You can delete notes you no longer need. You can also recover recently deleted notes within 30 days.
A deleted note moves to the Recently Deleted folder in Notes, on iCloud.com, and on your other devices, and it stays there for 30 days before it’s permanently removed. If you don’t see Recently Deleted, there’s nothing to recover. Notes on iCloud.com and your other devices follow the same rules.
Here’s how to delete and recover notes in Notes on iPhone.
Delete a note
- Open the Notes app on your iPhone.
- In the notes list, swipe left on the note and then tap Delete. Or touch and hold the note and then tap Delete. When you delete a note, it’s moved to the Recently Deleted folder in Notes on your iPhone, on iCloud.com, and on your other devices where you’re signed in to the same Apple Account.
Recover or permanently delete recently deleted notes
A note you delete stays in the Recently Deleted folder for 30 days. After that, it’s permanently removed from iCloud, your iPhone, and other devices where you’re signed in to your Apple Account. Within those 30 days, you can recover deleted notes or delete them permanently at any time.
- Open the Notes app on your iPhone.
- In the folder list, tap Recently Deleted. If you don’t see Recently Deleted, you don’t have any notes in that folder, and there’s nothing to be recovered.
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Do one of the following:
- Recover a note: Swipe left on the note, then tap Move. Move the note to a new or existing folder.
- Permanently delete a note: Swipe left on the note, tap Delete, and tap Delete Note.
Note: If you delete a shared note you don’t own, it’s removed from your list only, not from the owner’s or other participants’ lists, and it won’t appear in Recently Deleted. You can reopen it using the original shared link, unless the owner stopped sharing.
