How to Recover Notes from iPhone?

Simply run the above on your computer, plug your iPhone in and once you see your iPhone notes, click on the "Export selected" button.

iphone notes backup tool

This short video shows more about backing up your iPhone notes to prevent losing them in the future:

Lost notes - need to recover iPhone notes:

Recover notes with iTunes

If you have already lost your notes, here is the method recommended by Apple to recover your iPhone notes:

1. Run your iTunes and navigate to Edit > Preferences (on Windows) and iTunes > Preferences (on Mac).

2. Now, go to the Devices tab and make sure to check the “Prevent iPods, iPhones, and iPads from syncing automatically” option. This way you will make sure that iTunes ill not try to delete any data from your iPhone such as your songs or videos upon sync

recover iphone notes

3. Now connect your iPhone to your computer and with your iTunes open, navigate to the Info tab. Scroll down to Advanced and check Notes under “Replace information on this iPhone”. Finally, click on Sync

recover notes iphone

Recover notes without using iTunes

iTunes only keeps a single copy of your iPhone backup. This means that each time a new iPhone backup is made, iTunes overwrites the previous one. The risk of iTunes accidentally syncing and backing up your iPhone, essentially overwriting the original backup containing your notes is real. To avoid this risk, restore the original iPhone backup made by iTunes without even having to run iTunes. To do so, use CopyTrans Shelbee which is a free utility that can restore the latest iTunes backup to your iPhone.

1. Download CopyTrans Shelbee

2. Start CopyTrans Shelbee and connect the iPhone. Select "Restore"

restore step in shelbee

3. Click "Choose" and from the newly-opened window, select the original backup containing your notes

green choose button in shelbee main window at restore stage

4. Click "Start" to begin the restore

window with list of ios backups made by itunes

5. CopyTrans Shelbee restores the iTunes backup containing your notes back to the iPhone

iphone restore progress bar


For a YouTube video showing instructions about how to recover your iPhone notes, have a look below:


To back up your iPhone notes safely in order to prevent losing them again in the future, please have a look at this page.

70 comments:

  1. UnknownOctober 26, 2012 at 6:26 AM

    Thank you, this worked wonderfully!

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownOctober 28, 2012 at 10:45 AM

    You are welcome! Glad it helped.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousMarch 15, 2014 at 7:09 PM

      I have the same issue with lost notes but I do not have notes under the advanced section, only mail accounts can you help?

      Delete
  3. Gayé TerziogluNovember 12, 2012 at 4:59 AM

    There is no way to recover notes that mysteriously disappeared during IOS update? I haven't sync'ed my phone since January 2011. Does it mean that during the stupid IOS update I permanently lost my notes? *Cry*

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownDecember 20, 2012 at 1:50 AM

      Gayé, unfortunately, if you didn't recenlty sync your iPhone with iTunes, there is no way for iTunes to have backed up your iPhone notes. Have a look at this in order to know how to always keep a backup of your iPhone notes on your computer:

      http://www.copytrans.net/support/how-to-backup-iphone-notes/


      Did you enable iCloud backup before upgrading to iOS 6 on your iPhone? It works the same as iTunes with constant backups made of your iPhone data such as notes. The downturn is that you need to restore all your iPhone data in order to gain access to what has been backed up.

      Delete
  4. The Heckster Girl!January 8, 2013 at 2:12 PM

    I am trying to follow your directions, however with the updated itunes, there is no longer an Info tab across the top. Is there any way to be able to be able to do this with the updated version of itunes?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownJanuary 9, 2013 at 3:15 AM

      Hi The Heckster Girl!
      Indeed the new iTunes interface is a bit different. To access the Info tab, simply run iTunes, connect your iPhone and click on the "iPhone" button which appears on the top right part of iTunes main window.

      You will then see the Info tab appear back to where it is supposed to be.

      Delete
    2. JakDecember 29, 2013 at 1:20 AM

      Bob,

      I, too, have lost an important note (I accidentally deleted it on my iPod4 Touch) and really need it back. [The weird part is, many (but not all) of the existing notes show up in my Yahoo mail account (in the Notes folder), along with several really old ones that I haven't seen on my iPod in more than a year! Does that make sense?]

      Anyway-- I'm running the latest iTunes on a MacBook Pro, and I see no iPhone indicator anywhere, let alone at the upper right window/menu. Any suggestions?

      Delete
    3. UnknownFebruary 19, 2017 at 6:36 PM

      You could also have a try of iRefone, which is also the professional iPhone data recovery tool enables you to recover deleted or lost data directly from iOS device, iTunes backup and iCloud backup.

      Delete
  5. DGilmoreJanuary 20, 2013 at 4:42 PM

    Everything was working except for the second to last step, it won't let me click on notes at all. Do you know what I do?

    ReplyDelete
  6. sHiNFebruary 1, 2013 at 6:27 AM

    Same here, i cant click on "Notes" at all in Advanced...

    What should i do?

    ReplyDelete
  7. UnknownFebruary 1, 2013 at 12:08 PM

    DGilmore, and sHin, if you cannot click on "Notes" this means that your iTunes backup does not contain any notes. Therefore, there is nothing to "replace" your existing iPhone notes.

    The only thing that you can do in this case is to make sure to always back up your future iPhone notes directly on your PC:

    http://transfer-iphone-contacts.blogspot.com/p/how-to-recover-notes-from-iphone.html


    You will therefore will always be in possession of your notes and should you lose access to your iPhone for one reason or another, you can then quickly restore from the backed-up notes.

    ReplyDelete
  8. lisaMarch 7, 2013 at 10:55 AM

    the box on iTunes is grayed out for me. i recently upgraded to the iPhone 4g from the 3gs and when my info was transferred over it erased my notes. its not letting me retrieve those notes with your instructions.

    ReplyDelete
  9. UnknownMarch 14, 2013 at 11:45 AM

    My notes option was grayed out for me as well, though I definitely had notes that I had accidentally erased. So tried "restoring" my iPhone to the last point/time I had connected and synced to my pc and that worked! It took about 5 minutes, but the notes I had erased popped up again in my iPhone. Thanks for this post.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownMarch 15, 2013 at 2:13 AM

      Michael, you are welcome! Indeed if the notes checkbox is greyed out, there is not much else to do than to restore the whole information on your iPhone (sittings, notes, contacts, calendars, etc) from a previous backup via the "Restore from Backup" function in iTunes.

      Delete
    2. UnknownMarch 17, 2013 at 11:37 PM

      PLEASE HELP!!! i thought when i would connect my iphone and it sync it meant everything was backed up already I REALLY NEED MY NOTES I DIDNT EVEN ERASED THEM BUT FOR SOME REASON WHEN I HAD MY FINGER ON IT A CERTAIN WAY IT DELETED EVERYTHING!!! so my question is if i did what MICHEAL MCMANUS did up there im afraid everything on my phone will be gone ); i dont know what to do i just really need to get them back PLEASE HELP i know u already explained it but hopefully micheal can tell me more about what he did!!!

      Delete
    3. UnknownMarch 19, 2013 at 2:37 AM

      Jeanny, if you restore your iPhone via iTunes to the last-made backup, you don't rist loosing all your iPhone data. What you need to make sure before you restore is that you have all of your iPhone photos (outside of the Camera Roll) backed up on your PC + all of your songs and videos on your iPhone already within your iTunes library.

      If the backup-made with iTunes was recent (note that iTunes backs up your iPhone data upon each sync), you don't risk losing a lot, if any data as your iPhone Notes, Contacts, Settings, SMS text messages and Camera Roll photos will be restored from the time you last made the backup. The more recent the backup, the better.

      If the iTunes backup is not recent enough for all your current iPhone contacts, calendars, text messages to be restored, I would suggest you backup your iPhone contacts, calendars and text messages by following this guide first:

      http://transfer-iphone-contacts.blogspot.com/2012/03/export-iphone-contacts-using-new-tool.html

      Delete
  10. P.C. FergussonMarch 19, 2013 at 1:29 PM

    I went to the Genius Bar to get help with a mail problem and in the process the "genius" inadvertantly lost my irreplaceable notes, either by synching my iphone to my laptop or possibly by deleting some old email accounts from my iphone. We spent a long time looking for them in the store, and now I'm home doing more research. As far as I understood, these notes lived on my phone. I would restore from a back up but the only one showing on itunes is the one he did in the store. Is there a way to get access to an earlier backup of my phone?

    ReplyDelete
  11. UnknownMay 8, 2013 at 7:34 AM

    I used the newly installed Copy Trans program and it copied all my contacts onto my computer, but it has not copied any of my notes to create the backups (I was having trouble with the notes just disappearing even as I was reading them; just happened this morning with a recently written note - it just disappeared)
    There is nothing that populates in the notes category when I have opened the CopyTrans.
    I have not been using iTunes to back up anything (just charge my phone from the wall), so now i have it for contacts, but need it for notes!
    any suggestions??

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownMay 29, 2013 at 9:40 AM

      Susan, it could be that you have your iPhone notes syncing via a cloud account such as iCloud or Gmail. If you disable that account on your iPhone, the notes will disappear. CopyTrans Contacts, on the other hand, can see all your iCloud, Gmail, or Yahoo notes and back them up for you.

      Have a look at this page to find out how to back up your cloud notes and other iPhone notes to your computer:

      http://transfer-iphone-contacts.blogspot.com/p/copy-icloud-notes-to-pc_3.html

      Delete
  12. browneyez712May 29, 2013 at 6:55 AM

    I did everything exactly as per your instructions but when I got to the part under Info tab, Advanced, there was no check box for Notes. The only option was Mail Accounts. Also, I have an iPhone 5.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownMay 29, 2013 at 9:39 AM

      Hi, browneyez712. If the Notes checkbox is greyed out, this means that unfortunately your iTunes iOS backup does not contain your iPhone notes. iTunes is not the best way to back up your iPhone notes. In the future be sure to do so in order not to loose access to your notes. To learn how to back up your iPhone notes, please refer to the following page:

      http://transfer-iphone-contacts.blogspot.com/2012/10/pc-transfer-iphone-notes.html

      Delete
  13. UnknownJuly 8, 2013 at 4:42 PM

    I am trying to recover notes, on step 3 of need to recover notes, i have opened itunes and it looks nothing like what i see in your screenshot. there are no tabs that say- summary,apps, info. My tabs say - songs, artists etc...no info tab. what should i do now?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownJuly 9, 2013 at 2:01 AM

      Hi w2yano,

      Are you making sure to have your iDevice connected to your iTunes? The Info tab will appear once you connect your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch to your computer and run iTunes.

      Let me know.

      Delete
  14. skipJuly 22, 2013 at 11:47 AM

    I have a total of 36 notes, 6 of which were "created" inadvertently under Gmail. I can see them on my iPod (gen 3, running iOS 5.1.1) but not on my Gmail account. I setup my Gmail account under CopyTrans, but the 6 notes do not show up. Short of manually copying them, is there any way of exporting them, or moving them from Gmail to on my iPod Touch?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownJuly 24, 2013 at 1:28 AM

      Hi Skip, if you see the notes on your iPod but the notes do not appear under your Gmail account, could it mean that the notes are under another account instead?

      To check this:

      1. Run the Notes app on your iPod

      2. Tap on the "Accounts" button on the top left

      3. Double-check under which account the notes show up

      4. Let me know

      Delete
  15. Wholly LifeSeptember 5, 2013 at 1:15 PM

    I need serious help!!!!! My moms notes on her iPhone all mysteriously disapeared! She hasn't backed up her phone at all in the year that she's had it. Is there ANY way I can restore her notes without a backup on iTunes???? She's been collecting these for about 6 months now and it's really important!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownSeptember 6, 2013 at 3:40 AM

      Hello. Did your mom do anything specific on the iPhone before the notes disappeared (i.e. enable iCloud sync, etc)?

      Delete
    2. UnknownSeptember 6, 2013 at 7:52 AM

      No she didn't :/ is all lost then?

      Delete
    3. UnknownSeptember 12, 2013 at 3:31 AM

      Try seeing whether this tool is capable of seeing any of your iPhone notes then:

      http://transfer-iphone-contacts.blogspot.com/2012/10/pc-transfer-iphone-notes.html

      Delete
  16. UnknownNovember 18, 2013 at 3:26 PM

    My daughter has and iphone 4 and she did not back up any of the info, pictures, music, contacts etc. I took the phone to a local repair shop that supposedly specialize in restoring info. They worked on it for several hours and finally said there is nothing that can be done. All is lost. Does anyone have any idea's ??
    Mike S

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownDecember 4, 2013 at 7:00 AM

      Hi Mike, not all could be lost. Did you know that each time your daughter would sync the iPhone with iTunes on her computer, iTunes makes automatic backups? Check out this article for more information about these automatic iOS backups:

      http://goo.gl/MlZNCD

      Delete
  17. UnknownNovember 29, 2013 at 12:53 AM

    It didn't work. I still couldn't find the lost notes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownDecember 4, 2013 at 7:01 AM

      Hello Alain, how did you lose your notes in first place?

      Delete
  18. UnknownDecember 7, 2013 at 11:14 AM

    I cannot find the "Info" tab in my iTunes with my iPhone connected, even after I select the iPhone it does not show an info tab

    ReplyDelete
  19. UnknownDecember 9, 2013 at 2:18 AM

    Hello Michelle, this is odd. Which version of iTunes are you running? To check this go to Help > About.

    ReplyDelete
  20. GoToEbaMeetDecember 27, 2013 at 1:42 AM

    Gooday
    I have an old iphone...no longer with sim card. My notes are still on phone...but when I backed up the old phone to macbook..the notes were not saved. I now want to retrieve the notes...eg. save to macbook for reference only. I can access the phone va wireless network...but when I tried to email he notes to myself the server failed. Any suggestions on how I might retrieve and save the notes to the macbook...or my new iphone ?
    Cheers and thanks Ian

    ReplyDelete
  21. bubblesayJanuary 5, 2014 at 5:57 AM

    I cannot find the "Info" tab in my iTunes with my iPhone connected, even after I select the iPhone it does not show an info tab..version 1.1.3
    help~

    ReplyDelete
  22. Wendy HMarch 14, 2014 at 12:33 PM

    Your analysis was complicated. Try this: I thought I'd lost my notes, too. I also have an iPad mini, and noticed the notes app icon and clicked on it. What was more obvious on the iPad was that there are different accounts; in other words, it had different sets of notes saved under different email accounts.My missing notes were saved under my icloud account, although I didn't consciously ever put the notes under any separate account. They were visible when I clicked "All Notes," too. It turns out that the phone had a different account set as the default. I changed the default on the iPhone, and there they were. I took screen shots so the notes are saved in my photos, too. This was a lot easier than checking through a lot of backups. I hope that helps. I will post this on a couple of threads I see in Apple communities. I see it's a pretty common problem.

    ReplyDelete
  23. HasNoTechSkillsAugust 10, 2014 at 9:46 PM

    I did an iphone backup to icloud. When I did a restore from icloud to a new iphone, the notes field under my contacts only shows a string of numbers. What happened to the info I entered into these contact fields and can it be recovered? I entered quite a bit of important info in these fields simply because it was important and I knew I wouldn't be able to remember it. Can anyone help me please???

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownSeptember 19, 2014 at 5:36 AM

      Hello, when you log in to icloud.com on your PC, do you see the notes under each contact correctly?

      Delete
    2. IphonenewbieNovember 2, 2014 at 1:19 PM

      I have the same problem. I've restored my backup in itunes, but it only restored olders notes entries. What happened to the newer notes I've entered throughout the year? Please help.

      Delete
    3. UnknownDecember 5, 2014 at 3:35 AM

      Hi iPhonenewbie, did you back up your recent notes before restoring the old backup as described here? http://www.copytrans.net/support/how-to-backup-iphone-notes/

      Delete
  24. contemplativeMarch 10, 2015 at 7:08 PM

    Bob,

    You have been a great help to others who have lost their notes, and I was hoping that perhaps I could join the others who have benefited from your kindness and expertise.

    Here are the summarized details:

    1) months of notes
    2) deleted gmail account as recommended in Apple Discussion because no new mail was coming in or going out despite the loading circle continuously appearing as if it was fetching/polling
    3) reset the gmail account on the iPhone
    4) noticed that months of sensitive and incredibly valuable notes were not on the phone
    5) could not find any notes on my iCloud account accessed via the web, nor a "Notes" folder in my gmail account accessed via the web
    6) So upset because all I did was follow Apple's recommended fix to my gmail problem and now it seems everything is lost

    Please, can you help? At the very least, can you give me a probable theory on what happened???

    Looking forward to your response,

    Gershon

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownMarch 18, 2015 at 7:26 AM

      Bob, from what I hear, I could conclude that your iPhone notes (the ones that you lost) were actually sourced from your Gmail account. It is very easy to recover them. Simply download CopyTrans Contacts on your PC, connect your iPhone.

      Now connect CopyTrans Contacts with your Gmail account as described below:

      http://www.copytrans.net/support/connect-to-cloud-account-in-copytrans-contacts/


      Make sure that the "Notes" box is checked when connecting the program with Gmail. That's all!

      Delete
    2. contemplativeMarch 18, 2015 at 2:45 PM

      Bob,

      Thanks for replying! However, I am not using a PC, but a MacBook Pro. Apparently, CopyTrans is not compatible with a Mac :(

      Any other suggestions?

      Thanks,

      Gershon

      Delete
    3. contemplativeMarch 18, 2015 at 3:56 PM

      I downloaded -what I think is the alternative to CopyTrans- PhoneView. There was a link to PhoneView on the CopyTrans site. Might your instructions above apply to the PhoneView software?

      Thanks!

      Gershon

      Delete
    4. UnknownJune 16, 2015 at 5:50 AM

      Hi there, I used CopyTrans Contacts and CopyTrans Shelbee to create the above instructions. I haven't tried another program. Isn't the software you refer to only designed to work with Mac? I'm on a PC. :)

      Delete
  25. UnknownJune 26, 2015 at 9:02 AM

    THIS IS AMAZING! IT ACTUALLY SAVED MY NOTES THANK YOU!!

    ReplyDelete
  26. 颖祺 -EngKee-August 17, 2015 at 7:16 AM

    Hi,

    My notes are "mysteriously" disappeared [no idea how it is gone :( ]
    Then, I synced my iPhone to iTunes and now my computer has the latest backup which all my notes were gone. I'm pretty sure my previous backup has all my notes.

    How can I retrieve the previous backup from iTunes to restore my notes?

    Thanks!

    EK

    ReplyDelete
  27. MikeMay 10, 2016 at 5:23 AM

    If you have deleted text message from your iPhoneand you don't have its copy then you can easily get them back with the help of iPhone recovery software. To know more Click Here

    ReplyDelete
  28. UnknownJune 3, 2016 at 2:49 AM

    The best way to recover lost iPhone data is using a previously created backup file. Users can take help of iTunes and iCloud utility in order to create or restore iPhone files backup.

    ReplyDelete
  29. wasabiJune 8, 2016 at 2:08 AM

    This is a step-by-step guide, teaching you how to extract notes from iPhone backup files on Windows system instantly and completely.

    ReplyDelete
  30. ICS Cyber SecurityJune 27, 2016 at 7:22 AM

    With the help of iPhone data recovery, you can easily restore lost photos from iCloud as long as you backup your iPhone to the iCloud.

    rto and rpo

    ReplyDelete
  31. Ashish IBPSSeptember 9, 2016 at 5:30 AM

    Thank you for the guide, do you have any idea about how much will be cost of iphone 7 plus in india?

    ReplyDelete
  32. WednerSeptember 22, 2016 at 12:17 AM

    Thanks very much for the information.

    ReplyDelete
  33. UnknownSeptember 29, 2016 at 12:33 AM


    Very good tutorial and great information, Pre booking iPhone7

    ReplyDelete
  34. technical helplineNovember 5, 2016 at 2:54 AM

    nice blog
    if you are facing any problem related to your apple computer just call on our Apple Support Number UK@800-098-8312

    ReplyDelete
  35. PeterJanuary 23, 2018 at 4:07 AM

    This blog is very nice and informative!
    Keep update...
    Thanks for sharing. Disaster recovery

    ReplyDelete
  36. AnonymousSeptember 14, 2018 at 3:05 AM

    Force notes for SEE Read here

    ReplyDelete
  37. AdminJanuary 29, 2019 at 12:49 AM

    i have apple iPhone 5s! I want to delete all photos and videos. than i find out your blog post. from your post i know how to delete photos from iPhone Thanks!
    how to reset iPhone

    How to Factory Reset iPhone!! (restore iPhone)

    hard reset iPhone 7

    Enough Tricks

    Enough Tricks

    ReplyDelete
  38. Michael LeiMay 21, 2019 at 8:20 PM

    Nice tutorial and software. However, I alos find another tool to do the same thing. Maybe its guide can give you another train of thought on how to recover notes on iPhone.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Bharat RajputAugust 24, 2019 at 1:49 AM

    Thank you so much for sharing this informative article finally i found many interesting stuff on your site i will share too some information....

    How To Restore iPhone To Factory Settings and How To Backup iPhone

    How To Share Screen On Skype? | Skype Screen Share

    How To Make Conference Calls On An iPhone?

    ReplyDelete
  40. martin vellySeptember 26, 2019 at 2:27 AM


    It is really helpful article please read it too my blog What to do if Gmail is not working on iPhone.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Jennifer GabrielleNovember 7, 2019 at 10:36 PM

    It's really a helpful post. By the way, I know more methods to backup iPhone contacts in an easier way.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Valentino thomasNovember 15, 2019 at 2:33 AM

    Let's say your laptop screen becomes broken halfway through an important bit of work. For more information on ipad pro repair learn here.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Valentino thomasNovember 17, 2019 at 10:51 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)