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I accidentally deleted a note that I need. I need to restore it. I do not have a recent backup other than iCloud.

Upon realizing that my note was deleted I ran to my iPad to try to recover the note. Upon opening the notes app i saw the title then it disappeared. Is ther a way to restore recently deleted notes to my phone. I was under the impression that iCloud allowed this. I though iCloud was a backup???

iPhone 4S, iOS 6.0.2

Posted on Jan 14, 2013 10:38 AM

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23 replies

Jan 14, 2013 11:21 AM in response to Dartiesdad

Dartiesdad wrote:


Notes are not part of an iCloud backup but are part of an iTunes back-up.


Actually, entries in the Notes app are part of your device's backup, and if you restore from your last backup then the deleted note(s) will be recovered, as long as they were present at the time of the last backup.


Keep in mind that there's a big difference between iCloud and your backup file (which may or may not be in iCloud). The notes you keep in the Notes app to get pushed to iCloud (if you've set it to do so) and any changes you make within Notes are reflected in iCloud as soon as your device has web access.


But your backup file, which may be backed up in iCloud or on your computer (depending on how you set it up) will save your Notes. Restoring from the last backup will return the Notes to the state they were in at the time of the last backup. This is why one should back up daily, either as part of an iTunes sync or separately as an automatic backup to iCloud (assuming you've set it to backup to iCloud).

Jan 14, 2013 11:28 AM in response to shopjnr

shopjnr wrote:


is there a way to only restore the backup of the notes app?

Restoring from your last backup is an all-or-nothing deal ... you can't pick and choose what to restore. Syncing to iTunes and backing up are not the same, and not necessarily connected. Anytime you do a sync a backup is created, but you can backup (to iCloud) without doing a sync to iTunes. How are you doing your backup, to your computer or to iCloud?

Jan 14, 2013 11:32 AM in response to shopjnr


shopjnr wrote:


ok, how do i do a notes restore from iTunes? thanks so much for your help with this.

Connect the iPhone to iTunes and locate it in the left column. Since you're on a PC, right-click on its name and select "Restore from backup".


As noted above, your backup is done each time you sync so if you haven't done a sync in awhile then the backup could pre-date the missing note. But if you have your iPhone set to backup to iCloud automatically each day (external power applied, on wi-fi, screen off) then your backup could be very recent.

Jan 14, 2013 11:40 AM in response to rockmyplimsoul

Rockmyplimsoul


Okay


I don't see Notes in the list of backed up items, as well the historical posts have been pretty clear about Notes not being part of an iCloud back-up.


You get 5 GB of free iCloud storage for:

  • Photos and videos in the Camera Roll
  • Device settings (for example: Phone Favorites, Wallpaper, and Mail, Contacts, Calendar accounts)
  • App data
  • Home screen and app organization
  • Messages (iMessage, SMS, and MMS)
  • Ringtones
  • Visual Voicemails

User uploaded file

User uploaded file

Jan 14, 2013 11:59 AM in response to Dartiesdad

Dartiesdad wrote:


I don't see Notes in the list of backed up items, as well the historical posts have been pretty clear about Notes not being part of an iCloud back-up.

The last post you quoted was correct, Notes are part of the backup file, you can see that here:


http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4946


Although this article is written from the perspective of backing up locally, the backup file contains the same information whether stored locally or in iCloud. I can tell from experience that restoring my devices from my iCloud backup does indeed restore my Notes -- there would be howls of pain if there was a difference between a local backup and an iCloud backup!


I think part of the problem is the confusion between iCloud storage and iCloud backup. iCloud storage are the things you can access from your device (prior purchases, Calender, Contacts, e-mail, and yes Notes). Backup is the data that defines your device settings, app data, and a lot of other things defined in the article above. You can't access the things inside your backup, but restoring from your backup puts them back in place.

Jan 14, 2013 12:49 PM in response to rockmyplimsoul

Rockymyplimsoul


This has helped me a lot, thank you,


There is confusion out there and I think it 's becoming clearer to me, so if you have patience for another question.


This is the screen from my iPhone I have notes in 3 accounts:


1. Gmail (actually none)

2. On my Phone - (local)

3. iCloud - most of notes synced over from my Mac


What happens with each one? That would help me understand the best


User uploaded file

Jan 14, 2013 1:18 PM in response to Dartiesdad

Notes from "On my iPhone" are notes you may have made prior to iCloud, or at least prior to syncing them with iCloud. These are stored only on the iPhone and are recoverable from your backup (I have such notes restored from prior backups).


Notes from the "iCloud" category, as well as any other sync'd service like GMail, are stored on the host server. As far as the backup of the content of these notes is concerned, now I'm questioning if perhaps only the account information is backed up and when restoring a backup the device will simply pull the notes in from the server, as opposed to replacing what's on the server with content from the backup. It is a subtle, but important difference.


Thanks for bringing this up, and sorry if I didn't think this aspect all the way through. One can see how you might think all Notes are part of the backup, but if the server is the master keeper of the data then a deleted (or changed) note will not be recoverable from the iOS backup. I guess the way to test this would be to establish a new note in iCloud, GMail, etc. and perform a backup. Then change or delete the note and restore from that backup. I'll give it a shot in the coming days, if for nothing else but to keep my knowledge base up to date!

I accidentally deleted a note that I need. I need to restore it. I do not have a recent backup other than iCloud.

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