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Secure Notes & PIN Encryption

Protect sensitive notes with AES-256-GCM client-side encryption. Your PIN never leaves your device.

3 min read·Krokanti Notes Help

Secure Notes let you protect sensitive content with a PIN. The note is encrypted on your device before it ever reaches our servers — we never see the plaintext, your PIN, or your encryption key.

How It Works

When you lock a note with a PIN:

  1. Your PIN is used (via PBKDF2 key derivation) to generate an AES-256-GCM encryption key — entirely in your browser
  2. The note content is encrypted with that key
  3. Only the encrypted blob is stored on our servers
  4. When you open the note, you enter your PIN, the key is re-derived locally, and the content decrypts in your browser

Your PIN never leaves your device. Not even Krokanti Software can read your secure notes.

If you forget your PIN, your note content cannot be recovered — not by you, not by us. There is no master key or backdoor. Store your PIN somewhere safe.

Creating a Secure Note

  1. Open any note (or create a new one)
  2. Click the lock icon (🔒) in the editor toolbar
  3. Enter a PIN (at least 4 characters — a longer PIN is stronger)
  4. Confirm the PIN and click Encrypt

The note immediately locks. Its content shows as •••••• in the notes list and in the editor until you unlock it.

Unlocking a Secure Note

  1. Click on the secure note in the list
  2. A PIN prompt appears over the editor
  3. Enter your PIN and click Unlock
  4. The note decrypts and becomes editable for this browser session

Your PIN is remembered for the current browser session (stored only in memory — never in cookies or localStorage). If you close the tab or browser, you'll need to re-enter the PIN next time.

Changing the PIN

  1. Unlock the note with your current PIN
  2. Click the lock icon in the toolbar
  3. Choose Change PIN
  4. Enter the new PIN twice and confirm

The note re-encrypts with the new key immediately.

Removing Encryption

  1. Unlock the note with your PIN
  2. Click the lock icon in the toolbar
  3. Choose Remove encryption
  4. The note is decrypted and saved as a regular note

What's Protected

  • ✅ Note content (body text, formatting, checklists, etc.)
  • ✅ Stored on server as encrypted ciphertext
  • ✅ Protected in version history (versions are also stored encrypted)
  • ❌ Note title — the title is not encrypted (it appears in the notes list)
  • ❌ Tags and metadata — not encrypted

The note title is intentionally not encrypted so you can find the note in search and see it in the list without unlocking it first. If you need full privacy, use a generic title like "Private" or "Journal".

Security Details

For technical details about the encryption algorithm, key derivation parameters, and threat model, see How AES-256 Encryption Works.

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