Notes app not letting me unlock locked notes (iCloud Keychain is already turned on, iPhone 11 iOS 16.3.1)

Question

Notes app not letting me unlock locked notes (iCloud Keychain is already turned on, iPhone 11 iOS 16.3.1)

Hey everyone! I’m trying to open my locked notes in the Notes app and it’s telling me to turn on iCloud Keychain in Settings. I have of course turned it on, but absolutely nothing happens. I’ve tried turning it on and off, restarting my phone, closing and reopening the Notes app and it doesn’t seem to stop the pop-up telling me to turn iCloud Keychain on.

I’m updated to the newest 16.3.1 iOS. Plus information is that I just recently restored this device (iPhone 11) with recovery mode.

Does anybody have any ideas on how to fix this? Thank you in advance for any replies! Have a nice day everyone!

iPhone 11, iOS 16

Posted on Feb 22, 2023 10:43 AM

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Answer 1

sberman

Level 10

272,280 points

Feb 23, 2023 10:35 AM in response to kevintellectual

kevintellectual wrote:

and I had my notes backed up to my iCloud, so that’s how I got my old notes back.

I don’t understand what this means. Notes are not stored in an iCloud backup. Notes may be housed in iCloud, and I think that’s your situation (Settings > Notes > Accounts > [iCloud appears there and is the only account shown there capable of housing notes]).

So what happens exactly when you try to access an old locked note? It sounds like you see the note’s title, click on it, get asked the password, and are then advised to turn on iCloud Keychain. Is that right? Are these shared notes?

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Answer 2

sberman

Level 10

272,280 points

Feb 22, 2023 2:33 PM in response to kevintellectual

See especially the second bullet under “Before you begin” here.

How to lock or unlock notes on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

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Answer 3

Feb 23, 2023 8:19 AM in response to sberman

Hello! Thanks for your reply. You’re right, I tried creating a new note and locking it, then unlocking it and it worked perfectly fine. As I mentioned, I had to erase my phone’s data with recovery mode and I had my notes backed up to my iCloud, so that’s how I got my old notes back. Does this mean I’m never going to be able to access my old locked notes that are only available to me from iCloud? This is very unfair from Apple.

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Notes app not letting me unlock locked notes (iCloud Keychain is already turned on, iPhone 11 iOS 16.3.1)

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