Why do Notes disappear from my phone?

I think that I have a solution if you are really annoyed about the disappearance and don't care about the sync function (I think, because I just did it and it have not disappeared yet).

This will not involve "account" or add a gmail accout.

I think that we have established by now that this happens to those with only Yahoo mail.

For those who have lost your notes, it's in your yahoo mail folder (open it through safari, not the mail app). Just copy and paste it after all these steps.

1. Email all the notes that matter to you to your email. Because what we're about to do will make them all disappear from notes.

2. Go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Yahoo!

3. You should see them all "on". (If you see that they were all "off" then just do what "iLovemykeens" said.

4. Turn off the one for Notes.

5. Go back to Notes and see them all disappeared (do a little gasp, then realized you have emailed them to yourself already).

6. Copy and paste all your notes back one by one. (I know that this will suck if you have hundreds of them).

* My theory is this: it's the sync in Yahoo mail that cause all of this. If we do this, we cut the tie. Screw the sync! We make our iphone Notes become a "for my phone only" thing.

**Beware that this method means that if you lost your phone, you are doomed! So, email the important ones to yourself once in a while.

It seems like Apple or Yahoo implemeted something on or around 17 May this year (that's the date after which my new or amended notes started disappearing) that didn't allow the sync between the iPhone Notes and Yahoo mail to function well, as explained in this Yahoo Messenger help topic, which was also coincidentally issued on 17 May 2013. It is however a problem that's been around on and off for a couple of years -

http://help.yahoo.com/kb/index?page=content&y=PROD_MAIL_CLASSIC&locale=en_GB&id= SLN5869

According to this, the problem lies with Apple's sync to Yahoo Mail as it creates a one-way sync AND deletes the original note from the iPhone. There is no return sync or 'copy all' mode to return the notes to the iPhone, so the only way to get the information back into Notes is by copying and pasting from Yahoo into a new note, time consuming and infuriating int his day and age. Also, you cannot do this from the iPhone mail app as the Yahoo Notes folder does not show up in this app!

The Yahoo solution is to copy the note contents into a new email (or I guess you could forward it), so that the email will show up in the sent folder in the email app.

An easier solution I picked up from an earlier message on this thread, is to move all the notes into a new Yahoo Mail folder you create, as that will show up in the email app. Still, you have to physically copy and paste each note...

I have tried all of the solutions suggested in this thread (I have an iPhone 4 using iOS 6.1.3) but I can't see how some have had success in getting notes back from Yahoo going by Yahoo's explanation. My only guess is that they also had iCloud or Gmail set up to receive notes as well and these are the ones showing up in Notes, not the ones copied to Yahoo. People saying "some turned up, others didn't" or "you end up with a few duplicates" seem to indicate this is the answer. Another solution mentioned said to select the ‘Notes’ switch to ‘on’ in all of the mail accounts under the ‘mail, contacts, calendars’ settings. This means that the note is backed up to Yahoo Mail (and all the other accounts selected) and remains on the iPhone, but simply because the other email accounts do not delete the note when backed up.

So my suggested solution is this -

Go to your Yahoo mail account on your computer or via Yahoo Mail app/Safari on the iPhone, NOT via the email app.

Go to the Notes folder, select all notes (you have to do this for each page of notes) and select move and select ‘new folder’ under the drop down menu (or create a new folder before doing the move). All your notes will be safe in this new folder and will show up in the iPhone email app under your Yahoo account.

Go to the iPhone ‘mail, contacts, calendars’ settings, deselect the Yahoo account for Notes back up. Either select iCloud, Gmail or iPhone only (except this will not make any back up of your notes which will be lost if you lose your phone). This will prevent your newly reconstituted notes from syncing to Yahoo Mail and being deleted from the iPhone.

Then open each note in turn, select all, copy, go to Notes open new note and paste. Close.

After a test the notes remained on the iPhone (presumably because they are syncing back and forwards with iCloud and Gmail) but oddly though, even after doing this a test note I made and synced to Yahoo only still remains on the iPhone… ***!!!

The most annoying thing about this is the fact that the problem has been around for at least 3 years on older iPhones and iOS versions, yet Apple don’t seem to have said anything on the subject or tried to figure it out. Seems like Apple’s reliability is going the way of Windoze.

I also object to the fact that the only reliable solution is iCloud. I have no wish to trust all of my information to the cloud and no wish to buy additional storage once the free allowance fills up. Makes me wonder if this is what is driving Apple's apparent lack of interest in resolving this problem.

Still trying to find a guaranteed solotion.

Mot but not all of my notes disappeared today and I was baffled and a bit concerned because passwords and other sensitive informationhad seemingly disappeared. All my notes I discovered are linked to a gmail account I have, which is fortunate, but I spent an hour working out what may have happened-I thought I'd been hacked.

Now here's the thing. Since my post 3 days ago I reconstituted all my notes (around 50) by copy and paste from Yahoo Mail back to Notes.

I left Yahoo as the default Notes account, and they stayed there, until some time last night when they've all gone again. Now I hadn't plugged in my iPhone to the laptop and do not have wifi sync with iTunes activated, so the only thing I can see is that Notes automatically backs up to the default mail account/iCloud at some predetemrined time, however I can find no settings anywhere on the iPhone to alter or switch this off.

So, where does that leave me? Notes are back in the Yahoo mail account, but that is no use really as I want them in the Notes app, and not located in another app (Yahoo Mail app) that I don't need. I have now set Gmail as the default and this seems to be working so far with a test note, but wait to see if this remains ater 2 days.

Best answer is to find a note taking app and use that, as Apple seem to have scored another own goal with Notes, like they did with Maps.

THIS IS NOT JUST A YAHOO PROBLEM. I use gmail and my notes disappeared. And they AREN'T in my gmail Notes folder. HELP!!!

Thank you! What a relief I found them. And changed the setting. Hopefully will not happen again.

My notes disappeared and I found them in my gmail trash, but only because (I think) I never cleaned my gmail trash. Anyhow this iPhone hiden feature stinks badly, or gmail stinks badly (I suspect more) maybe my phone is infected?

Hmm, I have created 3 notes (oldest 11 August) and set Gmail as the default folder for Notes and they have backed up successfully in my Gmail account 'Notes' folder and remain on my iPhone. (You won't be able to see these through the iPhone mail app, for some reason the Yahoo and Gmail notes folder do not show up in the Apple Mail app).

Check in the Settings app, do you have Gmail set as the default account in the Notes settings, and have 'Notes' on in the Gmail account under the 'Mail, Contacts, Calendars' settings.

I confess I don't have a defiitive answer as a lot of people seem to be reporting slightly differing problems - some losing all notes with no back ups, some losing partial notes (a problem I first saw a few years ago and reported by others using iOS 4), some losing notes as they type them( ! ), some losing notes then getting them back mysteriously...

It all points ot a badly implemented sync routine between Apple's Notes app and email accounts. The only solurtion that seems to work without issue is backing up to iCloud, which is probably what Apple want in this day and age of war to capture and store user information.

As (for me) Yahoo Mail sync clearly isn't working, and to date I'm sceptical about the Gmail Mail sync, I've started using a 3rd party app called Catch (which is free, so that's nice). It has some better features than Notes such as folders (they call spaces, but limited to 4), search facility, add voice notes, photos, to do lists, and reminders, as well as the abilty collaborate with other people. Unfortunately I've just discovered that they are ceasing support of the App! I wonder why...

Some others recommend Evernote (a competitor of Catch) so I guess I'll be looking into that.

I seemed to be missing notes - one in particular really was bugging me so I came here! Reading all the suggestions I was trying anything. I checked my yahoo, my gmail, checked my settings, checked my icloud, tried to figure out if they were even backed up on my computer - are they in my external hard drive. I knew there wasn't a way I trashed this one note but I may have done it in error. Well, I found it! I have been backing up to iCloud but was completely unaware that I had an email address with them - well, I did - I just kept going through things in my settings, turning things on and off, and discovered this unbeknownst to me iCloud email - and guess what - along with 4 emails I know I trashed - was the 5th email I don't think I trashed. All I can say is Don't Give Up!! They're there somewhere!! When I updated my iPhone 4 I had 'lost' some also but they popped up on my iPad - and yes, to any computer literate person out there you might be thinking I'm a bit kooky but I don't have ANY lost notes! Hope you find yours! 😉

This is the perfect solution to this problem.

I haven't figured out how to stop the disappearing notes, but ...... When I go to my notes on my Mac, I see them. If I alter the note in any way, like putting a new word or even just a space, it repopulates in my phone. Hope this helps.

This totally fixed my problem! Thank you thank you THANK YOU!

I found all of my "lost" notes in a folder in my Yahoo called Notes.

You just saved me so much time and heart ache. I wish I would have looked this up sooner! Ugh.

Everything you listed worked!

Then I put iphone as the default on my phone for notes, made sure my notes still synced with icloud and then copy and pasted all my missing notes back onto the notes app on my iphone.

Whew!!!!!!!

Let me state, Jimbo's recommendation is what saved me. Lol

I am still confused.....I have read through all the responses and don't know what to do. My missing notes are in my Yahoo Mail account....but I cannot access that folder through my email icon on my phone. I am hesitant to move all of them...because I don't want to go through the process of cutting and pasting to get them back into my Notes. Surely there must be an easier way to accomplish this. And it greatly upset me when I was told by Apple it would cost $19.95 to just talk to someone at Apple about my issue and maybe-maybe not find a solution!

If I put all my notes from my Yahoo Mail account --- will they all disappear from my phone?

This is such a frustrating problem!