Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Store secret information in the Notes app? Here’s how to password-protect notes in iOS 9.3

how to add passwords notes ios 9 3 app locked
Malarie Gokey/Digital Trends
Apple has finally taken the wraps off iOS 9.3, an update that brings a number of cool features, like the ability to password-protect individual notes in the Notes app.

Sure, it’s probably not a good idea to store information like usernames and passwords in the Notes app in the first place, but a lot of people do use the app for sensitive information like that. If there is private information in your Notes that you don’t want just anyone to see when they pick up your phone, the new feature will be perfect for you. Here’s how to enable the password option and Touch ID in Notes.

Recommended Videos

Adding a password to a new or existing note is extremely easy to do, and there are two ways to do it.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Method one: Go to Settings

  • Go to Settings > Notes > Password.
  • Then, select a password, verify it, and add a hint.
  • Finally, toggle on Use Touch ID, and you’re good to go.
  • Go into the Notes app and open the Note you want to lock.
  • Tap the share menu and select Lock Note.
  • You’ll have to do this for each note you want locked.

Method two: Open Notes

  • Open up any existing note or a new one in the app.
  • Tap the share menu.
  • Select the Add Password option.
  • The first time you do this you will be prompted to input a new password.
  • You can also toggle on Use Touch ID.
  • You’ll have to do this for each note you want locked.

Related Offer: The iPhone SE. A big step for small.

It is slightly ironic that in order to protect your note from others you need to go to the share menu, but that’s the way it is for now. Once you’ve set the password, it will automatically be applied to new notes that you want to password-protect. The password should be different from the one you use for Touch ID.

After passwords have been set up for the notes that you want protected, you will be able to see which notes are locked by a lock icon that appears under the heading of the note. After you’ve unlocked the note, it will remain unlocked until you close the app or you select the Lock Now option in the bottom menu of the app.

It’s important to note that the first line of a note will still appear in your list of notes, so if the note has some sensitive information, you might want to avoid putting that information on the first line of the note. After unlocking the note you can do everything you would be able to do if the note wasn’t password-protected, including sharing it and editing it.

That’s it! Let us know if you run into any trouble locking your notes or find another method.

Christian de Looper
Christian de Looper is a long-time freelance writer who has covered every facet of the consumer tech and electric vehicle…
I finally have RCS on my iPhone, and it’s one of my favorite iOS 18 features
An iPhone 16 Pro showing RCS messaging.

Apple’s Messages app has certainly come a long way. When the first iPhone launched in 2007, it could only send SMS -- there weren't even picture messages. Then it got MMS protocol support in iPhone OS 3.0 with the iPhone 3GS. With iPhone OS 5.0, Apple implemented its own iMessage chat protocol, making it easy for Apple users to communicate with other Apple device users.

However, when it came to messaging Android users, Apple dragged its feet for the longest time, sticking with SMS and MMS, which aren’t encrypted and don't offer full-quality photo and video sending. It also sparked the whole blue bubble versus green bubble war.

Read more
If your iPhone can handle iOS 18.2, it can probably handle iOS 19
An iPhone 15 Pro Max running iOS 18, showing its home screen.

The last few iPhone updates have brought a lot of changes with them. Just take a look at iOS 18.2: It introduced a ton of AI-powered features that had never before been available. If you have an older phone, it's easy to worry that its hardware won't be up to snuff for the next round of updates. For now, you can breathe easy: If your iPhone can handle iOS 18, then it should also work with iOS 19, according to a new leak.

The news comes from the French site iPhoneSoft. Although Apple guarantees five years of support for its devices, some devices get supported for longer periods of time, but this tip suggests that any phone currently capable of downloading and installing iOS 18 will also work with iOS 19, although some features could be limited.

Read more
The next iOS 18 update is on its way. Here’s what we know
The iPhone 16 sitting on top of orange mums.

When iOS 18.2 released just over a week ago, it unlocked a lot of long-awaited features like Image Playground, Visual Intelligence, and improvements to writing tools. Now, it seems like another update could be just around the corner: version 18.2.1.

MacRumors found evidence of the update in their analytic logs, a source that has supposedly revealed quite a few iOS versions before release. Given that this is a minor update, it isn't likely to come with new features or anything groundbreaking. Instead, it will most likely be targeted at bug fixes, although no specific problems have been named. You should expect this update to drop either in late December or early January, but a year-end release is more likely.

Read more