Forgot Notes Password? Here’s How to Reset Notes Password on iPhone and iPad

Apple Notes allows you to secure your notes with a password or biometrics to prevent unauthorized access. As such, you need to either enter your password or authenticate yourself with Touch ID/Face ID to access the locked notes.

But what if you’ve password-protected your notes on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac and forgot Notes password? Obviously, you won’t be able to access them. Nor will Apple be able to help you regain access to your locked notes. While Notes does offer a hint to help you remember the password when you enter the wrong password, it will only work if you set a strong hint while setting up your Notes password.

Fortunately, though, you can reset your Notes password to secure the notes you create moving forward. Plus, if you’ve enabled biometrics, you can recover the contents of your notes and move them over to a new note to avoid losing your valuable data.

How to Recover Data From Locked Notes on iPhone

Being able to recover data from locked notes is only possible if you’ve enabled Touch ID or Face ID at the time of setting up your Notes password. For, even though you may have forgotten your Notes password, your biometrics can save you by authenticating you even without a password.

Follow the steps below to recover data from your locked notes:

1. Launch the Apple Notes app.
2. Open the locked note whose contents you want to recover.
3. Click on the lock icon on the top-right or tap on View Note.
   
4. Authenticate yourself with Touch ID or Face ID, depending on what’s supported on your device.
5. Once inside the note, select and copy all its content.
6. Go back to Notes’ home page and tap on the new note icon in the bottom-right corner to create a new note.
7. Paste the content you copied from the locked note.

Now, you can lock this note using your new password, which you can create by following the instructions in the following section.

How to Reset Forgotten Notes Password on iPhone

Irrespective of whether you have biometrics enabled for your Notes password—and that you can access the contents of your locked notes—you can reset your forgotten Notes password in a few simple steps.

For this, all you need is your Apple ID account. Keep your Apple ID password handy, so you can log into your account and follow the steps below to reset Notes password using it:

1. Open Settings.
2. Go to Notes > Password.
   
3. Tap Reset Password.
   
4. Enter your Apple ID password on the following screen and click OK.
5. In the prompt asking if you’re sure you want to reset your password, click on the Reset Password button to confirm.
   
6. Enter your new password against the Password field on the Set Password screen. Re-enter the same password in the Verify field, as well.
7. Add a hint to your password that helps you remember it.
8. Hit Done to save the changes.
   

Now, all your future notes you create moving forward can be locked using this password. So make sure to remember it and use a strong password hint. Additionally, as a backup—to ensure you can access the contents of your notes even if you forget your password again—make sure to enable biometric (Touch ID or Face ID) unlocking.

At any point in the future, if you remember your old password and are able to unlock your notes using it, you’ll see an Update Password prompt, giving you an option to update all notes using the original password to use your new password.

Click on Update to use your new password for all your locked notes. Hit No to decline and continue using the old password for notes created before resetting the password.

Successfully Resetting Forgotten Notes Password

It’s quite common for people to forget their passwords. While Apple doesn’t let you regain access to your locked notes—whose password you’ve forgotten—you can reset the forgotten password and create a new one to lock new notes on your iPhone or iPad using this guide; not to mention if you have biometrics enabled, you can access locked notes and recover their data as well.

Going forward, as a precautionary measure, make sure to note down your Notes password. An excellent way to do this is to store it in a vault on a password manager.

Forgot Notes Password iPhone – FAQs