If you’ve opened the Notes app on your iPhone recently, only to find every entry is missing, you’ve come across a “scary bug” which seems to have been widespread. Apple has now commented on this situation, which was first spotted early in November, with helpful details of how to resolve the situation.
The Notes app on the iPhone.
First up, don’t panic, your data hasn’t vanished forever. It’s a troublesome experience, though, looking at what should be a list of details which you presumably put in the Notes app because they’re important. And since individual Notes are lockable, some people use them as an alternative to a passwords app.
Data is valuable, so its loss is a cause for concern. Thankfully, this Notes data isn’t deleted, just out of sight for now. Here’s how to get it back.
Apple has now acknowledged that there is an issue, in a support document spotted by Joe Rossignol at MacRumors. Under the reassuring title, “If you don’t see your iCloud notes in the Notes app,” Apple describes what to do and quietly explains that it’s all down to iCloud sync. The company doesn’t describe it as a bug, as such, though you can imagine that an upcoming iOS release is being worked on right now to ensure there’s no need to follow the instructions in the first place.
Users had found their way to similar solutions, but here are the full instructions from Apple for convenience and clarity. As you’ll see, they also apply to the iPad and Vision Pro, too.
Here’s how to check your iCloud sync settings, and restart if needed.
If your iCloud notes aren’t appearing on your iPhone, iPad, or Apple Vision Pro, follow these steps.
1. Open the Settings app and tap your name.
2. Tap iCloud, then tap Notes.
3. Make sure Sync this [device] is on, then check the Notes app.
4. If you still don’t see your notes, restart your iPhone, iPad, or Apple Vision Pro. After restarting, check your settings again.
After these steps, your iCloud notes should appear and start syncing again on devices signed in to the same Apple Account. When syncing completes, content previously synced to iCloud should appear.
Apple updated iCloud terms and conditions in September and it seems that some users encountered the problem after agreeing to the new details.