User level: Level 1 (4 points)help help help, I’m panicking!
I deleted notes less than 30 days ago, yet they’re not showing up in recently deleted on my iPhone and they’re also not showing up in /recover from iCloud.com
Posted on Nov 8, 2026 3:07 PM
User level: Level 10 (280,982 points)Nov 8, 2026 9:01 PM in response to BerryBlue517
BerryBlue517 wrote:
The notes weren’t saved to my iCloud. They were saved to my iPhone.
Oh. You posted in the iCloud on iOS area, so it seemed reasonable to assume the notes were in iCloud.
But since they were just locally stored on your iPhone, you can restore them from your latest iPhone backup.
You do have an iPhone backup, right?
Restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch from a backup - Apple Support
User level: Level 10 (280,982 points)Nov 8, 2026 3:15 PM in response to BerryBlue517
User level: Level 1 (4 points)Nov 8, 2026 8:36 PM in response to sberman
The notes weren’t saved to my iCloud. They were saved to my iPhone.
I went to create a new folder in my notes app, and it asked if I wanted to create a Smart Folder. Then it asked me to select filters to bring in. One of the filters was Locked folders. It brought locked folders I to the new folder, which I didn’t want so I deleted them. Not realizing it was deleting my locked folders from my notes app!!!!
now they aren’t there. They can’t be gone forever!!
User level: Level 1 (4 points)Nov 9, 2026 6:51 AM in response to sberman
The locked folders were in the iPhone Notes section ( currently showing 84 notes). They were not in the iCloud section.
when I went to create a new folder under the iPhone heading, it asked if I wanted to Create a Smart Folder. I did. Then it asked what filters I wanted to bring into that folder, and I selected Locked. Not realizing it was going to bring in my locked folders, which I didn’t want to so I deleted that filter. Not knowing it would actually delete ALL of my locked folders!!
it can’t be gone forever. That’s just unreasonable in this day and age with technology. It HAS to be on my phone somewhere. ANY help is greatly appreciated!
Originally posted at discussions.apple.com/thread/256391036