Help Center

Secure Notes is a lightweight macOS app distributed outside the Mac App Store. To install:

• Download the .dmg file from the official website or release page.
• Open the .dmg and drag Secure Notes into your Applications folder.
• On first launch, macOS Gatekeeper may block the app. To bypass this, right-click the app icon and select Open, then click Open in the confirmation dialog.
• Alternatively, go to System Settings > Privacy & Security and click "Open Anyway" next to the Secure Notes entry.

Secure Notes requires macOS 13 (Ventura) or later, and runs on both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.

On first launch, Secure Notes asks you to create a master password. This password is used to derive your encryption key — it is never stored or transmitted.

• Choose a strong, memorable password. Longer is better — consider a passphrase.
• Confirm your password by typing it again.
• Click Create to initialise your encrypted notes file.

Important: There is no password recovery. If you forget your master password, your notes cannot be decrypted. Secure Notes does not store your password, and toz.red has no way to recover it. Consider writing it down and storing it in a safe place.

Secure Notes uses industry-standard cryptography to protect your data:

• AES-256-GCM — a symmetric encryption algorithm that provides both confidentiality and integrity. Every byte of your notes is encrypted before being written to disk.
• PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256 — your master password is run through 310,000 iterations of this key derivation function to produce the encryption key. This makes brute-force attacks impractical.
• Local storage only — your encrypted file lives at ~/Library/Application Support/SecureNotes/notes.enc. No data is ever sent to any server.
• No telemetry — Secure Notes makes zero network requests. Your notes never leave your Mac.

Touch ID lets you unlock your notes with your fingerprint instead of typing your master password each time.

• After entering your master password, Secure Notes will ask if you want to enable Touch ID.
• If you agree, your encryption key is stored in the login keychain, protected by biometric authentication.
• On subsequent launches, simply touch the sensor to unlock.
• If Touch ID fails (e.g. after a restart or too many failed attempts), Secure Notes falls back to your master password.
• You can disable Touch ID at any time from the menu bar menu.

Secure Notes automatically locks your data in the following situations:

• Hide window — clicking the menu bar icon to hide, or pressing the keyboard shortcut.
• Quit app — all data is saved and the encryption key is purged from memory.
• Lock button — the lock icon in the bottom-left corner of the note window.
• Menu bar > Lock — the Lock item in the Secure Notes menu bar menu.

When locked, your notes are fully encrypted on disk and the key is no longer in memory. You must re-authenticate with Touch ID or your master password to access them again.

Secure Notes supports up to 5 tabs, letting you organise different topics in a single window.

• Create a tab: Click the + button at the end of the tab bar. A new tab appears with a default name.
• Rename a tab: Double-click the tab title to edit it inline. Press Return to confirm.
• Switch tabs: Click any tab to switch to its content.
• Close a tab: Hover over a tab and click the × button. If this is the last tab, it cannot be closed.
• Maximum: You can have up to 5 tabs. The + button is disabled when the limit is reached.

Each note can have its own visual style. Styling is per-note, so your "Ideas" tab can look completely different from your "Passwords" tab.

• Font family: Choose from 8 fonts including SF Pro, Menlo, Georgia, Courier New, Helvetica Neue, Avenir, American Typewriter, and Futura.
• Font size: Adjust from 10pt to 36pt using the size slider in the bottom bar.
• Text colour: Click the colour swatch in the bottom bar to open the colour picker. Choose any colour for your note text.

Style preferences are saved per-note and persist across sessions.

Secure Notes saves your work automatically — there is no manual save button.

• Debounced save: Changes are encrypted and written to disk 1.5 seconds after you stop typing. This avoids excessive disk writes while keeping your data safe.
• Sync save on quit: When you quit the app (or it locks), all pending changes are saved immediately before the encryption key is purged.
• No data loss: You never need to remember to save. Just type and close — your notes are always current.

If you have forgotten your master password, your notes cannot be recovered. This is by design — it means no one else can recover them either.

• Secure Notes does not store your password anywhere. It is used only to derive the encryption key in memory.
• There is no "forgot password" flow, no recovery email, and no backdoor.
• If you enabled Touch ID, you can still unlock your notes via fingerprint as long as the keychain entry remains valid (i.e. you have not changed your macOS login password or reset the keychain).
• If both are lost, you can delete the encrypted file at ~/Library/Application Support/SecureNotes/notes.enc and start fresh with a new password. All previous notes will be permanently lost.

If Secure Notes won't launch, it is likely a macOS Gatekeeper issue. Try these steps:

• Right-click > Open: Instead of double-clicking, right-click the app in Finder and choose Open. Click Open in the confirmation dialog.
• System Settings: Go to System Settings > Privacy & Security. Scroll down to find the Secure Notes entry and click "Open Anyway".
• Check macOS version: Secure Notes requires macOS 13 (Ventura) or later. Go to Apple menu > About This Mac to confirm.
• Re-download: The download may have been corrupted. Delete the app and download a fresh copy.

If none of these steps help, please contact support.

Can't find what you're looking for? We're happy to help.

• Email: info@toz.red
• Please include your macOS version and a description of the issue.
• We aim to respond within 1-2 business days.