Losing important notes is every iPhone owner’s nightmare. How to recover deleted notes on iPhone is never about shopping lists, but almost always about important information from classes or business meetings that can be critical for one’s education or career.

Of course, if you only deleted part of the note and notice your mistake right away, the undo function is always an option: Just shake your device gently and a pop-up with the option to undo will appear.

How to Recover Deleted Notes on iPhone with Backup

If you backed up your data with iTunes or iCloud, here’s how to recover deleted notes on iPhone 5, 6, or older:

How to Recover Deleted Notes on iPhone with iTunes

To recover your lost notes through iTunes, follow these steps in the exact order described below:

1. Open iTunes and go to:
   • Edit -> Preferences (for Windows users);
   • iTunes -> Preferences (for Mac users).
2. Navigate to the Devices tab and check Prevent iPods, iPhones, and iPads from syncing automatically Leave the iTunes open and:
3. Connect your iPhone.
4. Go to the Info tab -> Advanced and, under the Replace information on this iPhone menu, check Notes.
5. Click on Sync.

This will only restore your backed up notes, without modifying the content of your other folders or app data.

How to Recover Deleted Notes on iPhone with iCloud

To recover your lost or deleted notes with iCloud, follow these steps:

1. From your iPhone, navigate to Settings -> General -> Software Update to make sure you are using the latest iOS.
2. Find your desired backup:
   • For iOS 8 or 9: Settings -> iCloud -> Storage -> Manage Storage, and choose the device listed under Backups.
   • For iOS 7: Settings -> iCloud -> Storage & Backup -> Manage Storage, and choose the device listed under Backups.
3. Restore the backup.

Note: at the moment, you cannot selectively restore items backed up with iCloud; Your whole system will be erased and replaced with the last iCloud backup performed. If you want to use the iCloud data to only restore your notes, you will have to use one of the software programs listed below as an “iCloud Friendly” software.

If you don’t remember deleting the notes (they simply disappeared) and your phone’s default e-mail address is a Yahoo or Gmail one, you might be in luck: Check the My Folders or Trash section for a folder named Notes or individual items – they should all be there.

How to Recover Deleted Notes on iPhone Without Backup

If you did not back up your iPhone and do not have a Yahoo mail or Gmail address, the only solution to recovering your deleted notes is to use a software from the following list:

Aiseesoft’s FoneLab

Pricing: $49.95

1. Install the software and connect your iPhone.
2. Scan your device by clicking the Start Scan button on your PC. This will list every file on your device and those which have been deleted in the last 30 days.
3. Under the Notes tab, you will find the deleted notes listed in a different color. Select the notes you want to restore.
4. Click Recover to retrieve your deleted notes.

iMobie’s PhoneRescue

Pricing: $49.99 / personal license, $69.99 / family license

1. Download PhoneRescue and connect your iPhone to your PC through the USB cable.
2. Wait for your iPhone to be detected and select Restore from iOS Device.
3. Activate the option Notes and click on Start Search on your PC. This should extract the notes you have mistakenly deleted.
4. Select the found notes and click Restore.

Wondershare’s Dr. Fone 

Pricing: $69.95 for data recovery

1. Install Dr. Phone and plug in your device.
2. Scan your device.
3. Preview the data and select the items which are of interest for you – in our case, your lost notes.
4. Recover the items by clicking the Recover to Device button on the lower part of the screen.

iSkysoft’s iPhone Data Recovery *iCloud-Friendly

Pricing: $79.95 for Mac users, $69.95 for Windows users

1. Download the software and connect your device.
2. Choose the Recover from iOS Device option or the Recover from iCloud
3. Wait for the software to detect your iPhone, then click on the Start button to scan your data.
4. After the software finished scanning your data, choose the Notes option to see your recoverable notes.
5. Choose the desired items and click on the Recover

Keep in mind that, even though these software programs cost $50 or more, they might not be able to recover every note you deleted when trying to restore data from your device. From what we could gather, recovering deleted items directly from your device (i.e. not using the iTunes or iCloud backup) is only available for 30 days after you deleted them – which means trying this over a month later will not result in any recovery.

Image sources: 1, 2, 3, 4.