Go through these solutions to fix the Notes app not working, opening, freezing, crashing, or not displaying your notes on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
The stock Apple Notes app is an excellent place to jot notes, draw, make checklists, create tables, and more — until it stops working!
On some occasions, the Notes app may freeze and crash the moment you open it. Other times, it may not respond at all to your touches and clicks. And in a few cases, the Notes app may not display your notes, causing serious scare and frustration.
If you’re stuck in one of these situations where you can’t use the Apple Notes app to create new notes or access existing ones, the following solutions will help fix the problem.
Note that solution number 6 is (almost) the sure-shot way to fix the issue. But basic troubleshooting tips usually work for most people, and thus, you should start from solution 1 and work your way down the list.
1. Force quit and reopen the Notes app
On iPhone or iPad: Swipe up from the bottom of the screen & hold or double-press the Home button to see all open apps. From this screen, drag the Notes tile all the way up to force close it. Now, wait for 10 seconds before reopening the Notes app.
On Mac: You can right-click or control-click on the Notes app icon in the Dock and choose Quit. In case there isn’t any ongoing work, press together the Command + Option + Esc keys. From the Force Quit window, select Notes and click Force Quit.
2. Restart your iPhone, iPad, or Mac
App crashes are often successfully addressed by turning off the device and turning it back on. Before proceeding to the remaining solutions, make sure you do this.
3. Free up space on your device
Several apps, including Notes, may crash if you don’t have enough free space on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. So, if you get frequent app crashes, make sure to free up some space on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
4. Update to the latest versions of iOS, iPadOS, or macOS
If you’re on an older version of the operating system, consider updating to the latest available one, which will ensure a safer and smoother performance along with newer features. You can update from Settings/System Settings > General > Software Update.
5. Stop using the beta version
Are you using the developer or public beta version of iOS, iPadOS, or macOS? If yes, such inconveniences are expected. When the next update is pushed, make sure you install that. In case things are getting intolerable, consider switching back to the non-beta version.
6. Turn off iCloud Notes and turn it back on
I have been using the Notes app for the last ten years, and this is the most effective solution that has worked for me over time.
When the Notes app doesn’t open, instantly crashes, or freezes, turn off iCloud Notes, which will remove all the notes from that device. After that, restart your iPhone and re-enable iCloud Notes. Within a few minutes, all your Notes will resync to your device, and the Notes app will no longer crash or freeze and work normally.
Recently, Apple updated its iCloud terms and conditions, and after some users accepted the new T&C, all notes from their Notes app disappeared. The only way to fix this was to turn iCloud Notes off and back on.
We’ll walk you through the entire process.
iPhone and iPad:
1) Open the Settings app and tap your name from the top.
2) Go to iCloud > Notes.
3) Turn off Sync this iPhone and choose Delete from My iPhone. This will remove your notes from this device, but the notes will stay saved in your iCloud.
4) Restart your iPhone or iPad.
5) Follow steps 1 & 2 and turn on Sync this iPhone.
6) Now, open the Notes app and stay on this screen until you see all your notes have been downloaded from iCloud and are visible in the Notes app. I have 1,200+ notes in iCloud, and it took about 20 minutes for everything to sync slowly. Related: How to prevent your iPhone screen from turning off automatically
If you don’t use iCloud but use a Google (Gmail) or Microsoft (Outlook) account to sync and store your notes, go to Settings > Apps > Notes > Accounts > choose the account and turn off the Notes switch. After that, restart your iPhone and re-enable the Notes switch.
Mac:
1) Open System Settings and click your Apple Account from the top left.
2) Go to iCloud > Notes, turn off the switch for Sync this Mac, and click Done.
3) Restart your Mac.
4) Follow the initial steps again and turn on the switch for Sync this Mac. Doing so will resync your iCloud notes to your Mac. Make sure to keep the Notes app open for all your notes to download from iCloud and appear in the app.
In case you save your notes in Gmail or other accounts, go to System Settings > Internet Accounts > select your account from the left sidebar and turn off Notes. Next, restart your Mac and re-enable the Notes switch.
7. Reset all settings
If the above fixes don’t work for you, reset all your iPhone or iPad settings. Doing this should hopefully fix the Notes app problem. You can learn the consequences of resetting all settings and how to do that here.
Fix Notes app widget not working on iPhone or iPad
If the Notes app widget on the iPhone Home Screen or Lock Screen is not displaying the notes and instead shows Folder No Longer Available or some similar error, simply remove this widget and add it again. Once you do that, the Notes app widget should start working again.
More on Notes: