How to Password Lock Notes on iPhone & iPad

The latest versions of the Notes app for iOS allow users to password protect particular notes within the app, making it an excellent place to store personal information and private snippets that you’d like to keep away from prying eyes. In addition to password protection, Notes in iOS also allows users to lock and unlock notes with Touch ID as well, so if the iPhone or iPad supports that feature you’ll be able to use a quick unlock access method too.

We’ll run through how to lock notes in iOS, as well as how to unlock and access the note(s) after they have been locked. Notes app supports locking with any version of iOS after 9.0, earlier releases do not have this feature. By no means is this a substitution for using a passcode to lock the iOS device, instead it should be looked at as an additional layer of security to protect extra sensitive data contained on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

How to Lock Notes with Password Protection in iOS

This demonstrates how to apply password lock protection on any note within the Notes app on iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch:

1. Open the Notes app in iOS if you haven’t done so already
2. Tap on the sharing icon in the upper right corner of the note, it looks like a little box with an arrow flying out of it



3. In the action menu, find and tap on “Lock Note”



4. Fill out the password and hint that you want to use as the note lock, and optionally but recommended keep “Use Touch ID” enabled” and then tap ‘Done’ *



5. The note will verify that it has been locked with a “Lock Added” message, you can now lock the note by tapping on the lock icon at the top of the note, or by locking the screen of the device as you would normally

Once the Notes app has been closed, the device screen has been locked, or the notes have been deliberately locked, any locked notes will remain locked until the proper password has been entered or Touch ID has been used to unlock the protected note(s). And yes, this works to lock any notes at all, whether they’re a standard text note, a drawing or sketch made in Notes app, a checklist, a collection of pictures contained in a note, or whatever else you have kept in the note(s) you want to lock down.

* Be aware that the set password will lock and unlock any of the notes locked within Notes app, each note does not have a separate password. This applies to Touch ID as well.

Unlocking Password Protected Notes in iOS

Want to access and view the contents of a locked note in iOS? Here’s what you’ll want to do:

1. Open the Notes app and tap on the note that is locked
2. At the “This note is locked” screen, choose “View Note”



3. Enter the password for the note to view the contents, or use Touch ID (if applicable)

Once you’re finished viewing or editing the note, you can lock it again as usual. You can also remove a lock permanently from a note by returning to the Sharing section, and tapping on “Remove Lock”

Finally, it’s worth pointing out that for iPhone and iPad users that have a Mac as well, as long as the computer is updated to the latest version of OS X and using the same Apple ID, then the locked iCloud notes will be accessible from both devices. You can learn more about password protected Notes in Mac OS X here.