I got a new phone but when i tried setting it up my notes disappeared from my icloud. i really need them back but nothing works

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Level 1

4 points

I got a new phone but when i tried setting it up my notes disappeared from my icloud. i really need them back but nothing works

I recently got a new phone and wanted to transfer my notes from my old phone (an iphone 11 with IOS 16) to my new phone (an iphone 16 with IOS 26) so i backed them all up to my icloud. everything had backed up but when i set up my new phone they had all disappeared from my icloud. everything else was still backed up and all my folders from my notes could be recovered but the individual notes have disappeared from both my new phone and my old one. theres no recently deleted folder in either my notes app or my icloud and i’ve tried reseting my phone to a previous backup but still nothing. i really need those notes and would really appreciate any help to get them back.

iPhone 11, iOS 16

Posted on Dec 31, 2025 7:24 AM

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Answer 1

sberman

Level 10

272,550 points

Dec 31, 2025 11:01 AM in response to DominoWren

DominoWren wrote:

so i backed them all up to my icloud. everything had backed up but when i set up my new phone they had all disappeared from my icloud.

You’re mixing up two very different concepts.

iCloud backup - A place where a snapshot of your iPhone’s contents is stored and can be used to restore to an Apple device, overwriting its current contents.
Storing Contacts in iCloud - Keeping all your Contacts data in iCloud so it’s immediately available on all your Apple devices.

Your Contacts data can be in one or the other, but not both.

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