NotePrivate / Notes app with password
NotePrivate is a password protected notes app for Mac and Windows. The vault lives on your machine, the password wraps the master key and never leaves the device, and you can mark a note so it stays locked until that same password is entered again. An iPhone companion is in progress, so if the phone is the only place you write, wait for that release.
macOS and Windows today · Planned $59 a year · Waitlist only · Forgotten password means the notes are gone
People type notes app with password when they want a lock on text that lives on a laptop. Someone else can sit down at your desk, the lid is open, and the notes still need to stay closed. NotePrivate is Mac and Windows now, with an iPhone companion still in progress.
A PIN screen that hides the window while the file sits in the clear is not a lock. Your Mac or Windows login is not a lock on a note, and neither is FileVault or BitLocker. Apple Notes can lock one note on a phone, which is a real control on a different machine. NotePrivate is the desktop version: a local encrypted vault whose password never leaves the device, plus a gated note that still asks for that password after the vault is open.
NotePrivate is waitlist only, planned at $59 a year.
The phrase password protected notes app collapses four different products into one search. Sort the lock first, then pick the app.
| Lock | What it stops | What it does not stop |
|---|---|---|
| VAULT | Anyone who can open the folder, the backup, or the synced copy, as long as they do not have your NotePrivate password. | A forgotten password. There is no reset, because the password never left the device. |
| NOTE | Someone already looking at your open vault who should not see a marked note. | The rest of the vault. That is the point of a gated note rather than a second app. |
| LOGIN | Another user account on the same Mac or PC, and a stranger who finds a locked, signed-out machine. | A roommate, partner, or coworker sitting down after you have already signed in. |
| DISK | A thief with a powered-off laptop, or someone who pulls the drive and mounts it elsewhere. | Any notes file that is readable the moment your session is unlocked, which is most of the day. |
FileVault is Apple's full-disk encryption. BitLocker is Microsoft's. Both are worth turning on. Neither one is a notes app with a password.
NotePrivate can lock a note after the vault is already open, because the vault password and the extra gate on one note are two different steps.
You choose this when you create the vault. It wraps the master key that encrypts every note and attachment. NotePrivate asks for it when the app opens, after auto-lock, and after the machine sleeps. On Mac, Touch ID can stand in so you are not typing it every time you sit down. The password never leaves the device.
Mark a note as protected and it stays closed after the vault is open. NotePrivate asks for the vault password again before it shows that note. It is not a separate password you invent for each note, and unlocking protected notes for the session opens the gated ones together. Recovery codes, a diagnosis, a resignation you have not sent: those get the extra lock. Everyday notes stay writable.
If support can email you a new password and still show you the notes, the vendor can read them. NotePrivate cannot reset yours, so write the vault password down somewhere safe before the library fills up.
Plenty of locker apps put a padlock icon on a folder and leave the text sitting on disk. Anyone with the file, a backup of it, or the synced copy can read it. NotePrivate encrypts the vault before it is written, so a copy without the password is not a readable note.
Signing into the computer is a real security step. It keeps a sibling off your account, and it keeps a stranger out of a laptop left on a cafe table while the lid is closed and the session is locked. It does not lock a note once you are already signed in.
Once you are signed in, every app running as you can read whatever that app stored in the clear. TextEdit, Notepad, a Markdown folder, a desktop notes app that never asked for a password: those files are open to anyone who sits in your chair. Spotlight and Windows Search have often indexed them already. A notes app with a password has to refuse to show the text until its own password is entered, even though the operating system already trusts you.
NotePrivate adds auto-lock and lock on sleep so walking away is enough. You should still lock the OS session. Those are two different doors, and you want both of them closed when you leave the desk.
Turn FileVault on if you use a Mac. Turn BitLocker on if you use a Windows PC that includes it, or device encryption on qualifying hardware. A stolen laptop that is powered off should be a brick, and disk encryption is how you get that. The notes app for Windows page walks through what BitLocker covers on a PC in more detail.
Disk encryption stops helping the moment you type the OS password and the volume mounts. From then until you sign out or the machine sleeps hard enough to re-lock the disk, your notes files are available to you and to anything running as you. That is the case people actually have at home: the laptop is open, you are logged in, and someone you live with wants to use the browser. FileVault will not hide a note in that situation. A password protected notes app will, if the vault is locked or the note itself is still gated.
If your threat is only a lost bag on a train, disk encryption plus an OS login covers a lot of it. If your threat is an open laptop on a kitchen table, you need a lock that still works after you have signed in, and after the notes app itself is open.
Apple Notes can lock individual notes behind Face ID, Touch ID, or a dedicated notes passcode. On an iPhone that is a useful control: you can keep a shopping list unlocked and hide the one note you would not want a guest to open. The Apple Notes alternative page covers what carries over when you leave that app, including the lock.
Apple Notes lock is a hide-this-note switch inside an app whose library otherwise lives in iCloud under keys Apple can use for most content, built for a phone you already unlock with your face. A notes app with a password on a Mac or PC is a local vault on your disk, and a gated note that still asks for the vault password after the app itself is open.
NotePrivate is that desktop version: Mac and Windows today, vault password on your own disk, optional protection on a handful of notes, auto-lock and lock on sleep, Touch ID on Mac. The iPhone companion is in progress. If the only machine you write on is an iPhone, Apple Notes lock is the control already on the phone.
Every note and attachment is encrypted with a master key. Your vault password wraps that key. The password never leaves the Mac or Windows PC, which is also why nobody at this end can open the vault for you.
Per-note password protection marks a note so it stays gated after the vault is open. NotePrivate asks for the vault password again. Use it for the small set you would not want on screen if someone walked past, not for every grocery list.
The vault locks itself after idle time and when the machine sleeps. On Mac, Touch ID can unlock the vault so the strong password stays in your password manager instead of in your short-term memory.
One planned $59 a year license covers both. Point NotePrivate at a cloud folder you already pay for and the vault travels as ciphertext. You can also skip sync and keep a single machine.
Import from Apple Notes, Evernote, Standard Notes, Google Keep, Simplenote, and Markdown. There is no OneNote importer. Export the whole vault, or every note as Markdown, whenever you want.
NotePrivate is not on sale yet. The only action on this page is the waitlist. When it opens, the planned price is $59 a year with every feature included.
The vault password wraps the master key, the key never exists on a server, and there is no reset link to phish or to file a ticket against. Store the password in a password manager on day one. On Mac, turn on Touch ID so you are not tempted to pick a short password you can retype. If you need a notes app that can email you the text after you forget the login, you want a hosted app, and you are accepting that the host can read the notes.
Mac and Windows are solid today. The iPhone companion is still in progress. Apple Notes lock is the control already on the phone, and it is the better answer until NotePrivate ships there.
NotePrivate is planned at $59 a year. Standard Notes and Joplin are the usual free encrypted options, with different tradeoffs. A PIN folder app from a phone store is cheaper and usually not encrypted.
If the notes are dated entries and the job is a private diary, the private journal app page is the better read.
Yes, if the app encrypts the notes with a key derived from a password you hold, not if it only hides the window behind your Mac or Windows login. NotePrivate is a notes app with a password for Mac and Windows: the vault password wraps the master key on your machine, and you can mark a note so it stays locked until that same password is entered again. Your password never leaves the device, and there is no reset if you forget it.
The vault password opens the NotePrivate vault. Per-note password protection marks a note so it stays gated after the vault is open: NotePrivate asks for the vault password again before it shows that note. It is not a separate password you invent for each note. Most people leave everyday notes unlocked inside the vault and reserve the extra lock for recovery codes, medical notes, or anything they would not want on screen if a roommate walked past.
No. FileVault on a Mac and BitLocker on a Windows PC encrypt the disk so a stolen, powered-off machine is unreadable. Once you sign in, the disk is unlocked for your session, and any notes app that writes plain text is readable to anyone using that session. A password protected notes app encrypts the notes themselves, which is the gap NotePrivate is built to close.
Apple Notes can lock individual notes behind Face ID, Touch ID, or a notes passcode, which is useful on an iPhone you already carry. That lock is a hide-this-note control inside Apple's app, and Apple still holds keys for the rest of the library. NotePrivate is a desktop notes app with a password: Mac and Windows today, vault encryption on your disk, and optional protection on a note that still asks for the vault password after the app is open. The iPhone companion is still in progress.
The notes are gone. The password wraps the master key and never leaves your device, so there is no reset link and no support ticket that recovers the vault. On Mac you can turn on Touch ID so you are not retyping the vault password all day, and you should store that password in a password manager before you write anything you would hate to lose.
NotePrivate ships today on Mac and Windows. An iPhone companion app is in progress. If the phone is the only place you write, Apple Notes lock is the option already on the device, and NotePrivate is the wrong pick until that companion ships.
Yes. Mark a note as protected and it stays closed after the vault is open, until you enter the vault password again. That is the usual request behind password protected notes app: not a second login for the whole library, just a lock on the handful of notes that should stay closed on an open laptop.
NotePrivate is waitlist only, planned at $59 a year with every feature included. Join the waitlist and we will email you when it opens.
Writing in Markdown, or keeping a dated journal? See encrypted Markdown notes and the private journal app.
NotePrivate is a notes app with a password for Mac and Windows, waitlist only, planned at $59 a year. Join and we will write when it opens.
NotePrivate is not on sale yet. Leave your email and we will write to you the day it opens.
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