How to Retrieve Notes from iTunes Backup & without Backup?

Does iTunes backup iPhone notes?

Notes App, a very convenient tool, facilitates users to grab their ideas, create a to-do list, and take down class notes with photos and videos attached.

Some prudent users will manually use iTunes or iCloud to back up their iPhones to protect their data. But when it comes to restoring from iTunes backup, they will wonder: “Does iTunes backup iPhone notes? Can I retrieve notes from iTunes backup?”

Does an iTunes backup include notes? If I back up my iPhone 6 on iTunes and then reset/erase the phone, will my notes appear after I restore from my iTunes backup?

- Question from Apple Community

Well, it depends. The following conditions must be met to successfully restore notes from iTunes backup.

1. Never enabled notes sync via iCloud. All the notes synced via iCloud would never be included in your iTunes backup.
2. Notes are not associated with any email accounts. If your notes are stored with an email account, then iTunes won’t back up your notes.
3. The iTunes backup must be made before your notes are deleted/lost.

If you have ever enabled notes sync via iCloud and then disabled it, you can only restore those notes that were later stored on the iPhone after iCloud sync was disabled.

So the first course of action for you is to check if you have enabled notes sync via iCloud. Go to “Settings” > “Apple ID” > “iCloud” > “APPS USING ICLOUD”, “Notes” must be off.

To check whether you have notes stored locally on your iPhone, Go to “Notes” > back to “Folders” > see if your notes are stored in “ON MY IPHONE”. If all your notes are stored on iCloud, you'd better recover iPhone notes from iCloud backup.

If all these 3 conditions above are met, you could successfully restore notes from iTunes backup.

How to retrieve notes from iTunes backup?

How to restore notes from iTunes? The official way to recover notes from iTunes backup is entirely secure.

But sometimes it goes wrong, saying “Backup file corrupted”, “Error occurs”, etc., if you may meet situations like restoring iPhone from iTunes backup fails, please get help.

Method 1. Restore notes from backup using iTunes

Now follow the steps below to retrieve notes from iTunes backup.

Step 1. Run the latest version of iTunes > connect your iOS device to the computer properly > click the “iPhone” icon.

Step 2. Click “Summary” > “Restore Backup” > choose the backup that contains your lost notes.

Method 2. Restore notes on iPhone much easier (Recommended)

How about these situations? What if you are using iCloud sync? And what if your notes are associated with email accounts/iTunes backup does not cover the notes /restoring from iTunes backup failed?

Don’t worry, instead of trying to restore notes from backup, there is a better alternative. Seeking help from a well-designed iPhone data recovery tool is a wise action. Here MyRecover for iOS is recommended.

No matter you deleted or permanently deleted notes on iPhone, or notes disappeared after update, you could use this tool to get lost notes back with a high success rate.

Step 1. Install and run MyRecover for iOS > connect your iPhone to Windows properly.

Step 2. Click “Scan Now” to scan your iOS device.

Step 3. Click “Notes” > select the notes you need > click “Recover”.

Within 3 steps you could get notes back on iPhone much easier than trying to retrieve notes from iTunes backup.

Final words

An official way to retrieve notes from iTunes backup is detailed in the second part of this article; moreover, to make it easier to restore notes on iPhone, good software is recommended, too.

MyRecover for iOS can not only recover notes but also recover deleted photos on iPhone, videos, voice memos, etc.