Serious Help Needed: How does Apple "Notes" App Work?

[BeautifulWoman_1984]

Hey guys,

Sorry to be creating another iCloud related thread, but this is a separate question from my thread about Apple Photos.

I really need some help with this because the Official Apple Notes App is such a serious and personal problem for me! ???

I'm finding myself using the Official Apple Notes App more and more. I mainly use it on my iPad Mini 3.

Is there anything I can do to make Apple Notes more secure?

This is the Official Apple Notes I'm referring to: https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT205773

Thank you for any advice!

 

[-Gonzo-]

You can lock each note you create, requiring Touch or Face ID or pin code to open them.

 

[BeautifulWoman_1984]

Thank you for your reply Gonzo!

It's the first time I'm looking at this "Locking" feature in the Official Apple Notes App.

I'll give this a try now. If I lock my Apple Notes App on my iPad Mini are the Apple Notes in my Apple Notes also locked on all other devices that try to access the Notes App like my PC?

 

[-Gonzo-]

Yeah it should do.

 

[BeautifulWoman_1984]

Thank you for your reply Gonzo!

Does anyone else use the Official Apple Notes App for most of their note-taking?

Are there any other Apps that are better in terms of security and privacy?

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

I use the Official Apple Notes App for all of my note-taking.

 

[retta283]

I would consider Apple's app to be the safest overall, because they control the phone and OS anyway. Personally I take all sensitive notes on paper and store securely (and would recommend this for everything that is truly sensitive information, bank info ssn etc) but I jot a bit in the Apple one. Mostly nonsense though.

 

[BeautifulWoman_1984]

Thank you for your replies Mr_Brightside and Retta!

It'd be great to hear advice from other users or articles that talk about the Official Apple Notes App.

There are so many "Note-Taking Apps" on the iOS App Store...

I just want a "Note-Taking App" that is the best for security and looks after my privacy. I'm not bothered with advanced features or anything fancy.

 

[-Gonzo-]

There are so many "Note-Taking Apps" on the iOS App Store...

I just want a "Note-Taking App" that is the best for security and looks after my privacy. I'm not bothered with advanced features or anything fancy.

Why are you still looking
The inbuilt Notes app does everything you require does it not?
IMO once you start going down the route of third party apps then you’re risking that privacy and security you’re looking for.

 

[BeautifulWoman_1984]

Why are you still looking
The inbuilt Notes app does everything you require does it not?
IMO once you start going down the route of third party apps then you’re risking that privacy and security you’re looking for.

Thank you for your reply Gonzo!

It definitely seems like the Official Apple Notes App is the best way to go, but I know this is the best Mac community so I'd love to hear other opinions from other Mac Rumors users.

 

[Remington Steel]

I do...and I have all my passwords, bank info, birthdays, addresses, medication, work info, etc. on it too. Probably close to 300 individual notes going back 8 years.

Thank you for your reply Gonzo!

Does anyone else use the Official Apple Notes App for most of their note-taking?

Are there any other Apps that are better in terms of security and privacy?

 

[BeautifulWoman_1984]

I do...and I have all my passwords, bank info, birthdays, addresses, medication, work info, etc. on it too. Probably close to 300 individual notes going back 8 years.

Thanks for your reply Remington Steel!

Are there any potential problems with me using Apple Notes instead of another "note taking App"?

 

[997440]

To augment what the others have said about Notes app, see Apple’s article about Secure Notes:
https://support.apple.com/guide/security/secure-features-in-notes-app-sec1782bcab1/web

End-to-end encryption with user owned key excepting:

[…]
You can only lock notes on your device and notes in iCloud. You can't lock notes that have PDFs, audio, video, Keynote, Pages, Numbers documents, or notes that use IMAP to sync with accounts, like Yahoo, Gmail, and Hotmail. You also can't password protect notes that you share with someone else.[…]

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205794

 

[BeautifulWoman_1984]

Thanks for your reply Rshrugged!

Is it possible to only sync my Apple Notes locally without using iCloud like to my iPad Mini and PC/Mac?

I'm still trying to figure out how Apple Notes works.

 

[997440]

I've used AirDrop, Mail, cloud services.....

At some point, you need to practice using the App. Use notes filled with blather to test what you can and can't do. If you are, don't be paralyzed by timidity. You got this.

Good Luck....

 

[GerritV]

Thanks for your reply Rshrugged!

Is it possible to only sync my Apple Notes locally without using iCloud like to my iPad Mini and PC/Mac?

I'm still trying to figure out how Apple Notes works.

Not sure if you can sync without using iCloud.
However, you can share a note from one device with another using p.e. AirDrop.

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

Thanks for your reply Rshrugged!

Is it possible to only sync my Apple Notes locally without using iCloud like to my iPad Mini and PC/Mac?

I'm still trying to figure out how Apple Notes works.

No.

 

[BeautifulWoman_1984]

Not sure if you can sync without using iCloud.
However, you can share a note from one device with another using p.e. AirDrop.

No.

Thank you for your replies GerritV and Mr_Brightside!

Is there another Apple Notes App that can store notes locally on my iPad and PC/Mac?

It seems like iCloud is a requirement for any kind of syncing which means what I store in my Apple Notes App will be stored online...

 

[Apple_Robert]

Thank you for your replies GerritV and Mr_Brightside!

Is there another Apple Notes App that can store notes locally on my iPad and PC/Mac?

It seems like iCloud is a requirement for any kind of syncing which means what I store in my Apple Notes App will be stored online...

If you don't want to use iCloud, turn it off, And when you want to sync an Apple Note from your phone to your iPad or Mac, use the AirDrop feature to copy the note over. You will then be asked if you want to keep both documents of the same name or replace the older one with the new one, provided the older document is already on the device you are Air Dropping to.

Apple only makes one Notes app. Apple can't read the notes you create with the Notes App. There is no need to worry about someone being able to see your personal documents.

 

[twdawson]

You can’t lock a note if it has an attachment which i find crazy.
Apple need to enable this feature.

 

[srbNYC]

I feel like I'm always shilling for Alfred here, but I can't help it. I was always disappointed that Spotlight didn't includes individual Notes in search, but there's an available
Alfred workflow that let's me find them by title, and trigger a search with a single keystroke hotkey. That plus the integration with Share Sheet makes Notes the choice for me.