Ever since I bought my first iPhone and iPad, I’ve always used the default Notes app to take notes and store important information. Taking into account the fact that the very first device for me was iPad 2, you can imagine how much data I have accumulated there. Naturally, among these notes there are those that are not intended for prying eyes, and they must be properly secured. Of course, you can password-protect any entry using standard means and live peacefully on. But this may not always be effective.
Indeed, quite rarely we come up with some kind of complex passwords or generally prefer not to complicate our lives even by setting them, but simply rely on a standard iPhone or iPad lock password. For those users who still want to really create a good protection for their notes, there is a way out. Let’s figure out what needs to be done so that no outsider can access your records.
iPhone note password
Unfortunately, not everyone knows how to lock notes on iPhone.
The first and easiest thing you can do to keep the information in your notes safe is to set a password for important notes. This method is quite easy and yet effective. The key is to use a password that is different from your iPhone or iPad screen lock password. To protect a note with a password , you must:
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- Open “Settings”.
- Go to the “Notes” section.
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- Select “Password”.
- Set the desired password for each “On iPhone” and “ iCloud ” account in turn . At the same time, I advise you not to enable Face ID or Touch ID .
- Open the Notes app.
- Go to the desired note or create a new one that needs to be password protected.
- Click on the circle with three dots in the upper right corner.
- Select “Protection” from the menu that appears.
- After that, an open lock will appear on the note. Click on it and the note will be locked.
These steps will help you set the basic protection for your note. Keep in mind that the same password will need to be entered if you decide to view the recording through the web version of iCloud . Surely you have a question: why do I not advise activating Face ID or Touch ID . Everything is quite simple. Often we enter the data of our loved ones into a smartphone so that they can easily unlock it. But there is information that is only for your eyes. If one of the types of biometrics is enabled, then entering such a note will be very simple. That is why it is better to use a different password and not biometrics.
iCloud Notes
Disabling synchronization, on the one hand, is inconvenient, but on the other hand, it gives a different level of confidentiality.
But there is a category of users who want to quickly access the necessary records, and they do not need extra passwords. They are sure that outsiders will not be able to get into their device. At the same time, somewhere at home lies a home iPad, which can be used by all family members. And it’s just as easy to access confidential records. In such a situation, you should turn off syncing notes with iCloud and limit them solely to your primary device. To do this, do the following:
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- Open “Settings”.
- Go to the “Notes” section.
- Turn on the “Account on iPhone” switch.
- Open the Notes app.
- Go to the “Folders” section.
- Click on Notes on iPhone .
- Create the notes you need in this section, and they will not fall into iCloud and appear on your other devices.
But these actions apply to newly created notes. However, the old ones that you want to remove from the cloud are not automatically transferred to iPhone. This will have to be done manually. For this you need:
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- Create an account “On iPhone” according to the instructions above.
- Open the Notes app.
- Go to the “Folders” section and open the desired folder in iCloud.
- Click on the circle with three dots in the upper right corner.
- Select “Select Notes” from the menu that appears.
- Mark the notes you want to move.
- Click on “Move” in the lower left corner.
- Select a folder from “On iPhone”.
After these steps, the notes you have selected will be located locally on your iPhone and will not be uploaded anywhere. If they were previously synchronized with your other devices, including Mac computers , then after a while they will disappear from there. The most important thing to remember is that such recordings will not be available through the web version of iCloud either . This can be considered both a minus and a plus. If your iCloud account is compromised in some way, no one will be able to access your notes.
In a situation where disabling synchronization is inconvenient for you, then the only option left is to set a password. Unfortunately, you will still have to experience some inconvenience, but the security of your data is at stake here. In any case, you decide. But personally, it seems to me that a password other than the iPhone lock passcode will be enough to completely secure your records.
