how do i backup notes and contacts from iphone

You can turn on backup to iCloud by going to Settings > iCloud > Backup turning that on. It will automatically backup when the phone is plugged in to power, locked, and connected to wi-fi. You can also trigger it manually by using the Back Up Now on that same screen. Note however that you will not see any of the contents of the backup when you log in to https://www.icloud.com/

The Notes and Contacts that you can see at https://www.icloud.com/ have nothing to do with a backup. They are synced and are (or should be) at https://www.icloud.com/ if you have Settings > iCloud > Contacts and Settings > iCloud > Notes turned on and if iCloud is the default account for them. If they are not syncing there, the following has a number of things to review (including whether iCloud is the default account): Get help using iCloud Contacts - Apple Support

I forgot to say: Note that a backup (Settings > iCloud > Backup) can only be used to do a complete restore to an iOS device or when doing a transfer to a new iOS device. It is a good practice to have both Backup and syncing to iCloud turned on.

It's also worth noting that iOS backups do not actually contain contacts, other than what you've designated as a Favorite, and your call/text history. But the contacts themselves are not actually part of a backup, only the account information where they're being synced is in the backup.

This is not an "Apple thing", these are fundamental concepts that are common to any platform. Ignore iCloud and iCloud Drive for a moment, they're irrelevant to the discussion.

Sync means to make a mirror image of some data source. You make a change on device "A" and the change is replicated wherever the master source of the data resides, and vice-versa. If you have more than one device, the change you made is also replicated on device "B", etc. Syncing is dynamic and responds immediately to changes you might make. If you change the data there is no recovery, so it is not the same as a "backup".

Backup means to make an archive of some set of data. It is a static record that existed at the point in time when you made the backup. If you change the live data you do not change the backup, unless you make another backup after making the change. So a backup is what you would try to recover for your new iPhone when the original was churned up by a snow plow.

So what you want is a backup, and your device can be automatically backed up to iCloud or to your computer (your choice).

But not everything is included in a backup, namely things that you might sync from some master source. These things are not part of your device backup since the information resides elsewhere -- e.g. if you lose your iPhone you don't lose your email because it resides on a remote server, so there's no need to back up your email as part of your iPhone's backup. Likewise with contacts, if your contacts are stored in your Gmail account, all you need to do is set up your Gmail account on your new device and voila, you have your contacts back. Likewise with apps, they exist in the iTunes store and can be re-downloaded for free, so there's no need to back them up (but any data they accumulate is part of the backup).

Does that help?

So your fundamental question you started with implies that Notes you enter in your iPhone are not showing up either in iCloud and/or your wife's iPhone. If that's the case, then perhaps you're not syncing Notes to iCloud ... which is entirely possible, since some people don't want their notes in the cloud and prefer to keep them only on the device (in which case, the notes are part of the backup since there's no other source).

Maybe go to Settings> iCloud and see if the Notes option is turned ON. If it is, and you still don't see your Notes on your other devices or in iCloud.com, then open the Notes app and see if there is a yellow "<" in the upper left corner. If there is, tap that and see if your notes are in the iCloud category or (new for iOS 9) the "On My iPhone" category (which keeps the notes out of iCloud).

It is very simple. Go to setting>general>storage & iCloud usage>manage storage and pick what u want backed up.

Make sure setting>iCloud > backup is turned on too.

Remember, even with iCloud notes turned on this does NOT sync all notes on your device with iCloud, it just gives you the option to save notes in iCloud via the Notes app. You can consolidate all your notes by clicking edit, then tapping move all and moving them into the iCloud folder / folders which then moves them to iCloud!

This is probably what you'll need to do, or just make a backup, that works too.

My notes sync across devices as soon as I add/change a note. The notes are also backed up.

I ran into a similar issue and can't seem to get any help from anywhere. I used an iPhone forever. Latest phone an iPhone 6. I constantly backed up and synched my iPhone to my iTunes account. A few months ago I switched wireless carriers and from iPhone to Droid Turbo 2 phone. The new provider told me that when they transferred my contacts and other data from my iPhone to my Droid that everything would be there. When the transfer was finished in the store I saw all the contacts and thought - Great it worked! A few days later I went to click on a contact to retrieve a note and there was nothing there. I had over 2000 contacts and hundreds and hundreds had detailed notes and information that I can never retrieve.or recreate.I contacted the new provider and they said everything should be there so they didn't know. I then talked with an Apple tech and he said I just needed to do a restore to another device - so I did a restore to my iPad from the backup I did the morning I changed phones and providers. I was so excited because I thought I would be able to recover all my precious notes. After trying it my contacts were restored and they were no different than what had been transferred in the store from the iPhone to Droid. I tried 4 more times and nothing. I am SO depressed. I did not use any Cloud features - just synching and backing up in iTunes on my laptop.Is there any hope at all or am I just completely out of luck. I really am completely freaked out about this. Thank you SO much in advance for any hope you can give me.