How to keep your secrets safe in locked Notes to protect your privacy

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People often use their iPhone's Notes app to store personal information, whether it's login details, journal entries or financial details. If you want to keep your notes private, iOS has an easy method to lock your notes with a password. Here's how to do it.

How to lock an iPhone's Notes app

First, you'll want to ensure both your iPhone's iOS and the Notes app are updated to at least version 9.3. From here, you'll have two options: Either locking the entire Notes app or making individual notes private.

To set a lock for the Notes app as a whole, head to your device's settings and select Notes. Next, tap on "password" and create a password. You have the option of adding a hint, which is strongly recommended, because if you forget your password and don't turn on Touch ID (which we'll get to in a second), Apple can't do anything to help you.

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Below your created and verified password, you'll see an option for Touch ID. If you enable it, you won't have to type in your password every time to access the Notes app. 

If you just want to put a lock on individual notes, head directly to the Notes app. All you need to do is open whichever note you want to make private and tap on the box with an arrow in the top right corner of the screen. A menu prompt will open with an option to lock the note. Enter a password, add a hint, and voila — you're all set. 

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