How to Store iPhone Notes to Your iPhone Only

Written by Jack Lloyd

Last Updated: May 25, 2021

This wikiHow teaches you how to prevent your iPhone's notes from saving to a previously-linked email account by saving them to your iPhone's hard drive instead.

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:
Enabling the On My iPhone Folder

1
Open your iPhone's Settings. Do so by tapping the grey gear icon on the home screen.
2
Scroll down and tap Notes. It's in the fifth group of options on this page.

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3
Slide the "On My iPhone" Account switch right to the "On" position. It will turn green. Doing this will add a folder called "On My iPhone" to your Notes app. Any notes stored in the "On My iPhone" folder are saved directly to your phone's hard drive.
4
Tap Default Account. This option is directly above the Password section.
5
Select On My iPhone. Doing so will set the On My iPhone folder as your default save location for new notes. Now you'll need to move any notes saved to other folder into your On My iPhone folder.

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Part 2

Part 2 of 3:
Moving Existing Notes to the On My iPhone Folder

1
Open your iPhone's Notes. This is the yellow and white paper pad icon on the home screen.
2
Tap the Back button. It's in the top left corner of your screen. If you currently have a note open, you'll need to tap the Back button twice--once to exit the note, and once to access the folders page.
3
Select an account folder other than "On My iPhone". For example, if you've saved notes in the "iCloud" folder, you'd tap iCloud to open it.
4
Tap Edit. You'll find this in the top right corner of your screen.
5
Select each note you wish to save. If you want to save every note in this folder, simply tap Move All in the bottom left corner of your screen.
6
Tap Move To. This is in the bottom left corner of your screen.
- If you selected Move All previously, disregard this step.
7
Select Notes underneath the "On My iPhone" heading. Doing so will transfer all of your selected notes into the "On My iPhone" folder.
8
Repeat this process for notes saved in other locations. Your end goal is to have all of your iPhone's notes stored in the "On My iPhone" folder. Once you've accomplished this, it's time to remove the other account folders from the Notes app.

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Part 3

Part 3 of 3:
Removing Non-iPhone Account Folders

1
Open your iPhone's Settings. Remember, it's the grey gear icon on the home screen.
- If you didn't close the Settings app, this should re-open to the Notes tab. If so, skip the next step.
2
Scroll down and tap Notes.
3
Tap Accounts. This is at the top of the page.
4
Select an account listed here. For example, if your Notes app has an "iCloud" folder, you'd tap iCloud.
5
Slide the green Notes switch left to the "Off" position. It will turn white. Doing this will remove your selected account's folder from the Notes app.
- Depending on the account you choose, you may have to scroll down to find the Notes section.
6
Tap Delete from My iPhone when prompted. As long as you moved the notes from your selected account's folder into your "On My iPhone" folder earlier, you won't lose any information.
7
Repeat this process for any remaining account folders. Once you've completed this process, your "On My iPhone" folder will be the only available save location for Notes data on your iPhone.

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