The native Apple Notes application is incredibly fast and convenient for jotting down quick thoughts, but because of its convenience, it is often used to store highly sensitive information, such as banking routing numbers, building gate codes, or intensely private diary entries. If you hand your unlocked iPhone to a friend so they can look at a photograph or read a text message, they could easily open the Notes app and read your most intimate secrets. You can prevent this massive privacy breach by locking individual, highly sensitive notes behind a biometric wall, requiring a successful Face ID scan before a single word is revealed.
How to Lock a Specific Note
Apple allows you to lock notes individually, meaning your grocery list can remain public while your financial passwords remain heavily encrypted.
- Open the native Notes app on your iPhone.
- Tap on the specific note that contains the sensitive information you want to protect.
- In the absolute top right corner of the screen, tap the More Menu (the icon displaying three dots inside a circle).
- From the drop-down menu, tap the button labeled Lock (it features a small padlock icon).
Choosing Your Locking Method
If this is your first time locking a note, your iPhone will ask you a critical security question.
- You will be asked if you want to Use iPhone Passcode or Create a Separate Password.
- It is highly recommended to choose Use iPhone Passcode. This inextricably links the locked note to your Face ID (or Touch ID) biometrics. If you create a separate password and forget it, Apple cannot recover the data, and the note will be permanently lost.
- The note will instantly lock. The text will vanish from the screen, replaced entirely by a massive padlock icon and a message reading “This note is locked.”
The next time you or anyone else attempts to open that specific file, the iPhone will instantly activate the infrared sensors, scan your face, and verify your identity before revealing the text.