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How to Fix: Notes App Does Not Save My Note After iPhone Jailbreak

By on November 15, 2009 in Posted In: Jailbreak, Tips & How-to

note-fix-after-jailbreakIn normal case, your iPhone should work properly after jailbreak. However, in some rare cases, you may encounter some unexpected problems. Other than the YouTube issue after blackra1n jailbreak, here is another problem reported by one of the readers:

“I get to fix the youTube problem. but the Notes app is not working. Everytime I write a new note and click done, the app closes without saving my note. Is there a patch to fix this?”

Yes, there is a fix for that.

If you experience this problem after jailbreak, the database of the Notes application is probably crashed or corrupted. To repair the Notes database, follow the below procedures to fix it:

1. Go to Cydia and install “MobileTerminal”

mobileterminal-cydia

2. After installation, go back to iPhone home screen and launch “Terminal” app.

3. In the Terminal, key in “cd /private/var/mobile/Library/Notes” and hit “Return”. Then type in “rm notes.db” and hit “Return” to delete the corrupted database.

notes-fix-terminal

4. Click Home button to go back to home screen and restart your iPhone (i.e. Power it off and Turn it on again)

After reboot, iPhone will automatically generate a new database file (i.e. notes.db) for the Notes app. Now, launch the Notes app again and write a new note. This time, you should be able to save your note.

About Simon Ng

Founder, developer and chief blogger of simonblog.com
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  • POKEKAT

    Another way is to connect to your iPhone via Cyberduck and delete the file:
    notes.db
    It is located inside a folder here: private/var/mobile/Library/Notes

    • http://www.simonblog.com Simon Ng

      @POKEKAT, thanks for your tip. I just think using mobile terminal is an easier way for those who do not know SSH.

  • helen

    I had the same kind of problem with my iphone, but with text messages – when i receive them, i can only look at them when they appear as new on the main screen, when i open the message, it’s gone. And also whenever i send new text messages, they disappear after sending. Can i repair that in some similar way?

    • http://www.simonblog.com Simon Ng

      @helen, you can do the same for SMS. But the path is /private/var/mobile/Library/SMS. You can then delete the “sms.db”.

  • frankazoid

    now notes can not be started at all ((

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  • yosi avron

    It worked for me.Thanks a million.

  • Alex

    Dear Simon,

    When I type in rm notes.db it asks “do you want to remove write protected notes.db” I gave y and pressed return.

    I then says “cannot remove notes.db permission denied’

    What should I do?

    Alex

  • http://ityler.tk tyler

    hey alex dont put “y” put “yes” it worked fine for me

  • gohan

    thanx dude it worked

  • gohan

    ur are the best it worked…

    and if any 1 is having problems with writing so make sure u r using CAPSLOCK in some word…

  • Don

    I have tried the steps as above, but the notes does not regenerate a new notes,db. Instead i can’t open open it now. Pls help

  • http://victorcaballero.com Victor Caballero

    What if your phone is not jailbroken?

  • Alaa

    I did the steps and still not working I removes the notes.db but the notes is not working any more any help please , I don’t want to restore my iPhone again.
    I have 32 3gs iPhone 3.1.3

  • Tom

    just use ifile its a lot easier than terminal

  • Pingback: Anonymous

  • http://iphones oren

    for me its not work :(
    i try everything
    just not work!!!!
    :(

    its give me all the time –
    cannot remove notes.db permission denied
    and yes –
    i try “y”
    ot
    “yes”

    still not work for me :(

  • venky

    Once I restored my backup on my new 3gs iphone, I cannot open, save, create new , delete any existing notes.. it will crash and put me back onto the springboard..

    I just had a similar problem and the fixes all over the internet fail to resolve the issue. Such as delete /User/Library/Notes/notes.db then restart the iPhone.

    After doing this notes will not even start.

    The issue is that if you manually backed up your notes.db file and then uploaded it back up using iPhoneExplorer, DiskAid or via SSH the permissions of the notes.db and or Notes directory are owned by root.

    The solution is is SSH into the iPhone and then type the following as root
    cd /User/Library/
    chown -R mobile Notes

    This will fix the issue and allow the notes program to write to the notes database. The same problem can also occur with the SMS database at /User/Library/SMS

    • ioana

      hello! i tried to fix my notes like you said but i don know where to type this root
      cd /User/Library/
      chown -R mobile Notes

      could you help me out please?

    • ioana

      hi! I managed to solve the problem! tahnks a lot for the post!

    • Ode

      Thank you so much my notes app just started to work again!

      • uberaes

        @venky

        10x it just worked :D

  • terry

    i have had this problem increasingly within the past week, since upgrading to 4.0 then 4.0.1.
    …except my phone is not jailbroken

  • TheToke

    I just upgraded my wife’s 1st gen iTouch to 3.1.3 (from 1.1.3) and after the upgrade, I am experiencing the same behaviour. The challenge is that there was one particular note on there that my wife was using to track all my daughter’s “firsts” and now I can’t read it and my wife is not happy…

    Does anyone know of a way to read/restore the corrupted notes.db file?

    I haven’t jailbroken the iTouch yet, but it seems like I will have to in order to fix the problem.

  • TheToke

    UPDATE: I found a program called iPhone Backup Extractor (http://www.reincubate.com/labs/iphone-backup-extractor-how-extract-files-iphone-backup-windows) that allows you to read the various backup files from your iTouch/iPhone and then extract the different components. The registered version allows you to dump things into CSV format, but I was able to use the free version just to read the notes.db with WordPad and though it’s somewhat cryptic, I was able to grab the text from the notes and email that to my wife. Crisis averted!

    Now I just need to figure out how to wipe out the existing notes.db from her iTouch so she can use Notes again…I’d prefer not to jailbreak it unless I have to…

  • Alex

    Hi Simon,

    I have an iphone 2G running OS 3.0. I dropped my phone yesterday and after that the Sleep/Power button (on the top right) is not working. Can you tell me what I should do to power off my phone now? Is there an app that does it? I can’t put the phone to sleep and cannot reboot the phone too. Do help me out.

  • Daniel

    Will this method also resolve the issue of notes not syncing between my PC and my iPhone?
    Using Exchange 2003 and now 3GS with 4.0.1 (previously 3.1.2).
    I have never been able to sync notes.

  • grace

    Thank you!!!! it worked!!!!!

  • cattu

    @venky
    Thank you very much , you’re the man !
    I just solved my “no notes” problem which gave me a lot of headaches from past couple of months ..
    Just open Terminal – switch to root : “su” , type the password ( which is “alpine” by default for those who didn’t changed it yet ) and just follow exactly what venky said .
    Again , thanks a lot venky !

  • Michael

    Will this method erase my notes I’ve already have?

  • William Garcia

    Thank you very very much!!!! it worked for me too!!!!

    Why don’t you posted on Youtube….. it would be very helpfull…..

  • William Garcia

    Thank you very very much!!!! it worked for me too!!!!

    Why don’t you post it on Youtube….. it would be very helpfull…..

  • Naxi

    It does not work for me. After i removed file notes.db, the note app always crashes everytime i start it. Restarting iphone does not generate new .db file. Some1 pls help me!
    Iphone 3G firmware 3.1.3

  • t

    more than an year and Simon didnt answered how to fix the Note bug

  • pagal

    have to delete the notes folder. then restart iphone. it creates a notes.db and idx. if u have a backup of ur notes.db sumwhere..restore and it. works fine.

  • http://no Rosko

    Thanks man very helpful information!

  • Graham

    On jailbreak iOS 3.0.1 this worked with Mobile Terminal exactly as above – thanks Simon, easy and fast !!

  • charleswhistle

    i had the same issue with my 3g iphone, i just went to cydia and upgrade all the apps cydia was asking to and that was it. it works great!

  • Sharon kinney

    I want to scroll down to the lower part of my notes & it
    Clicks back real quick to the front of my IPhone
    Where it shows all the icons & home page . I have rebutted
    Many times & it doesn’t help. How can I fix this?