notes are gone after accepting new icloud terms and conditions

I have an older iPhone (X). This worked for me: settings->iCloud->then turn off “Access iCloud data on the web”->go to notes and watch them reload. Then switch “Access iCloud data on the web” back on.

the same has happened to me unfortunately. i tried to do the steps everyone is suggesting in the comments but it downloaded only 5 notes with the newest date 2022 and now it is still downloading. very dissapointed. Apple go and fix this!!!

If you are following this, then your iCloud Notes are already gone from your phone. Say yes. Delete Notes from your phone. Then go to the App Store and reload it. [If you had Notes in the Dock bar at the bottom of the screen, it will not appear there after the reload]. Set iCloud as the default in Notes. It will then start to reload from the Cloud. I had 1,797 notes and it took 2+ days to reload them, with a little spinning gear wheel showing when it was working. Note: If you open another App, it will stop the process. You will have to Close Notes then re-open it to get it working again. Apple has certainly given us a large pain in the you-know-where! 😠

Help with recovering Notes Contents

@AdamsiThings. Thanks for this fix!! Adding to your instructions, on my iPhone I had to

1) Go to Settings and find iCloud

2) Select iCloud Drive as one of the apps using iCloud

3) Turn off 'Syne this Phone' and wait for a few seconds

4) Turn 'Sync this Phone' back on

And within 5 minutes all my 'lost' Notes came back into the Notes area.

Phew!

Same thing happened to me and I tried EVERYTHING the people mentioned to do, didn’t work. I even contacted Apple Support and they said they couldn’t get my notes back. I don’t know what to do, my notes were so important to me.

DO NOT FOLLOW the fixes people have provided here unless you KNOW for sure your notes are backed up on the cloud. I’ve spent lots of time on the phone with Apple recently… and if you do this, there’s NO WAY they can recover them because it resyncs your phone with whatever is most currently in your iCloud.

Also learned that Apple doesn’t monitor these communities and conversations, so if you haven’t reported your issue directly to Apple, they likely are collected all the data needed to prevent this from

happening in the future. It’s important everyone call them and report this so they can see it wasn’t just a couple people this happened too. More than one of them told me “hmmm changing terms and conditions shouldn’t do that though. It shouldn’t delete data…” Well, it DID!!!! To lots of people.

I also learned i didn’t have the option of “on my iPhone” checked… it must not be a default or else some of my notes would have been saved directly to my device instead of pulling from the cloud to sync. :(

update - powered off and on after the two suggested steps. got my notes back on iPh!

did not work. still without notes on iPh 11 pro. They are on the web though, and still synced with my macbook pro.

AmericanDipper2 wrote:

I got nothing back. This is on my iPad not iPhone, and my notes are still lost. Years of notes. Many important to me. 😡😡

Do you see them when they are viewed at iCloud.com?

View notes and locked notes on iCloud.com - Apple Support

You will only get the notes synced to your device that are currently stored in iCloud. While the update stopped syncing the notes for many, they were able to sync them again to show up on the device. I have not seen any reports where the notes were removed from the iCloud.com website after the update. That may be a different issue altogether and not related to what the users have found on this post.

StupidSimple wrote:

I tried this but got a message asking if I was sure I wanted to unsync. Saying if I did my date would be lost. So I didn’t complete the step. I don’t want to lose the previous info just in case. Any one else get this?

First view your notes that are stored in iCloud:

View notes and locked notes on iCloud.com - Apple Support

These are the notes that will be synced back to your device when you turn off Notes in iCloud and choose to delete them from your device. Doing this does not delete them from iCloud. After you turn the switch for Notes back on, all the notes you viewed in iCloud using the previous link will then be downloaded back to your device.

In addition to AdamsiThings answer, a couple more suggestions:

1. Force restart the Notes app (double tap the home button, then swipe up the Notes app, then open it again.)
2. Make sure Low Power mode isn't turned on; this may prevent syncing from occurring when you're not using the app.

sifumanny wrote:

Exact same problem here. Nothing is helping to fix the issue. Come on Apple. Do something.

"Nothing is helping" doesn't confirm what steps you have tried. The steps that have worked for the users here are:

• Go to Settings > [name on top] > iCloud
• Turn off the switch for Notes. If it is already off, just turn it on and your are done.
• When asked if you want to delete the notes from your device, confirm that action, they still remain in iCloud.
• Restart your phone
• Turn on the switch for Notes in the same location.
• Wait for the notes to download and you are done.

You can make sure you have notes saved in iCloud by signing into icloud.com. Only those notes will be downloaded to your phone.

I had the same issue. Try:

1. Connect your iPhone to your computer/laptop using your charger.
2. Log into iCloud.com on a computer and go to your Notes.
3. On your iPhone, go to Settings > iCloud > Notes, and make sure "Sync this iPhone" is on. (If you'd like, turn it off and then back off)
4. Delete your Notes app.
5. Redownload it from the App Store.
6. Go to your Notes and reconnect it to iCloud when the automated message pops up.
7. Then, stay on the Notes app until ALL of them come back. Do not exit the app as it will start over each time.

Please let me know if you have any troubles.

I had the same issue. Try:

1. Connect your iPhone to your computer/laptop using your charger.
2. Log into iCloud.com on a computer and go to your Notes.
3. On your iPhone, go to Settings > iCloud > Notes, and make sure "Sync this iPhone" is on. (If you'd like, turn it off and then back off)
4. Delete your Notes app.
5. Redownload it from the App Store.
6. Go to your Notes and reconnect it to iCloud when the automated message pops up.
7. Then, stay on the Notes app until ALL of them come back. Do not exit the app as it will start over each time.

Please let me know if you have any troubles.

Thank you so much for this, it worked and I have all my notes back - phew!

Omg I was about to be in the fetal position crying because all of my notes were gone. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you that worked Stumble! 🥰