How to retrieve missing iPad notes after iCloud Sync

I’m super heartbroken because I was using my iPad for my school notes and other IMPORTANT notes and now I don’t have anything. My iPad just backed up after trying what someone suggested on this thread so now I really don’t have any way to get it back from what it seems. Apple needs to fix this issue, I have exams coming up and they need to at least put a warning before completely getting rid of everyone’s notes.

I found all my missing notes by sheer chance. There are three little dots at the top and the drop down made things appear. Like, notes on my iPad. I first clicked grid layout but reverted back to list layout. Anyhow, they all reappeared. Hope his helps.

Literally just happened to me, apple would have at least add a warning before enabling sync to iCloud.

Apple support only tried to recovered the notes from "Deleted Notes" that it was not actually deleted by me.

Apple should enhance this feature, in the meantime I will go back to Google Keep

This is not helpful. I did not delete anything. I did not delete my notes. I opened up my iPad and all of my notes all of my recipes. All of everything has been deleted for me. I can’t find them anywhere. They’re not in a pile they’re not in a folder. They’re not anywhere. Apple needs to recover my notes. Like now. This was not helpful.

SUPER FRUSTRATING. I got a new iPad. I wrote a few IMPORTANT notes on it. I noticed that they didn’t sync with my phone so I turned on note syncing on iPad. It synced over my notes from phone but deleted notes from IPad.

How do I get my iPad notes back?

The same thing happened to me now. A few of my new notes weren't syncing to my iPhone or iCloud.com —only showing on my Mac app. I triple-checked, and they weren't in the On My Mac folder but in the iCloud account.

I turned off the sync and turned it back on, instead of having my new notes on each place, I lost them forever.

Apple, does this mean I will finally transfer everything to Notion and slowly start leaving your previously well-designed but now almost-terrible ecosystem?

I’m right there with you. I’m absolutely devastated, I wish I would’ve known previously that this is a common issue. I thought I was being smart by syncing my iPad to my iPhone, but I was so wrong :((( I scrolled through these comments and after seeing years of people bringing attention to this issue, I can’t believe it hasn’t been fixed yet. Like where are all of the missing notes at? It makes no sense!!!

I have an ipad and while I'm in the middle of writing a note the app will randomly crash, and everything I've written in at least the past hour disappears. I've had icloud sync on since I've had it and the issue persists. The part that remained on my ipad is still on my phone, but I'll exit the app and swipe out of it and it will be saved and then a few minutes later when the app crashes all the notes dissapear.

Today, March 3, 2025 I went into my Notes app on Apple IPad only to discover some of my important notes are gone. I’ve tried the suggested ways to retrieve them unsuccessfully. The only update to sync notes was done on my iPad. This shouldn’t delete my notes. Is there anything else I can do. HELP!!!

This just happened to my daughter - May 2025... apparently this is not fixed at all and there is absolutely no way to recover the written over notes. Sync is not sync at all. it is overwrite with other location's information... iPhone notes all gone and all that was left was the notes that were already on the cloud from her ipad. So no way to get those notes on the cloud either apparently... Apple needs to fix the issues and stop focusing on new emojis and other useless crap that nobody wants, needs, or even asked for.

THIS METHOD WORKS!!!

Just be sure that when you are erasing your data and settings that you skip the backup it tries to prompt, or you’re right back at square one!

I experienced this for my first time today with a very important note for me and I’ve been frantically trying to figure it out; best of luck to you, Apple Comm.

The exact same thing happened to me this morning..... GOD I hope there is a fix for this!!!

Try this:

Settings -> Notes

Then turn on:

”On My iPhone” Account

It may take a while for them to fill in.

Hey there ktlasersIE,

Thanks for reaching out to the Apple Support Communities. For the best steps that can help with locating your missing notes, check out the steps listed in this link here: If you're missing notes on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support

You may also be able to recover your notes with the steps in this next link here: Delete and recover notes on iCloud.com - Apple Support

Recover recently deleted notes

You can recover and edit notes you deleted in the last 30 days on iCloud.com or on your devices that are signed in with the same Apple ID. However, you can’t recover notes you permanently removed.

1. In Notes on iCloud.com, select Recently Deleted in the folder list on the left.

If you don’t see Recently Deleted, you don’t have any notes in that folder, and there’s nothing to be recovered.

2. Select a note, then click Recover in the Notes toolbar.

The note moves to the Notes folder.

If you want to move a recovered note directly to a folder you created, drag the note from the Recently Deleted folder to another folder.

Let us know if that's able to help.

Best regards.

Thank you for the reply ktlasersIE!

To confirm, the notes are currently on your iPhone, just not on your iPad? If the notes are on your iPhone and not your iPad, make sure that you are using the same iCloud account on both devices and make sure that iCloud is set up for Notes on your iPad:

Set up iCloud for Notes on all your devices - Apple Support

Otherwise, is it possible these notes are stored in a third-party account such as Yahoo or Google? Follow the actions under the "Check your account settings" section of the article we provided you and see if Notes are turned on for that account:

If you're missing notes on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support

Keep us posted.