notes that showed up on both devices while they were still somehow synced were still there, but new notes on one device would no longer show up on the other one. And that’s how it remained for a long time up until this terms & conditions mess. After accepting it, all the notes

were gone off my phone, as well all know, but for some reason all the notes on my phone were now suddenly on my iPad, replacing the ones I had on there. And to complicate matters I found that even when trying to make a new note during the duration of time my notes were gone, the notes would save unless you messed with the settings.

they would just disappear right after you backed out of them. Which I’m sure most people hear tried at least once.


This ordeal is very confusing and they should be dealing with the problem.

Nov 6, 2024 2:36 PM in response to waitinthefire

I received the same notification on my iPhone this morning, agreed to terms and all of my notes vanished, although later 16 returned, but none of those were really relevant. Then I went to iCloud in settings and it said to back up which I did, and all of my notes returned. One thing I did after my notes vanished from my phone is take a screen shot of all of them from my iPad. Then around 4 PM I got that same notification from iCloud on my iPad, so again I agreed to their terms, and my notes again vanished. I fooled around a bit on my iPad and finally saw the back up iCloud and so I did that and all of my notes are back. This is probably a very simple process for most younger people, but I am not young…..and when my notes vanished my heart sank as most of my passwords are there!

However all is well now, and I’m happy that I figured out how to get back my notes on my own! 🤗

Nov 9, 2024 11:08 AM in response to 5ivedegrees

If you are following this, then your iCloud Notes are already gone from your phone. Say yes. Delete Notes from your phone. Then go to the App Store and reload it. [If you had Notes in the Dock bar at the bottom of the screen, it will not appear there after the reload]. Set iCloud as the default in Notes. It will then start to reload from the Cloud. I had 1,797 notes and it took 2+ days to reload them, with a little spinning gear wheel showing when it was working. Note: If you open another App, it will stop the process. You will have to Close Notes then re-open it to get it working again. Apple has certainly given us a large pain in the you-know-where! 😠

Help with recovering Notes Contents

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

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