Encrypted Notes when getting a new iPhone

Someone I know who’s reasonably tech savy ran into an issue where they lost access to their Notes after the phone switch. Any ideas?

Here’s his description of the issue.

Upon upgrading to an iPhone 11 pro recently… access to all locked Notes on all other apple devices became unaccessible and required a password to open. Previously a note could be unlocked simply with touchID and did not require the original password when opened on another device. After attempting several old and new passwords, nothing appears to work and no hint prompt ever shows up. This behavior did not happen on several previous device upgrades. Additionally passwords for notes are not saved as part of the Website & App Passwords list.

Apple seems to think the notes are locked/encrypted forever.

Your acquaintance does not say if Face ID is set up on the new device and if it is if that also fails to unlock older Notes. Also, it will take 3 attempts at entering a wrong passcode before a hint will show up. Has this person tried the “Reset Password” option. I do not have any devices with any iOS earlier than iOS 13 so this based upon that. The “Reset Password” option is here:

iOS -> Settings -> Notes -> Password

I have Notes set up for both iCloud and “On My iPhone” so at the Password section I have has two Accounts to select from. They each can have different passcodes as well.