Some notes (on my iPad) on both my iPads disappeared after iPadOS 18.3 update

[MikeFloutier]

Help please.

Some notes (on my iPad) on both my iPads (the same notes) disappeared after iPadOS 18.3 update.

Not sure what to do. They are actually my wife’s iPads and the missing notes are pretty important.

My idea is to erase one of them and restore from the latest backup prior to the update.

I’d rather not do this as she has done quite a lot of work on one of them today although I suppose I could do this on the idle one.

Any thoughts would be very welcome.

Kind regards, Mike

 

[J. A.]

Usually, you should find them in „Recently Deleted“, if they were removed not long ago. If they have been removed completely, and are not included in a backup, they won’t reappear when you erase the iPad.

Afaik, notes are saved and synced to an email account.

Which account(s) is/are used for the notes? Make sure Notes for the email account you’re using is still enabled. To take a look at them, go to the Settings app, open “Apps”, go to “Notes” and select “Notes Accounts”. Take a look at all of them to see where Notes should be enabled.

 

[MikeFloutier]

Usually, you should find them in „Recently Deleted“, if they were removed not long ago. If they have been removed completely, and are not included in a backup, they won’t reappear when you erase the iPad.

Afaik, notes are saved and synced to an email account.

Which account(s) is/are used for the notes? Make sure Notes for the email account you’re using is still enabled. To take a look at them, go to the Settings app, open “Apps”, go to “Notes” and select “Notes Accounts”. Take a look at all of them to see where Notes should be enabled.

Thanks for your reply. The disappeared notes and folders were there (in the notes app) yesterday. Today we updated both iPads to iPadOS 18.3 and all these various notes and folders simply disappeared. They are not in the “on my iPad folder” and I need to track them down.

Q1. Any ideas,
Q2. What do you think of the idea to erase the iPad we’ve not used today AND then restore it from last night’s backup?

Kind regards, Mike

 

[J. A.]

Q1 Which account do you use for your notes? iCloud, Gmail, or a different one? It’s possible the update changed the setting for the account you’re using, and you just have to enable it (see my reply above).

Q2 Notes are synced between devices. For iCloud, this means they are not included in a backup. So erasing and restoring an iPad from a backup won’t restore them.
For other accounts, such as Gmail, this means you just have to enable Notes for the account in Settings - Apps - Notes - Notes Accounts, so that you can see them in the Notes app again.

 

[MikeFloutier]

Q1 Which account do you use for your notes? iCloud, Gmail, or a different one? It’s possible the update changed the setting for the account you’re using, and you just have to enable it (see my reply above).

Q2 Notes are synced between devices. For iCloud, this means they are not included in a backup. So erasing and restoring an iPad from a backup won’t restore them.
For other accounts, such as Gmail, this means you just have to enable Notes for the account in Settings - Apps - Notes - Notes Accounts, so that you can see them in the Notes app again.

Many thanks for this.

Perhaps I should clarify, there are two categories of notes folders on both of her iPads. One is “iCloud” and the other is “on my iPad”.

There is no problem with the iCloud folders; they are intact.

The issue is with the “on my iPad” folders. Here, as soon as the update was completed, all notes were missing from one folder, with the folder itself remaining; albeit empty.

In addition several other folders have simply disappeared; along with their notes.

Also, the issue I’ve described has happened to the “on my iPad” folders on BOTH of my wife’s iPads in exactly the same way, at the same time; ie following the update.

 

[J. A.]

Try restarting your devices. This might bring back the missing notes.

Did you backup your devices after creating the notes, before updating the iPads?

 

[Jupiter7]

Many thanks for this.

Perhaps I should clarify, there are two categories of notes folders on both of her iPads. One is “iCloud” and the other is “on my iPad”.

There is no problem with the iCloud folders; they are intact.

The issue is with the “on my iPad” folders. Here, as soon as the update was completed, all notes were missing from one folder, with the folder itself remaining; albeit empty.

In addition several other folders have simply disappeared; along with their notes.

Also, the issue I’ve described has happened to the “on my iPad” folders on BOTH of my wife’s iPads in exactly the same way, at the same time; ie following the update.

I think it is worth trying to restore one of the iPads from a backup. What you could do is make sure you copy off all the latest notes your wife has made into a separate App or even print them first.

 

[MikeFloutier]

Try restarting your devices. This might bring back the missing notes.

Did you backup your devices after creating the notes, before updating the iPads?

Thanks JA, I’ve tried restarting but no change.

The devices were both backed up after creating the “disappeared” notes AND before updating to iPadOS 18.3

See also my reply to Jupiter7 re restoring to pre-update backup…

 

[MikeFloutier]

I think it is worth trying to restore one of the iPads from a backup. What you could do is make sure you copy off all the latest notes your wife has made into a separate App or even print them first.

Thanks Jupiter7, my wife has copied the post-update notes elsewhere.

As an experiment, I’ve restored a pre-update backup to an older unused iPad mini 5 (rather than risk any more issues in the short term).

The result was disappointing as the “lost” notes did not re-appear.

As a further experiment I told the 5 not to sync notes and I’m current waiting to see if a similar restore is more successful - clutching at straws here

 

[Jupiter7]

Thanks Jupiter7, my wife has copied the post-update notes elsewhere.

As an experiment, I’ve restored a pre-update backup to an older unused iPad mini 5 (rather than risk any more issues in the short term).

The result was disappointing as the “lost” notes did not re-appear.

As a further experiment I told the 5 not to sync notes and I’m current waiting to see if a similar restore is more successful - clutching at straws here

Sorry you have had no success so far, but fingers crossed

 

[MikeFloutier]

Sorry you have had no success so far, but fingers crossed

Thanks J7, but no success so far.

I’m raising a ticket with Apple and will report back if there’s a positive outcome.

Thanks for your help with this J.A. & J7!

 

[Jupiter7]

Thanks J7, but no success so far.

I’m raising a ticket with Apple and will report back if there’s a positive outcome.

Thanks for your help with this J.A. & J7!

You’re very welcome! Hope Apple can help.

 

[J. A.]

You‘re welcome. Too bad we couldn‘t help with your problem.

 

[MikeFloutier]

You‘re welcome. Too bad we couldn‘t help with your problem.

You did actually help, it always helps to have an understanding person to talk to and bounce ideas off!