You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

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

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

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.

67 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.

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.

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?

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.

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

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.

Jan 15, 2023 5:07 PM in response to ktlasersIE

Hey there ktlasersIE,


Thanks for reaching out to the Apple Support Communities. For the best steps that can help with locating your missing notes, check out the steps listed in this link here: If you're missing notes on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support


You may also be able to recover your notes with the steps in this next link here: Delete and recover notes on iCloud.com - Apple Support


Recover recently deleted notes
You can recover and edit notes you deleted in the last 30 days on iCloud.com or on your devices that are signed in with the same Apple ID. However, you can’t recover notes you permanently removed.
1. In Notes on iCloud.com, select Recently Deleted in the folder list on the left.
If you don’t see Recently Deleted, you don’t have any notes in that folder, and there’s nothing to be recovered.
2. Select a note, then click Recover in the Notes toolbar.
The note moves to the Notes folder.
If you want to move a recovered note directly to a folder you created, drag the note from the Recently Deleted folder to another folder.


Let us know if that's able to help.


Best regards.

How to retrieve missing iPad notes after iCloud Sync

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.