How To Lock Notes On Iphone 11

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There's no denying that the Notes app is handy, but there are times when you would like to keep your notes private. Here's how to password protect your Notes on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

There are plenty of reasons you might want to lock individual Notes apps. Maybe you're planning the perfect family vacation and don't want little prying eyes finding out the surprise. Perhaps you always forget an account name for a service at your job, but you don't feel comfortable leaving it out in the open. Maybe you've got the next billion-dollar idea, and you just can't risk having it fall into the wrong hands.

Whatever your reason, you'll be happy to learn that you can easily lock your Notes on your favorite iOS devices.

You'll want to start by creating a password to be used to lock your notes. Creating a Notes password is easy and can be done in just a few minutes by following the steps below.

Important: It's a good idea to make sure your Notes password isn't something you use with another account, such as your Apple ID password, your password for your email, or any important dates. Try to keep it unique.

Setting a password

How to create a password for your Notes app in Settings

Open Settings
Tap your account
Create your password
Enter a password hint
Enable Touch ID or Face ID if prompted*
Tap Done

There's also a second way to create a password, which is directly from the Notes app. You can do this by following the steps below.

How to create a password for Notes from the Notes app

Open Notes
Tap the ... button
Tap Lock
Create your password
Create a password hint
Enable Touch ID or Face ID if prompted*
Tap Done

*Important: If you enable Face ID or Touch ID, Apple will add the encryption keys used to encrypt your notes to your iCloud Keychain. This allows your locked notes also to be unlocked via passcode. You may wish to skip adding Face ID or Touch ID for the notes password for security reasons.

Now that you've got a password made, you can easily lock any note you want to keep private. Keep in mind that you'll see the title and the note's date, so try to avoid putting anything too revealing as the title.

How to lock a note in the Notes app

Open the note you wish to lock
Tap ...
Tap Lock

Unlocking a note is just as easy.

How to unlock a note in the Notes app

Tap the locked note
Tap View Note
Enter your password, or if you enabled it, use Touch ID or Face ID

If you decide you don't need a lock on the note anymore, you can remove it as well.

How to remove a lock from a locked note

Tap the locked note
Tap View Note
Enter your password, or if you enabled it, use Touch ID or Face ID
Tap ...
Tap Remove

Whenever you add or remove a lock on a note, it's added or removed for every device on the same Apple ID. That means if you lock a note on your iPhone, it will also be locked on your iPad.

Of course, you may want to change your Notes password if you suspect that someone may be able to guess it. It's a quick process, and it's good practice to change your passwords routinely.

How to change your Notes password

Open Settings
Tap Notes
Tap Password
Tap your account if prompted
Enter your old password
Enter your new password
Enter a password hint
Tap Done

If you've forgotten your password, you can reset it. However, resetting your password will not allow you to access old notes but will allow you to protect any new notes.