How to reset forgotten Notes password on iPhone

I forgot my notes password and it won’t let me use my Face ID and I have that in in my settings

I went from using a touch ID to the iPhone X which is face ID. It won't let me open any of my locked notes nor can I copy and paste as you suggested above. Does anyone else have other ideas or facing the same problem? Thanks!

Here's a solution I found to this problem: I had all of my locked notes on my phone and had forgotten the password in order to access them on my mac. The only way I was able to fix it was to reset my password for future notes and then, using my touch ID on my phone, cut and paste the notes into a new note with the new password. I hope that helped. That is what solved the problem for me.

I hope this helps someone else. I struggled with this VERY frustrating issue for days and then happened upon a very unexpected fix. When I finally gave up and decided to just delete the locked notes I couldn’t access, I received this screen:

I could’t believe it! So, I said yes and of course it used the Face ID to delete it but wouldn’t give me that option to open it! Lol Make sure you have went into your settings and reset your Notes password. Then all I had to do was select the recently deleted folder and choose to lock them again. This locked them with the new password.

What are you talking about? If you forgot passcode from old notes, you can reset Generic password inside Noetes App with the help of your Apple ID. After stting up new password, just move your old locked notes to any new folder and you will be able to unlock them with the new password, regardless the fact which password were there before, whether your forgot them or not.

Nonrecoverable old notes with forgotten passcodes is a myth! Why everyone spread it?

To all the high and mighties suggesting that people in this position should "take some responsibility for their data" and have written their Notes password down - get off your oh so high horses. This is a lack of functionality on Apple's part - for whatever reason they chose not to write password reset functionality for Notes.

This is not "increased security" in any way. Which other Apple or any other system passwords can you not reset should you need to?

I can reset my entire Apple ID via my registered email. I have 2FA activated on my account. I have FaceID.

As a result, I should be able to reset a password on an innocuous app such as Notes ffs!!

Hi, I am having the same issue and when I went to Apple to get assistance, it was a useless attempt.

Please let me know if you figure a way to unlock your old notes. I really need to access mine.

Thanks,

P

It is a shame that we can’t open or reset password on our iPhone after forgetting of misentering the password. We’re human & forget or make mistakes.

I suggest finding and old phone & back up old phone that may have your old notes...you can then retrieve them without locked password and copy them. Not sure this helps but, that’s what I plan on doing with several screenplay ideas which I lost due to the face that Apple Support wasn’t able to assist. 😕

after reading all the replies from Apple I’m solely disappointed, certainly apple’s reply is you cannot access to your old notes such a shame as a freaking big company, we have important notes to retrieve bloody apple.

Hello Thank you for standing up for those of us who have also forgotten our password. Would you please tell me though, is there any way to make this method work if you only have "Notes" on your cell phone?

See the following from Keep your notes secure with password-protection - Apple Support

If you forgot your notes password

You can unlock a note only when you enter the password that it's locked with. If you forgot your password, Apple can't help you regain access to your locked notes.

You can reset your password, but this won’t give you access to your old notes. It will, however, let you password protect any notes that you create from that point forward with the new password. This could lead to you having multiple notes with different passwords.

If you have multiple passwords, you can't tell which password you should use when you look at your notes in the Notes list. When you open a note locked by your old password but enter your current password, you'll see an alert that you entered the wrong password with a hint for your old one. If you then enter the correct old password, you get the option to update that note's password to your current one.

Reset your notes password

When you reset your Notes password, it doesn't delete or change the password of your notes that are already locked. If you have a note that uses an old password, you can update it to the new password when you enter the old password, remove the old password, then apply your new password to the note.

On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch:

1. Go to Settings > Notes > Password.
2. Tap Reset Notes Password.
3. Enter your Apple ID password.
4. Tap Reset Notes Password again.
5. Enter your new password and password hint.

On your Mac:

1. Open Notes.
2. In the menu bar, click Notes > Reset Password > OK.
3. Enter your Apple ID password.
4. Click Reset Password.
5. Enter your new password and password hint.

Hi,

I forgot my password too and i have been trying for months to unlock it, i just figured it and very simple,

create a new note and lock 🔐 it known password then

Go to settings- Note- reset password-enable your face id

come back and open u locked note

it work for me.

hope this help someone,

note !! I switch from fingerprint to face id

@murtalsuraj

I had Touch ID previously. Now I have face unlock. I am unable to reset my password. The Face ID is however not able to unlock my notes. I think it’s very stupid to not have a way to unlock the old notes.

Hi Gail

I get that pop-up if I create a new locked note.

What I get with the old locked note is shown below.

I think the problem may be because I have re-recorded some fingerprints, as TouchID sometimes seems to forget them! But that shouldn’t be a securproblem, since you have to give your lock screen password to change them.

I think the screen below wants my old notes password, but I have also tried my lock screen one without success!

Thanks

Relation between changing your Apple ID password n unable to open your locked notes, with forgotten password.

If you change your Apple ID password , and if you have forgotten your old notes password, the biometric option for those old locked notes will also be disabled permanently . AND nothing can be done. Just delete those folders! And completely forget that you can ever recover it !

Only one thing can help!

If you could recall your password.

In summary:

Lesson learned: 🎊 🎈

-> Before changing Apple ID password, first remove all locks from all your locked notes. Because biometric is still working at this point. So even if you don’t remember passwords for those notes, you can unlock notes ( with Touch ID biometric) and remove locks. Then at this point, you can change your Apple ID password & finally apply new lock password to notes.

And most important, never forget any iOS password, as Apple is never going to help you in the name of High Securty.