iPadOS 26.4 on 2024 iPad Pro, M4: Since upgrading to 26.4 the Apple Notes app lives in “first time” launch. That is, with every use of Notes, it shows me the “What’s New” dialog — every.single.time. How can I move past this?
iPad Pro (M4, 2024)
I think I have either a solution or workaround! Grok suggested the following and today it seems to have worked!
Quote from Grok:
“The repeated welcome screen suggests the app fails to save its state properly, which can trigger ongoing initialization overhead.
• Try force-closing Notes, then relaunching and dismissing the screen multiple times in quick succession.”
So, having already tried other suggestions such as toggling my Apple ID (sign out/sign in) and performing a complete reset of my iPad data … the above worked! Took at least 15 relaunch/dismiss/close cycles … but now Notes opens to the last folder or note in use and all my Notes-based shortcuts are working again! Phew.
Grok later gave me more on why this worked:
”This outcome indicates that the issue was likely tied to a corrupted or stuck app state cache, which multiple rapid closures can sometimes clear by interrupting incomplete initialization or background processes.
Regarding the steps you have already taken—toggling your Apple ID (iCloud sign-out and sign-in) and performing a full reset of all settings—these are comprehensive measures that address potential sync conflicts and system configuration corruption. The fact that force-quitting ultimately succeeded suggests the root cause was localized to the Notes app’s runtime state rather than a deeper iCloud synchronization or global settings problem.”
I think I have either a solution or workaround! Grok suggested the following and today it seems to have worked!
Quote from Grok:
“The repeated welcome screen suggests the app fails to save its state properly, which can trigger ongoing initialization overhead.
• Try force-closing Notes, then relaunching and dismissing the screen multiple times in quick succession.”
So, having already tried other suggestions such as toggling my Apple ID (sign out/sign in) and performing a complete reset of my iPad data … the above worked! Took at least 15 relaunch/dismiss/close cycles … but now Notes opens to the last folder or note in use and all my Notes-based shortcuts are working again! Phew.
Grok later gave me more on why this worked:
”This outcome indicates that the issue was likely tied to a corrupted or stuck app state cache, which multiple rapid closures can sometimes clear by interrupting incomplete initialization or background processes.
Regarding the steps you have already taken—toggling your Apple ID (iCloud sign-out and sign-in) and performing a full reset of all settings—these are comprehensive measures that address potential sync conflicts and system configuration corruption. The fact that force-quitting ultimately succeeded suggests the root cause was localized to the Notes app’s runtime state rather than a deeper iCloud synchronization or global settings problem.”
Adding more info: This morning the Notes app was unduly heavy on the iPad’s battery. From Settings, the battery usage reports that Notes used 20% more battery in one hour than it does normally over the past 7 days.
My action from there:
Two hours later, it is still slowly reloading my Notes data.
The full restore has completed. Notes still shows the “New Launch” page and appears to be constantly updating the Notes Navigator sidebar. It is up to date (all my notes are there as compared against other devices using same Apple ID) — but it is constantly spinning, looking for something else to update.
2nd update: The above (Apple ID sign out/return) seemed to make things even worse. After hours of reloading — my Notes just simple freaked out. It flashed the Launch window over and over (seemingly unstoppable), my battery tanked and Settings threw errors on reloading. I bit my lower lip, sucked in my breath and completely reset the iPad wiping out all data except my mobile carrier’s esim.
Hours later … data is still loading in the background. Notes still shows the “First Launch” page. I haven’t yet tried removing power to run on battery … I’ll try that after the data is fully restored.
Notes app repeatedly shows "What's New" on iPadOS 26.4
