Apple confirms fix for disappearing Notes after iCloud terms issue

1 week ago 7

Earlier this month we reported on a scary bug impacting Apple Notes users and offered a simple fix. Now, Apple has officially acknowledged the issue and outlined the solution for users in its own support document.

New support document outlines Notes app fix

Apple occasionally asks users to accept a new set of terms and conditions via a device pop-up.

That happened a couple weeks ago for iCloud terms, and while the acceptance of those terms caused no issue for some users, for others it made their Apple Notes app lose all iCloud-based notes.

Fortunately, the bug wasn’t actually causing data loss. Instead, it simply disabled a toggle that ensures iCloud is used in the Notes app.

Apple has published a new support document outlining the fix:

Open the Settings app and tap your name.
Tap iCloud, then tap Notes.
Make sure Sync this [device] is on, then check the Notes app.
If you still don’t see your notes, restart your iPhone, iPad, or Apple Vision Pro. After restarting, check your settings again.

9to5Mac’s Take

These instructions are almost identical to the ones my colleague Ben outlined earlier this month.

The one addition is that if enabling iCloud sync for Notes on your device doesn’t immediately fix the problem, a subsequent device reboot should.

I’m a heavy Apple Notes user, and while this bug didn’t impact me personally, I can imagine it would induce a lot of panic to open the Notes app and find nothing there. I’m glad no actual data loss took place, and the fix is so simple.

Did you experience the Notes bug yourself? What did you do to fix it? Let us know in the comments.