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How to get notes back from an iPhone backup on a Mac

By Caner Kaya, Kayabyte · Last updated 17 October 2026

If you back up your iPhone or iPad to a Mac, each backup contains the notes that were on the device when it was made. That includes iCloud notes the phone had downloaded and notes stored “On My iPhone”. So if your notes disappeared after the last backup, that backup may be the only copy left.

The hard part is getting them out. Apple’s only built-in way is to restore the whole phone from the backup. This guide explains that route, its risks, and the alternative of reading the backup without restoring it.

Step 1: Don’t overwrite the backup

Finder keeps one backup per device and replaces it every time you back up. If you plug in your iPhone and it backs up automatically, the backup with your notes can be gone in minutes.

Step 2: Check the backup’s date

  1. Open Finder on the Mac. If your iPhone is already connected, click it in the sidebar, then on the General tab click Manage Backups. You’ll see each backup with its date and time. A lock icon means the backup is encrypted.
  2. If the iPhone isn’t connected, don’t connect it yet. In Finder choose Go, Go to Folder and open ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup. Each folder is one device’s backup; switch to List view and look at Date Modified.

If the backup was made after the notes disappeared, it won’t have them. If it was made before, continue.

Step 3: Make a copy of the backup

  1. In Manage Backups, Control-click the backup and choose Show in Finder, or open the Backup folder as in step 2.
  2. The backup is a folder with a long name made of letters and numbers.
  3. Copy that whole folder to an external drive or another folder (hold Option while you drag it, so it copies). Don’t rename or change anything inside it.

Now a new backup can’t take your notes with it.

Step 4, option A: restore the iPhone from the backup

This is Apple’s built-in way, and it’s free. But it replaces everything on the iPhone with what was in the backup: messages, photos taken since, app data, settings. Anything newer than the backup is lost unless it’s stored in iCloud.

If you still want to do it:

  1. Make sure you can live without anything on the phone that is newer than the backup and isn’t in iCloud. If you can’t, use option B instead.
  2. If your notes were in iCloud, know that the restored phone syncs with iCloud again, and iCloud’s current state usually wins. Notes deleted from iCloud are likely to disappear again. This route works best for notes stored “On My iPhone”.
  3. In Finder, click your iPhone, then Restore Backup, and pick the old backup. If Find My is on, you’ll be asked to turn it off first.
  4. When the phone restarts, open Notes, find the notes, and copy them somewhere safe right away: share them by AirDrop or Mail, or save them as PDF.

Step 4, option B: read the notes without restoring

Apps that read iPhone backups on a Mac can show the notes inside a backup without touching your phone. Most need the backup password if the backup is encrypted. They differ in what they do with the notes: some only show them, some export them as files.

NoteRescue, the Mac app we make, reads iPhone and iPad backups (encrypted too, with your own password) and also your Mac’s Time Machine backups. It compares the notes in the backup with the notes on your Mac today and shows which are missing or changed, then exports them (Markdown, HTML, PDF or plain text, with attachments) or adds them back to Notes in a new folder. Your phone and your backup stay as they are. The scan is free, so you can see whether your notes are in the backup before you pay.

Encrypted backups and passwords

If you see a lock icon in Manage Backups, the backup is encrypted with a password you (or someone) chose when turning on “Encrypt local backup”. Any app, including Finder’s restore, needs that password to read it.

If you’ve forgotten it, try the passwords you used at the time, and look in Keychain Access (on macOS 15 and later it’s in /System/Library/CoreServices/Applications) for an entry with “iOS Backup” in its name. Apple can’t recover the password. Resetting it on the iPhone (Settings, General, Transfer or Reset iPhone, Reset, Reset All Settings) only removes the password for future backups; the old backup still needs its original password.

Common questions

Does an iCloud Backup have my notes? Usually not. If Notes syncs with iCloud on your iPhone, the notes are left out of the iCloud Backup, because they’re stored in iCloud already. Notes stored “On My iPhone” are included.

Is a backup made with iTunes the same? Yes. Before macOS 10.15, iTunes made iPhone backups on the Mac. They’re in the same folder and work the same way.

My backup is on another computer. Copy its backup folder to your Mac (on Windows it’s usually in your user folder under Apple, MobileSync, Backup, or Apple Computer, MobileSync, Backup). Apps that read backups can open a copied folder; NoteRescue does with File, Choose a Backup Folder.

For a backup from an old Mac, see How to recover notes from an old Mac’s backup.