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iPhone X accidental notes deletion

themaestro

themaestro

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 10, 2019
263
81
Ireland
For some reason I fell asleep with my phone in bed last night. I've just discovered that a page of my notes which included a very important To Do list has been replaced by "jjjjfffllffllel" etc. I used to be able to find deleted notes in the bin but can't now for some reason. Any help appreciated.

I did notice last few days that phone was opening without the need for Face ID (I've been trying the beta version of the new iOS)
 
Notes backup to iCloud as soon as edits are made - not when the entire handset performs an iCloud backup.
Unfortunately I don't think there are any 'recent versions' etc with Notes to refer back to.....
 
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themaestro said:
For some reason I fell asleep with my phone in bed last night. I've just discovered that a page of my notes which included a very important To Do list has been replaced by "jjjjfffllffllel" etc. I used to be able to find deleted notes in the bin but can't now for some reason. Any help appreciated.

I did notice last few days that phone was opening without the need for Face ID (I've been trying the beta version of the new iOS)
Click to expand...

Of course it won’t be in the trash bin, as you didn’t delete the note—you overwrote it.

Restore from previous iCloud backup and you should be able to recover it (though everything else on your phone will be rolled back as well).
 
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themaestro said:
Last back up 7th July. For some reason my iCloud backup is reading as off now.
Click to expand...

Which is also irrelevant.

If you want to get this note back, back the phone up to iTunes. Then restore the previous backup. Get what you want out of it. Then restore the backup you just made.
 
willmtaylor said:
Of course it won’t be in the trash bin, as you didn’t delete the note—you overwrote it.

Restore from previous iCloud backup and you should be able to recover it (though everything else on your phone will be rolled back as well).
Click to expand...

Thank you. How would I restore from a previous iCloud backup?
[doublepost=1564509545][/doublepost]
Newtons Apple said:
Best you could do is recover your notes from that date.

If you are not going to back up to the cloud, you need to do local backups to iTunes.
Click to expand...

Yes sometimes I backup to iTunes. Problem is, when I connect my iPhone to my MacBook Pro it asks to update the computer. I'm avoiding updating the computer because I have a version of software programme I use all of the time and I do not like the new version. One more update and I will have to use the new software version (they made major changes I do not like at all)
 
Odd thing is i shook the phone to Undo typing and the phone did not respond. Perhaps a flaw in beta 13 iOS?
[doublepost=1564512328][/doublepost]I've just remembered I have an old iPhone 7 that I can connect to MacBook and attempt to restore the missing note to that.
 
themaestro said:
Odd thing is i shook the phone to Undo typing and the phone did not respond. Perhaps a flaw in beta 13 iOS?
[doublepost=1564512328][/doublepost]I've just remembered I have an old iPhone 7 that I can connect to MacBook and attempt to restore the missing note to that.
Click to expand...
Best of luck!
 
Yep let us know how the story end.

Do hope you initiate a regular backup regime. I back up to the cloud nightly but still do full iTunes encrypted backups weekly. My data is critical to me and my company.
 
A restore to an earlier backup will not help here IMO.
Notes are stored to icloud as soon as edits etc are made. The icloud version of the Note has already been overwritten.

If you restore a backup, the handset will revert back to a previous date, but when you open notes it will use the most up to date version in icloud to restore your notes, so you have the most recent version. And that version is the one you have overwritten already.

Its similar to mail. If you delete an email (permanently), restoring from an earlier backup wont restore the email too, it will use your most current mailbox.

Even with a local restore from iTunes - as soon as you connect your handset to your icloud account it would drag down the most recent version of your notes along with other icloud data. Its Apples way of ensuring everything is up to date and as you left it....

Unfortunately its a pitfall of using Notes. Try contacting Apple?


Newtons Apple said:
My data is critical to me and my company.
Click to expand...

In which case its not something I would store only on an iPhone - its something I would store on a laptop in addition, and have multiple external backups of.
 
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Ifti said:
A restore to an earlier backup will not help here IMO.
Notes are stored to icloud as soon as edits etc are made. The icloud version of the Note has already been overwritten.

If you restore a backup, the handset will revert back to a previous date, but when you open notes it will use the most up to date version in icloud to restore your notes, so you have the most recent version. And that version is the one you have overwritten already.

Its similar to mail. If you delete an email (permanently), restoring from an earlier backup wont restore the email too, it will use your most current mailbox.

Even with a local restore from iTunes - as soon as you connect your handset to your icloud account it would drag down the most recent version of your notes along with other icloud data. Its Apples way of ensuring everything is up to date and as you left it....

Unfortunately its a pitfall of using Notes. Try contacting Apple?




In which case its not something I would store only on an iPhone - its something I would store on a laptop in addition, and have multiple external backups of.
Click to expand...

I tried to load my iPhone X data into my old iPhone 7. It kept taking 20 minutes etc & then at the end said it could not be done due to error. Pity the error note didn't appear 1st.

If it had loaded I could have disconnected phone from cloud, and simply emailed the backed up notes to myself, then cut & paste to a new note etc.
 
themaestro said:
For some reason I fell asleep with my phone in bed last night. I've just discovered that a page of my notes which included a very important To Do list has been replaced by "jjjjfffllffllel" etc. I used to be able to find deleted notes in the bin but can't now for some reason. Any help appreciated.

I did notice last few days that phone was opening without the need for Face ID (I've been trying the beta version of the new iOS)
Click to expand...


If only you contacted me right after you had this problem, I’d be able to advise you the steps on how to revert your notes back to the unedited state.
 
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