Lost iCloud Notes
Some iPhone users are reporting a scary bug with the Notes app on iPhone. After agreeing to new iCloud terms and conditions as prompted by the system, the Notes app appears to disconnect from iCloud and instead presents users with a screen of zero notes, as if all the user’s notes have been deleted.
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For some people, it seems to be a temporary glitch that sorts itself out, and the notes appear quickly thereafter. For others, including myself, it did not fix itself. Thankfully, the proactive steps to fix it is simple and straightforward.
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If this fix does not work for you, and the toggle was already on when you checked the iCloud Settings screen, you can also try turning the toggle off, turning it back on again and then rebooting the phone.
This seems to be an iCloud issue, not an iOS 18 issue.
My notes were all deleted yesterday and so far have not been retrievable after trying absolutely everything recommended on the forums/this article/via customer support. Very upset at the lack of information as to how it’s going to be fixed. It’s been a long wasted day with no progress made. Glad to hear some people could get their notes back but hope it’s not going to be washed over for the rest of us. Feeling extremely cautious and frustrated that it happened with no fix in sight.
Previously:
Update (2024-11-18): Joe Rossignol:
Apple has now indirectly acknowledged this issue in a new support document that outlines steps to follow if your iCloud notes are not appearing on your iPhone, iPad, or Vision Pro.
Fortunately, the notes can be re-synced from iCloud. Apple’s steps are pretty much identical to the ones we shared earlier this month[…]
The biggest problem with Apple is that they pretend like widely reported bugs simply don’t exist.
Maybe they should try not gaslighting their users and proactively acknowledge issues and provide workarounds or timelines for bug fixes?
I’m somewhat surprised Apple can’t automate this in a iOS point release (check and see if Notes aren’t appearing and force a re-sync), although part of me wonders if that could potentially cause more problems.
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Here is what you do and Apple dropped the ball on this. They are becoming real lazy at giving the people the info they nned with all the stupid features the keep adding ti iPhones and iPads.
Open the Settings app.
Tap on your name at the top (aka your Apple Account settings).
Tap on iCloud.
Tap on Notes.
Turn on "Sync this iPhone" (green = on). If it is already on, turn it off and on again.
In the Notes app, wait several minutes for your notes to be restored from iCloud.
As much as I love to complain about Apple, they have really improved Notes lately. The most glaring missing feature is a real usable export. You can export it through their (required?) self data export website, but apparently it loses a lot of formatting and perhaps attachments.
I would love to see them add a proper export tool right in to the interface.
With low power mode enabled, keyboard input in Notes lags excruciatingly and makes it and nearly impossible to type anything in real time. This has been the case for several iOS versions, even on iPhone 15 Pro. Maddening.
@Bart I agree Notes is a serious app now, except for the syncing: they should have stuck with IMAP, instead of moving to the drooping phallus of unreliability that is CloudKit. It's crazy that my mum's notes sync more reliably in the Notes app with her *Google* account than mine do with iCloud. In principle I would otherwise have no good reason not to switch, but until then, it's the age old hack of editing plain text files. I'm not mad, I'm the warden!
I too had the heart stopping moment when my notes were empty (and I needed a note from the day before).
I had let my phone update overnight and in a panic automatically jumped to the iCloud settings to confirm all was syncing (it was in theory). Jumping back I noticed I now had 5 notes … then 8 and my required note was there.
Later in the day my notes were back, but it was a sobering reminder .
I’m still concerned this can cause data lost for people with notes backed up but a full iCloud storage (everyone not paying but syncing)
@Ben I've noticed in later versions of Notes that it is becoming more and more processor intensive when typing - even on a Mac. I have seen this in some particular notes that the typing will lag and it seems to be correlated with the complexity of the Note formatting.
Never noticed this in earlier versions.
Am guessing this might be what you are seeing exacerbated on the iPhone when it is in low power mode, with particular notes being edited, and CPU throttling kicks-in.
