How to hide notes on your iPhone
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by
Kamso Oguejiofor-Abugu
When you hand your phone to someone else for a quick repair or a phone call, it’s natural to feel uneasy about them stumbling across your personal notes.
There’s no hidden-notes folder on iPhone. What you can do instead is lock a note using your device passcode or a separate Notes password, then use Face ID or Touch ID to open it. The title will still appear in your main list, but the note’s contents stay hidden until it’s unlocked.
Here’s how to hide notes on your iPhone, what locking actually protects, and where to check if a note seems missing.
How to hide notes on your iPhone
You can lock an individual note with your passcode or a separate Notes password. Here’s how to set it up.
How to lock a single note
- First, open the note. Tap the More button in the top-right corner, then select Lock.
- Decide if you want to use the passcode you already use for your iPhone, or set a separate password just for your notes. To use your iPhone passcode, iCloud Keychain needs to be turned on.
- If you select your iPhone passcode, type it in when asked. You can also turn on Face ID or Touch ID here if your device supports it.
- If you choose to create a new password instead, take a moment to add a hint that can help you remember it.
- After you lock the note, it stays open. Tap the Lock icon at the top of the screen to hide its contents.
How to turn on Face ID or Touch ID for locked notes
If you weren’t prompted to enable Face ID or Touch ID when setting your iPhone passcode for the Notes app, you can turn it on later in your iPhone’s settings:
- Go to Settings > Apps > Notes > Password. If you have more than one Notes account, select the account you want to use.
- Turn on Use Face ID (or Use Touch ID, depending on your device).
How to open a locked note
Tap the note, tap View Note, then unlock it using your Face ID, Touch ID, device passcode, or notes password.
Opening one locked note temporarily opens all other locked notes in the same account for several minutes. To lock them again, tap the Lock icon at the top of the screen, tap Lock Now at the top of your notes list, close the Notes app, or lock your iPhone.
How to remove a lock from a note
If you no longer need to protect a note:
- Start by opening it and unlocking it as usual.
- Next, tap the More button in the top-right corner and select Remove.
- Confirm with your Face ID, Touch ID, device passcode, or notes password when asked.
Passcode vs. a separate Notes password
Using your iPhone passcode is convenient since you already know it by heart. However, anyone who knows your device passcode can also unlock notes protected with that passcode.
Setting a separate password keeps your notes private, even from someone who knows your device passcode. The catch is that if you forget your custom password and can’t use Face ID or Touch ID to access your locked notes, Apple can’t help you regain access. Even if you set a new one later, it won’t unlock the notes you protected with the old one.
Can you hide a note, folder, or the entire Notes app?
You can restrict access to your notes, but you can’t make notes or folders disappear entirely. What you can protect depends on whether you’re securing a single note or the whole app.
| What you want to hide | What you can do |
| An individual note | You can lock a note using your device passcode or a custom password, then use Face ID or Touch ID to open it. Just keep in mind that while the contents are protected, the title stays visible in your main notes list. |
| A folder | You can’t hide or lock folders. Moving a note to another folder only changes where it’s stored. |
| The Notes app | You can lock the entire Notes app so it asks for Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode every time it’s opened. However, because Notes is a built-in iOS app, you won’t be able to tuck it away into the Hidden folder in your App Library. |
How to hide photos in Notes on iPhone
If you want to keep a photo private, you can place it inside a note and lock it. This keeps the image secure alongside any text or details in that note. Here’s how to hide photos in iPhone notes:
- Open Notes and start a new note (or open an existing one).
- Tap the attachment button (the paper clip) at the bottom and select Choose Photo or Video or Take Photo or Video. (Note: if you add a video, you won’t be able to lock the note).
- Once the photo is in the note, lock it using the menu options at the top of the screen.
Once locked, that photo won’t appear when you use View Attachments in Notes. It’s only visible inside the note itself, after you unlock it.
Adding an image to Notes doesn’t automatically remove or hide the original in your Photos library. Anyone browsing your Photos app can still see it unless you hide or delete it from there.
If you just need to keep an image out of sight, using the built-in Hidden album in the Photos app is usually simpler. Apple locks that album with Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode automatically, keeping those photos hidden while you scroll through your main library.
Keep in mind that a locked note isn’t a backup. Before deleting the original photo from your library, make sure you’ve kept a copy somewhere, especially if the image is important.
Why can’t you lock a note?
A few different things can keep the lock option from working. Specifically, you won’t be able to lock a note if:
- It lives in an outside account, like Gmail or Yahoo, rather than iCloud.
- It’s a Quick Note, or one you’re already sharing with someone else.
- You’ve added tags to organize it.
- It includes certain attachments, such as audio recordings, videos, PDFs, or files from Pages, Keynote, and Numbers.
Where did your notes go on your iPhone?
If you’re wondering where all your notes went on your iPhone, try checking a different folder, checking your other Notes accounts, or checking if you deleted them by mistake. Here are the most common places to look first:
- Search across all your notes: Use the search field in the Notes app to look for words in a note’s title or body. Select All Accounts to search across your accounts. If the missing note is locked, search can only find it by its title.
- Look through individual account folders: Back out to the main Folders view and open each account and folder one by one. Notes often end up under a specific email address like a work or personal account, rather than your main iCloud list.
- Confirm Notes is turned on for the relevant account: If an email account was recently re-added or updated, syncing might simply be turned off. Go to Settings > Apps > Notes > Notes Accounts, select the account, and make sure Notes is turned on.
- Check the Recently Deleted folder: You may have accidentally deleted the note. iCloud notes stay in the Recently Deleted folder for 30 days, giving you time to restore them before they’re permanently removed. For Gmail or Yahoo notes, check that account’s Bin or Trash folder in the Mail app. If you find the note there, copy its contents into a new note in Notes.
What do locked notes protect?
Locking a note helps prevent someone from casually reading personal information after they’ve picked up or borrowed your iPhone. This can be useful for protecting:
- Journal entries
- Financial information
- Personal documents
- Private photos stored in Notes
- Other sensitive information you don’t want immediately visible
However, note locking has its limits. It may not protect your notes if someone controls your Apple Account or has access to a trusted device, or if spyware has broader access to your phone.
For passwords, account recovery codes, and banking details, a dedicated password manager is usually a better choice. It keeps those details organized and protected in one place.
Keeping personal information private also means checking the security of the iPhone that holds it. Intego ONE Complete brings those checks together, so you don’t have to work through the settings yourself. It checks whether your passcode and Face ID or Touch ID are switched on, whether your iPhone’s software is up to date, and whether changes have removed Apple’s built-in protections. If something needs attention, it explains what to do next.
FAQs
Are locked notes visible in iPhone search results?
Yes, but only by their title. iPhone search can’t look through the text inside a locked note, so a note will only appear if your search word is in its title.
Can I view locked notes on iCloud.com?
It comes down to how you locked the note. If you set up a separate Notes password, you can open it on iCloud.com with that password. If you locked it using your iPhone passcode or Mac login password, you can only open it on those devices.
What happens if I forget my Notes password?
If you forget a custom Notes password, resetting it won’t give you access to notes protected with the old password. If you previously enabled Face ID or Touch ID for Notes, you may still be able to open them that way. Otherwise, you’ll need the original password. A new password only protects notes you lock with it going forward.
Can someone open my locked notes if they know my iPhone passcode?
Yes, if your notes use the same passcode as your iPhone, anyone who knows that passcode can open them.
Do locked notes sync through iCloud?
Yes, locked notes stored in iCloud sync across all devices signed in to the same Apple Account, as long as Notes is enabled in iCloud settings. They stay locked on each device until you unlock the notes there.
