Keep Some Things Secret
If you sometimes let other people use your iPhone, or you simply want to make sure that personal notes stay private, you’ll be happy to know that Apple’s Notes app also lets you easily lock notes with a passcode, and then unlock them using Touch ID or Face ID, making it really easy to access for you to get at your secure notes while ensuring that nobody else can. To lock a note:
- Open the note you want to secure.
- Tap the sharing button.
- From the actions at the bottom of the share sheet, choose “Lock Note.”
- If you haven’t yet setup a password, you’ll be prompted to do so. If you have set up a password, the note will simply be locked with your existing password.
Locked notes will be identified by a padlock icon beside them, and when opening them you’ll need to either enter your password or authenticate using Touch ID or Face ID. Once unlocked, the note remains accessible for a few minutes to allow you to easily return to it, but it will be locked again if you close the notes app or your device goes to sleep.
It’s not a super-sophisticated security system — for instance, only a single app-wide password is used to secure every one of the notes you choose to lock, and it doesn’t add any extra encryption to your notes — but it should meet the needs for users who are just concerned about keeping information away from casually prying eyes.