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User profile for user: younso
younso Author
User level: Level 1
25 points

lost notes iphone

My wife has several notes on her iphone but Notes was not choosen to be in her icloud backup. If she logs into icloud.com she could see 2 notes that were not on her iphone. She then acitivated Notes on her iphone to be included in her icloud backup and immediately all the notes on her iphone disappeared and were replaced by the 2 from icloud. No matter what I tried I could not find the original notes. And since they were not included in her latest icloud backup she could not use that backup to restore anything.

What can she do and why on earth did switching on Notes backup remove the original notes!?

iPhone 12

Posted on Aug 25, 2022 12:03 PM

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User profile for user: sberman
sberman
User level: Level 10
267,585 points

Posted on Aug 25, 2022 12:09 PM

younso wrote:

My wife has several notes on her iphone but Notes was not choosen to be in her icloud backup.

Be very careful. It is not possible to choose what goes into an iCloud backup. Indeed what is being chosen is the account used to house those Notes.

Backup methods for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support


Notes are not stored in an iOS backup.


So inspect Settings > Notes > Accounts and figure out where the missing notes may be housed. Further, realize when flipping the Notes switch in Settings > iCloud, that enables the Notes to be housed (not backed up) in iCloud.

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User profile for user: sberman
sberman
User level: Level 10
267,585 points

Aug 25, 2022 12:09 PM in response to younso

younso wrote:

My wife has several notes on her iphone but Notes was not choosen to be in her icloud backup.

Be very careful. It is not possible to choose what goes into an iCloud backup. Indeed what is being chosen is the account used to house those Notes.

Backup methods for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support


Notes are not stored in an iOS backup.


So inspect Settings > Notes > Accounts and figure out where the missing notes may be housed. Further, realize when flipping the Notes switch in Settings > iCloud, that enables the Notes to be housed (not backed up) in iCloud.

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lost notes iphone

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