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notes are gone after accepting new icloud terms and conditions

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?

iPhone 6s Plus

Posted on Nov 5, 2024 8:11 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Nov 6, 2024 10:17 AM

Hi,


Had this too and found a simple fix….


1) Go to Settings and search for iCloud

2) Select iCloud Apple ID (at the top of the list)

3) Under ‘Apps using iCloud’ select Show All

4) Select Notes

5) Turn off ‘Sync this Phone’ and wait for a few seconds

6) Turn ‘Sync this Phone’ back on


This should kick the notes app back into life to use iCloud again.


Hope this works for you and helps a few others along the way 😊


265 replies

Nov 14, 2024 2:27 PM in response to waitinthefire

DO NOT FOLLOW the fixes people have provided here unless you KNOW for sure your notes are backed up on the cloud. I’ve spent lots of time on the phone with Apple recently… and if you do this, there’s NO WAY they can recover them because it resyncs your phone with whatever is most currently in your iCloud.


Also learned that Apple doesn’t monitor these communities and conversations, so if you haven’t reported your issue directly to Apple, they likely are collected all the data needed to prevent this from

happening in the future. It’s important everyone call them and report this so they can see it wasn’t just a couple people this happened too. More than one of them told me “hmmm changing terms and conditions shouldn’t do that though. It shouldn’t delete data…” Well, it DID!!!! To lots of people.


I also learned i didn’t have the option of “on my iPhone” checked… it must not be a default or else some of my notes would have been saved directly to my device instead of pulling from the cloud to sync. :(

Nov 8, 2024 5:45 PM in response to AmericanDipper2

AmericanDipper2 wrote:

I got nothing back. This is on my iPad not iPhone, and my notes are still lost. Years of notes. Many important to me. 😡😡

Do you see them when they are viewed at iCloud.com?

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


You will only get the notes synced to your device that are currently stored in iCloud. While the update stopped syncing the notes for many, they were able to sync them again to show up on the device. I have not seen any reports where the notes were removed from the iCloud.com website after the update. That may be a different issue altogether and not related to what the users have found on this post.

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 8, 2024 7:43 AM in response to sifumanny

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.

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.

notes are gone after accepting new icloud terms and conditions

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