ACF Field groups and post fields missing after update

[SOLVED – but plugin devs please see my closing remarks]

FYI, my client freaked out after updating some plugins and then noticing that all the ACF field groups were missing as if ACF was freshly installed. Then traveling to any of the pages/posts to edit them, the ACF fields were also not present giving the impression again that everything was wiped out.

However, on the front end of the website we could see the ACF field data was still being presented by our theme. This is what initially calmed me down and gave me hope (even though we do have backups).

There was a database upgrade notice but it made no mention of this particular experience. Upon executing the database update (after backing it up first), the fields and field groups were visibly restored.

Notice to devs of this plugin: Just like your decision to disable/hide the built in WP custom fields from the post/page edit screen without any WP notice in the back end and causing unnecessary panic/support tickets, maybe you should consider using the WP notice mechanism to be more informative about the expectations rather than let us figure it out on our own. Thanks.