By Jennifer | Last Updated
Losing important notes on your iPhone can be a frustrating experience, especially when they contain crucial information like to-do lists, business details, or personal thoughts. Whether you accidentally deleted them or they disappeared due to a sync error or software glitch, there are effective ways to get them back.
In this guide, we’ll share 4 proven methods to recover deleted notes on your iPhone—both with and without a backup.
Where does the deleted notes go? The deleted notes are moved to the Recently Deleted folder, where they stay for up to 30 days before permanent deletion. Thus, you can find the deleted notes and recover them in the Recently Deleted folder.
Step 1: Tap Notes app on the iPhone home screen.
Step 2: Tap the Folders icon in the top-left corner. Then choose Recently Deleted option.
Step 3: Tap the note you want to recover. After that, tap the move icon on the bottom-center.
Step 4: Finally, select a preferred folder to recover the note.
Note: If the note isn’t in the Recently Deleted folder, it’s either been permanently deleted or stored in another account.
If you have enabled the iCloud sync for Notes, you can easily find the deleted notes on iCloud Recently Deleted folder. It is the same with iPhone Notes Recently Deleted folder.
Step 1: Open icloud.com on your computer and login with the Apple ID account which are linked to your iPhone.
Step 2: On the main interface, click on the Notes to proceed.
Step 3: Hit the Recently Deleted option and select your notes.
Step 4: Hit the Recover button and the Notes will go back to its original folder.
If you regularly back up your iPhone via iTunes or iCloud, you can restore Notes by restoring your iPhone from a previous backup. Think twice before restoring because it will overwrite current data.
Step 1: Open your iPhone and navigate to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Erase All Content and Settings. Then confirm your operation with the screen passcode.
Step 2: Follow the on-screen instructions to set up your iPhone. On the Apps& Data screen, tap the option—Restore from iCloud Backup.
Step 3: Login your Apple ID and select a backup that includes the deleted notes to restore. Minutes later, your iPhone is restored and you can open the Notes app to check whether the deleted notes come back or not.
Step 1: Get a USB cable to connect your iPhone to a computer that has iTunes installed. Make sure that you use a computer you’ve previously synced with your iPhone to avoid any unexpected issues.
Step 2: Open iTunes and look for the iPhone icon. Click it to access your iPhone details.
Step 3: Hit the Summary option on the left panel. Then locate the Restore Backup option to proceed.
Step 4: Here you are able to select the available backups. Choose the one you wish to recover and hit the Restore button. Soon, iTunes will begin the process of restoring your iPhone to the state it was in during that backup.
If you do not want to lose the current data and wonder whether the iTunes backup contains the deleted notes, iSunshare iOS Data Genius is the best choice to extract and preview the iTunes backup content. After that, you can recover the notes and save it to your computer.
Step 1: Run iOS Data Genius and choose Recover from iTunes Backup File mode.
Step 2: Select an iTunes backup file of your iPhone and click Start Scan.
From the iTunes backup file list, select one based on Device Name, Last Backup Date and Serial Number. Then click "Start Scan".
Step 3: Preview notes in iTunes backup and recover.
If you couldn't find the deleted notes you want to recover, go to home and select another iTunes backup to scan again like Step 1 and Step 2.
Step 4: Save recovered notes on computer.
After choosing a folder to save recovered notes on computer, and getting Recover successfully message, your iPhone deleted notes have been recovered.
Q1: There is no Recently Deleted folder on my Notes app, why and what to do?
If no Recently Deleted folder is found in Notes, your Notes might be out of date. Try to update the Notes app and restart the computer. You can try other methods listed in this article to recover the deleted notes.
Q2: iPhone notes disappear and are not in Recently Deleted folder, how to recover?
If the deleted notes are not saved in the Recently Deleted folder, it might be permanently removed from your iPhone. You can try to restore iPhone from the backup to get it back.
Q3: Is it possible to recover the permanently deleted notes on iPhone?
Yes, if the notes haven’t been overwritten, the professional data recovery tools can help to retrieve the deleted notes on iPhone.
Losing notes on your iPhone can be stressful, but it’s not the end of the world. Whether you use the Recently Deleted folder, iCloud, backups, or a professional tool like iSunshare iOS Data Genius, recovering your notes is possible with the right approach.
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