How to Recover Permanently Deleted Notes on iPhone

Charlotte Bayley

Updated: January 11, 2024

Have your iPhone notes disappeared all of a sudden? Did you accidentally delete notes on your iPhone/iPad? Don't panic. You may be able to find the notes in the Recently Deleted folder. If the notes are no longer there, you can recover your lost notes through iCloud backup file. What's more, there are third-party data recovery tools available to recover permanently deleted Notes on iPhone, but they can be expensive.

1. Recover Notes on iPhone from Recently Deleted

Recently Deleted folder will only hold notes for 30 days. After that, notes are permanently deleted, which may take up to 40 days to complete.

Step 1: Open the Notes app and tap the back arrow to get to the Folders screen, if you're not there already.

Step 2: In your list of folders, tap Recently Deleted.

Step 3: Tap the three dots in a circle in the upper right corner of the Recently Deleted screen.

Step 4: Choose Select Notes at the bottom of the screen.

Step 5: Tap the circle to the left of the notes you want to restore.

Step 6: In the bottom left corner, tap Move To, then select the folder you want to move your notes to.

2. Recover Permanently Deleted Notes from iCloud

If your notes have been permanently deleted and you cannot find them in the "Recently Deleted" folder, you can try to find the notes in iCloud. Provided that you have turned on iCloud backup and meet the requirements of automatic iCloud daily backup, then the deleted notes may be included in the iCloud Storage.

Step 1: On your iPhone, go to Settings > [you name] > iCloud.

Step 2: Next to Notes, tap its toggle switch to On. Make your devices connect to Wi-Fi. Then, all the notes stored in your iCloud account will be downloaded to your iPhone.

Step 3: You can return to the Notes app and check if the iCloud notes have been restored.

Still can't find the important notes you deleted? You can restore iPhone using iCloud or iTunes backup. This will find an earlier version of the iPhone that can save notes and restore that version to the device.

3. Recover Permanently Deleted Notes via Third-party Tool

If the notes are not in the "Recently Deleted" folder and you do not have a backup on iTunes or iCloud, you may need a third-party tool to help retrieve permanently deleted notes. There are many data recovery tools online. If you have used one of them, you may get back permanently deleted notes.