How To Fix Notes App Blank On iPhone, Not Showing Text

Notes app blank on iPhone

Notes App Not Working On iPhone

This issue has been reported by Robert on our iOS 15.5 review page:

“Notes app opens up blank (all text missing). This is very frustrating.”

We couldn’t replicate the bug, at the time of writing. Are you experiencing the same? Share it in the comments please.

I’ve researched the web and found several other reports about the Notes blank on iPhone issue.

How To Fix Notes Blank On iPhone

Follow these troubleshooting steps to get your notes back:

1. Relaunch Notes

First, swipe-up from the bottom of the screen to bring up the App Switcher.
Swipe the Notes card up to dismiss it and force quit the app.
Return to the Home Screen and open Notes again. Is the text still missing?

2. Reboot iPhone

Next step requires you to restart your device. A fresh start will flush any minor glitches that could prevent notes from loading.

You can perform the classic Power Off -> Power back ON sequence, or use the iPhone force restart trick:

Click & release Volume Up, followed by Volume Down and press & hold Side Button until the screen goes black and the Apple logo is displayed.

3. Reinstall Notes

If notes are still fully blank your next option is to delete the app and install it fresh without losing any data. This is done with the help of the iOS offloading apps feature:

• Open Settings and browse for General -> iPhone Storage.
• Search for Notes.
• Go for Offload App and confirm that you want to offload the app.
• Now, Reinstall and Notes will be re-downloaded on your device.

4. iCloud Syncing

You should also check if iCloud syncing works. If your iPhone has no Internet connectivity it might fail to load the text store on the cloud.

When Notes are configured to sync with iCloud, the All iCloud folder is displayed by default when you open Notes. If there’s a problem with the connectivity the Notes app shows blank.

• Open Settings and tap on your Apple ID at the top of the screen.
• Tap on iCloud.
• Go for Show All in the SYNC WITH ICLOUD section.
• Tap Notes and check if Sync this iPhone is enabled.


Tip: If syncing is enabled you can disable it. Confirm that you want to do it by taping on Delete from My iPhone. Next, enable back Sync this iPhone to force your device to download all notes from iCloud again.

5. Check iCloud Notes

If your notes are synced with iCloud they will be most likely listed in the iCloud section.

If you’re viewing the Notes folder, in the On My iPhone section it can be empty, because all Notes are listed under the iCloud section.

Tap Folders, in the top-left corner of the screen, and check if the other folders have notes. Do they?

Have you managed to fix Notes blank on iPhone? Did any of the above tips help? Do you have a better solution? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Related: Notes crashing on iPhone in iOS 15? Here is what you can do to fix it!