How to retrieve missing iPad notes after iCloud Sync

I turned on iCloud sync for notes on my iPad when I realized it wasn't on. All of my iPhone notes showed up on my iPad, but my iPad notes DISAPPEARED. They are GONE. HELP!


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

iPad, iPadOS 16

Posted on Jan 13, 2023 4:37 AM

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Posted on Oct 1, 2023 7:58 AM

This happen to me 5 minutes ago and its my class notes that disappear and I have nothing to study for the coming up exams in 3 days. I have no any other backup too. Please does anyone know how to recover them? All I wanted to create a back up of my notes in iPad in my iPhone. This is just absurd.

79 replies

Feb 19, 2023 12:36 AM in response to Chris_V89

i have the same problem and this is not helping at all, is there actually a solution? i mean this is absurd.......all i did is turn on the sync, its supposed to add the notes that are on iCloud to my existing ones instead of making all my current notes on iPad vanish out of air.....(n when i turn it on it doesn't even have a confirm/warning button for this) please fix this????

Jan 11, 2024 4:55 PM in response to Chris_V89

None of the links you provided answered the problem. The Notes were not in any deleted notes. The problem is that Apple has a bug. Instead of placing the Notes into deleted notes when you sync or turn on iCloud, Apple simply deletes all the notes from the device and then downloads the notes from iCloud. As others also stated, there is no warning that this would occur. Another Apple bug is that when you download your device backup from iCloud into a new device that was purchased, you expect your settings to remain unchanged. In this case, Apple changed the settings for Notes from using iCloud syncing to not using it. This is what caused the initial problem. I and others believed we were syncing because that is how we were using Notes. Nothing changed except that we changed devices, and that Apple decided to introduce not one, buy two bugs.

Jul 9, 2024 9:48 AM in response to ktlasersIE

This just happened to me (July 2024).


I cannot imagine how this hasn’t been fixed yet, as this original post is from over a year and a half ago (January 2023).


Some people who have commented here have lost HUNDREDS of notes, and so much work. I would be absolutely livid.


This needs to be fixed NOW, and made a priority. If your software is permanently deleting a person’s work without warning how could anyone trust your products?

Jan 16, 2023 8:22 AM in response to Rob_H1

No, that is not correct. I had notes on my iPhone. When I got a new iPad, I created notes on the iPad. When I realized iCloud sync was not turned on for notes on the iPad, I turned it on. At that time, all of the existing iPhone notes populated on the iPad, and the iPad notes disappeared. The notes were definitely not in a third-party app. I watched them disappear.

Jun 11, 2024 10:41 AM in response to ktlasersIE

I encountered this same issue and fortunately was able to get (most) of my notes back because my most recent iCloud backup for the iPad was prior to when I turned on iCloud Sync for notes.


Issue:

I created new notes on my iPad while the "Sync this iPad" toggle for Notes within Apps using iCloud was off. When I switched on the toggle, all the notes created on my iPad were deleted and replaced by the notes from my iPhone/in iCloud.


APPLE NEEDS TO FIND A SOLUTION FOR THIS - or at the very least provide a warning that the newly created notes could be deleted.


Solution:

  • In Settings on your iPad, click your name (enter iCloud settings)
  • Click iCloud
  • Scroll to DEVICE BACKUPS, click iCloud Backup
  • Under ALL DEVICE BACKUPS, click the latest iPad backup and confirm the Last Backup was saved before you switched on the Sync this iPad toggle. For me, my last backup was yesterday.


Next,

  • Erase all content and settings
  • Restore iPad from latest backup (you will lose anything done after that most-recent backup - for me this was worth it to get the notes back)
  • Notes created on iPad should be there. Immediately copy them onto your phone or Google Drive

Feb 8, 2024 4:26 PM in response to Chris_V89

Except the same things happened to me, I did NOT remove any notes, I tried to sync my notes that were already on my IPad to my ICloud and APPLE deleted them NOT me you would think a multi-BILLION dollar company would be able to fix this problem with THEIR products. I was writing a book and lost ALL of my progress. This is something APPLE NEEDS to fix. Also it should just be a rule of thumb that syncing mean syncing and not replacing.

Jan 11, 2024 5:00 PM in response to Chris_V89

None of the links you provided answered the problem. The Notes were not in any deleted notes. The problem is that Apple has a bug. Instead of placing the Notes into deleted notes when you sync or turn on iCloud, Apple simply deletes all the notes from the device and then downloads the notes from iCloud. As others also stated, there is no warning that this would occur. Another Apple bug is that when you download your device backup from iCloud into a new device that was purchased, you expect your settings to remain unchanged. In this case, Apple changed the settings for Notes from using iCloud syncing to not using it. This is what caused the initial problem. I and others believed we were syncing because that is how we were using Notes. Nothing changed except that we changed devices, and that Apple decided to introduce not one, buy two bugs.

Mar 25, 2024 8:07 AM in response to ktlasersIE

Was anyone able to get a resolution to this issue? Apple support basically told me to go to Gmail to see if they can help restore since my icloud account is my gmail. Not sure how to even go about this, absolutely insane to me that apple would not have a solution for this. I only intended to sync but obviously that has a different meaning for Apple, it quite literally means replace and tough luck. so disappointed, if anyone has any solutions please share. I have months work on there.

How to retrieve missing iPad notes after iCloud Sync

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