How to reset forgotten Notes password on iPhone

Respawn_Theory wrote:

Why did they make it like this? Why is a forgotten password for a locked note completely irrecoverable? Is this deliberate design, or something looked over and never fixed?

No on here can speak for Apple. However, a password that is recoverable is a password that can be cracked. So, my guess is it's intentional. The passcode to your phone is also not recoverable.

I have the same problem and I am very sad!! I thought it was a smart thing to have password on notes, but if we forget or in our case, change phones, we can't get our notes back! Those notes were really important to me and even Apple can't help! :(

My last phone which was an iPhone 6 broke so I had to get a new one. I just got the iPhone XR and now I’m trying to get into a note that’s locked and I forgot the password because I’ve gotten used to using the touch id to get into it so now that I have this new phone it’s asking me to put in the password that I don’t know and I have some important stuff in there. Is there any other way I can get into it?

It took me 2 hours to figure it out!

If the hint says: “The password you used to unlock your iPhone” after you trying 3 times to no avail (presumably after changing to a new phone), apparently that means your notes are locked by the FIRST password you ever set your past phone for. So the best thing for you to do is to think long and hard back in the time when you first get the previous iPhone what password could you have used to lock your phone.

I have changed my phone’s password several times so I tried many different passwords and failed until I almost gave up and think back to the time where I first got my last phone and what was important to me then, and what 6 digit code could I have used to lock my phone with.

The whole thing is very stupid because people change their phone’s passwords multiple times through their time of using the phone and we forget our first password that locks our phone with. Apple, at least make the password be auto-set to the LAST password we used to lock our phones, not first - if you’re going to give us all that trouble to unlock it to begin with!

I hope this helps! Thanks!

See this is a great answer and everything BUT!!!!!! What has happened to me is I went from the 6+ using the fingerprint-to the XR using facial recognition. Therefore I cannot unlock my password protected document where I SAVED ALL OF MY DEGGUM PASSWORDS FOR BILLS ETC!!!

I do not believe APPLE THOUGHT THIS THROUGH! So now I am screwed. Thanks APPLE!!!

Solution: All you need to do is swipe left on one of your locked notes and tap the trash can to delete. It will then ask if you want to use Face ID to access locked notes. Select yes, then you’re all set. If you want your deleted note back, then go to deleted notes and move it back to your notes folder.

I had this issue too, the notes that I couldn't remember the password for were originally created on an iPhone 7 plus and I just upgraded to the iPhone 11 and forgot the password. Apple Support couldn't offer me a solution & all the steps they gave me I tried prior to contacting them & they also sent me the link to this forum. Face ID wasn't showing as an option to unlock the note nor was Touch ID on my iPad.

Ultimately what ended up working was I had to create a new notes password (no this doesn't change the password to the old notes) in settings > notes > password > change password. "Use Face ID" was highlighted already. I then made a new test note and locked it and when I hit "view note" to unlock it the Face ID option read my face and opened. I then went to the old notes and hit view note and Face ID appeared as an option & opened! As a safety measure I copied and pasted the text of the old notes into new notes (so I deleted the old notes). That way if Face ID is somehow disabled they can be unlocked with the current password. Hope this helps someone.

If you forget the password, there is no way to recover it, other than using the hint which you made when the password was created. However, the hint will only be shown after three failed attempts at entering the password. BUT if you are able to unlock the note with Face ID or fingerprint, you can then remove the lock from the note, then go into settings (as others have outlined), and reset the password. You can then add a lock to the note again and it will be the new password...which you can write down or tattoo to your arm since apple doesn’t give you any other way of resetting the password if it has been forgotten.

When I got a new phone, once all of the data is transferred over, and I had set up Face ID, I could unlock old notes with my new Face ID. I couldn’t open them at first because I had forgotten the password so I did what others have suggested, opened the note on the old device and copied and pasted the information into a new note on the new device and then locked it when I knew Face ID would open it.

I got a text that told me to go to the NOTES app in settings, not the notes on your phone screen. This is what messed with my mind for a long time . I was trying to rectify my lost password though my notes from my screen. You need to go to settings-notes-password-and turn on face ID. It was as simple as that. For extra Measure I restarted my phone. I went to the locked note, touched it, and it opened with face ID. Ya 😁

I had same problem, and there isn’t a way to recover it that I could find. But I was able to get into my notes another way. I set up face id to open notes 😃

It works, i went to the locked notes and opened it by face id. It ask you to open note , you click on that and it opens .

OK, I think this is how I set up Face ID on Notes. I went to notes scroll down to password, click on it, and it took me to where you can switch on face id button.

Forgot to say I went to nots in settings not the note app on phone screen. First go to settings. Scrolled down to password, clicked on password and it opens screen where you can turn on face id for notes. If you have face id set up already your good to go . Close setting and open notes. It ask you to unlock the note. When you touch that face id takes over and your in. Im doing this on a iPhone XR. Don’t know if other phones work the same. Im new to Apple phones. Have a nice day.

set up face id for notes, go to locked note , it will show locked , but ask to view note. Touch view note and face id will open it. Don’t try to set up face id from your home screen note icon. Go to settings-notes-password-snd turn on face id button.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This actually worked for me! Thanks!!!

My locked note was in the On My iPhone 'Notes' folder (not in iCloud, so no access from other Apple gadgets), with a prompt I failed to decipher (obviously trying to be too clever when I created it...) and without a Face ID option to open it.

So when I moved it to Trash and enabled Face ID to do so (as you set out), I was able to see the unlocked note in the Recently Deleted and took some screenshots of its contents, just in case 😜

I then moved it back to the On My iPhone 'Notes' folder where it stayed unlocked so I could copy the contents into a new note.

Deleted the original dodgy locked one afterwards... 👍🏻

iPhone 11 Pro Max - 13.4.1

If you have enabled the Touch ID / Face ID function for the notes password, you can open it with that and copy the content to an unlocked note. After that if you change the password you can still access the old locked notes.

If you set up Face ID for your notes you won’t need to copy the note and put it anywhere else you just, touch that note that’s locked and your face will open it. No need for copying and moving notes anywhere