'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean?
ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing.
When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers.
ZDNET's editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form.
How to lock an Apple Note to keep prying eyes out of your ideas
Everyone has sensitive information to save. It might be bank account information, contracts, homeowner documents, medical records, or wills. Sometimes that information might simply be an account number and routing number that you need to have quick access to. Or maybe it's just a journal entry.
Also: The best Mac apps right now
No matter what you want to protect from prying eyes, there are many ways to do it. One path you might not know about is within the MacOS Notes app, which includes a lock feature that will secure a note behind a password, so you can be sure only you can access the information within.
Notes is installed on MacOS by default, so you don't have to buy any software or even make any special configurations to enable the feature.
Let me show you how this is done.
How to lock an Apple Note with a password
What you'll need: The only thing you'll need is an updated version of MacOS. I'll demonstrate on a MacBook Pro running MacOS v13 (Ventura).
1. Open Notes
The first thing to do is open the Notes app. You can launch the app either from your dock or from the Launchpad.
2. Create a note
From the Notes main window, click the New Note icon or File > New Note. You won't be able to access the lock feature until you add some content to the note. The first thing you should type is the title of your note. Once you've created that, the Lock drop-down will become available. Finish typing the content of your note.
3. Lock the note
Click the Lock drop-down near the upper right corner of the Notes window and then click Lock Note.
The Lock Note drop-down won't appear until you've created your first note.
4. Select a password
This is an important step. With Notes, you have two options for a password: You can use your macOS login password or create a separate password for notes. Keep in mind you cannot create a per-note password.
Also: The best password managers to easily maintain your logins
So, whether you choose your login password or a separate password, that password will be the same for all your locked notes. I would recommend creating a separate password, in case there are others who know your login password. For that, click Create Password in the popup.
You can either use your login password or create a new password for note locking.
5. Create your password
In the next popup, type and verify the password that will be used to lock your notes. Also, create a password hint and then click Set Password. Understand that if you forget your password for the notes, it cannot be recovered. If your macOS device has a fingerprint sensor, you'll be asked if you want to enable Touch ID.
Although you can create the password without a hint, Apple will warn you against doing so.
Once you've set the password for locked notes, you will then have to enter it every time you want to view a note. When you click to open a new note, you'll see the "This Note Is Locked" warning. Click Enter Password and type the password to unlock the note and you're good to go.
A locked note requires a password to open.
And that's all there is to lock your notes in the Apple Notes app. This is a simple way to keep basic sensitive information away from those who shouldn't be able to view it.
Also: The best VPN for Mac users
One thing to keep in mind: I wouldn't recommend using Notes as a password manager. For that, you'll want something that uses stronger encryption and is purpose-built to manage passwords.