The app password
What it locks, what it encrypts, and why it cannot be reset.
An app password does two things. It is asked for each time the app opens, and every backup made while it is set is encrypted with it.
Setting one#
In Setup, under Security, choose App password. It needs at least four characters: it guards an app on your own device, much like a phone's PIN.
Make a backup before you set it. The reason is below.
When it is asked for#
Each time the app starts, and when you come back to it after it has been in the background for more than a minute. A quick look at a notification does not cost you the password.
What it protects#
- It keeps someone who picks up your unlocked phone or your open laptop out of the app.
- It encrypts every backup made while it is set, with AES-256-GCM. A backup made without it is written unencrypted, and the app says so before it writes one.
It does not encrypt the app's own data file on the device. That file is protected by your device's own security — its lock screen and, where you have turned it on, disk encryption.
If you forget it#
There is no recovery and no reset, because there is no server that could hold one. Clearing a forgotten password means reinstalling the app, which erases its data too. Backups made under the password cannot be opened without it by anyone, including us.