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Encrypted notes and files in one private vault
Keep IDs, PDFs, recovery details and personal writing outside ordinary photo, file and notes libraries.
Explore private notes and documentsEncryption
Encrypted notes on an iPhone: locked Notes vs real encrypted storage
Apple Notes can genuinely encrypt a note — with caveats people only discover after trusting it: visible titles, awkward attachments, and sync. Here is when locked notes are enough, and when they are not.
Where to keep private documents and notes
Locked Notes
Convenient for a small number of items
Useful and built in, but less comfortable for a larger mixed library of files and media.
Cloud storage
Easy to reach from many devices
Check whether file contents are end-to-end encrypted and how account recovery works.
Files and Photos
Convenient, not a separate private space
Content remains visible to the apps, accounts and device access that normally manage it.
What Notes locking actually does
Lock a note and its body encrypts, openable with your device passcode or a dedicated Notes password. This is real encryption, not a display trick — the honest surprise is scope. The title stays listed. The lock is manual and per-note. And nothing about Notes prompts you when sensitive content lands in an unlocked note, which is where most of it lives in practice.
Where it strains
Three places. Visibility: a note titled "Passwords" in a shared-device household is an invitation, not a protection — locked notes are visible locked objects with visible names. Attachments: possible but clumsy, with originals lingering in Photos and no way to browse protected files as a collection. Habit: security that depends on remembering to lock each item individually degrades exactly when life gets busy.
A sane division of labour
Notes is useful for fast, synced, searchable jottings, and its lock helps protect individual sensitive notes. For a collection of journals, IDs, wallet inventories and related documents, consider storage that encrypts text, photos and files together without displaying a list of protected vaults. Keep actual cryptocurrency seed phrases offline; a wallet inventory can point to those offline backups without containing the seed words. In Sealby, notes are Markdown entries inside a vault, encrypted and organized alongside other files. Lock the vault when you are not using it. While a vault is open, its contents can be viewed or copied.
Quick answers
Are locked notes on iPhone really encrypted?
Yes — a locked note’s content is encrypted, using your device passcode or a separate Notes password. The title you gave the note remains visible in the notes list; only the body locks. Choose bland titles for locked notes — a list of revealing titles defeats the purpose.
Can I keep photos or documents in a locked note?
Notes can hold attachments and lock them with the note, but the workflow is built for jottings: no gallery, no document organisation, and anything you attach from Photos still has its original sitting in the camera roll. For collections, it fights you.
What happens to locked notes in iCloud?
They sync locked — the body stays encrypted in transit and at rest, and every synced device asks for the password (or Face ID) to open them. The visible titles sync too, on every device signed into the account.
When should notes move to a vault instead?
When the content is systematically sensitive — a journal, recovery phrases, financial or medical records — or when the existence of protected notes is itself something you would rather not display. A deniable vault gives notes the same protection as photos and files, plus structure, and no visible locked object at all.
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iPhone & iPad · iOS 17+ · Free