I was trying to explore switching from Evernote to Apple Notes for a period of time. At some point during this experiment, Apple Notes started acting like a punk.. basically every time I tried to open Notes, the sync to iCloud would freeze up the app for anywhere from 15-60 seconds. It was unusable. It was also driving me crazy.
I finally broke down and did something I NEVER do, I called Apple Support. After a bit of back and forth on the phone, the tech suggested I delete my iCloud Account from the phone and then add it again. While this seemed extreme, I was a bit desperate. So I did. Once I was able to restore my iCloud account, to my happy surprise, Notes was responsive again.. for about 15 minutes. Then it all went south again. UGH! Oh, and did I mention that when you delete your iCloud account, you have to re-add all of your Apple Pay options? (phone and watch). What a pain!
After some poking and digging on the interwebz, I came across Adiel_G. He had found a way to fix his issue. He gave me clear instructions that I wanted to share here. Why am I sharing? Well, it seems to fully work! I no longer have this lag or slow-ness at launch.
Summary: We want to remove the Notes database from iCloud completely, but leave iCloud intact.
Before you start, you will want to backup your notes. You can export 1 by 1 to something like Evernote through a Share Sheet, or use something like Note2Text to export the text out of the notes. (it loses attachments, but might be worth it for you. I was for me)
Step 1: Go to your iCloud Account on your iPhone/iPad and choose Storage
Step 2: Click the Manage Storage option, this will bring you here:
Step 3: Click the Notes under Documents and Data. (If it isn’t showing, click more)
Step 4: Click the Edit in the upper right, then click Delete All. This will remove your Notes DB completely.
Sure, I lost some formatting and attachments in the process, but I had also backed up key items to Evernote first. The key point here is, it fixed me. I am happy for this. I wanted to post this in hopes that others find it when searching for the same issue. What a pain.