There must be a way to access my old notes. I forgot the password and resetting the password won't help access the old notes.

The notes app on iPhone. I need to access my old notes, and I have no clue what my password was for locking them. Is there any possible way to do this?

iPhone XR, iOS 13

Posted on Jan 19, 2020 6:33 AM

Reply
9 replies

Jan 19, 2020 6:35 AM in response to zeinabk

From this document: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205794


"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 create a new password, but this won’t give you access to your old notes. But it will let you password protect any notes that you create going 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."


Jan 19, 2020 6:38 AM in response to SravanKrA

Thank you for the tip. The problem is I tried a million times and I have no clue what the password might have been. Even the hint that is available is quite vague. Apple must provide a way for us to access them even if I forgot the password. We always forgot password for accounts and devices, it should not mean that we can’t retrieve that data anymore.

Jan 19, 2020 7:20 AM in response to KiltedTim

It's only a password for notes. It is not the password for my phone or laptop. It is just like a password for an email, so I see that there should be no need for making it inevitable to access your personal data if you forgot the passcode. Anyway, thanks for the help. I only wish to have a feature that can help me retrieve my notes and not lose them forever. Hope you can understand that.

Jan 19, 2020 11:19 AM in response to zeinabk

The analogy you gave is for passwords that are stored in other locations on a server. The passcode for Notes is only stored on your iPhone, it is not sent to Apple so they cannot reset it. Only you can do that. If there was a way to back door it locally it would work for anyone who had access to your iPhone and knew how to follow the process rendering the passcode useless.


I seriously doubt you tried a million times and if your hint is vague why did you put it in that way? You could try a hypnotherapist.

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There must be a way to access my old notes. I forgot the password and resetting the password won't help access the old notes.

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