QuickAdvice: Keep Your Notes Private With Codebook
Codebook - Secure Notebook ($2.99) by Zetetic LLC is a note taking app for your iPhone that ensures secure encryption of your most private thoughts.
The worst thing about most note taking apps is that they don't offer much in terms of security and protection besides just allowing you to set a passcode in, usually numbers.
Codebook is different. You must set up a password to use the app and store your notes in, but you are allowed to choose from both letters and numbers, which adds a new layer of security. And when you enter in this password, the app also offers a choice of the standard QWERTY keyboard or a numeric keypad to make things easier for you. The password can also be however long you want (just make sure to remember it) and is not restricted to anything such as a 4-digit code like other apps.
The notes stored in Codebook are also secure themselves. Brace yourself for some security lingo here (feel free to skip this part):
"Codebook is the only secure notebook that uses open source, peer-reviewed full-database encryption technology. Called SQLCipher, the data store for Codebook uses established security practices like CBC mode encryption, PBKDF2 key derivation, randomized initialization vectors, and unique per-database salts. It further takes advantage of the widely trusted and peer-reviewed OpenSSL for cryptographic functions."
Didn't really understand what that means? It's ok (kudos if you did!), I didn't either. But it basically means that your notes are all individually encrypted and you don't need to worry about it - that's the developer's responsibility.
When you create a new note, just hit the compose button. You'll get a screen that has a cork-like background and shows the date and time. All text is in black Helvetica; there are no other font options available. Once you're done typing, you can go back to the main screen (listing of your notes by recently modified/created) or send the note in a plain text email message.
On the note listing screen, there is an option to search through your notes. It searches as you type, so the results will become more specific as you complete typing out your keywords.
There isn't much else to Codebook. There's app settings but the only option is to change your password. The other 'options' in the settings are to view their homepage, contact them, or rate and review it in the App Store. These are just the in-app settings.
For some reason, the developer decided to include options to sort by modified date and display modified date in the device Settings. This is an unnecessary step to modify a setting, and I believe that the developer should change that in a future update. Nothing more annoying than having various settings in two different places.
Overall, the app is just a fairly basic note taking app, but packs a mega punch when it comes to protecting your data. The only drawback is that there isn't really a way to back up the data unless it's through an iTunes backup (and we all know those aren't always reliable). Perhaps consideration for something like Dropbox or just a simple 'export' option would be great instead of having to reply on iTunes.
But if you're looking for a great way to keep your notes private, then this app should be high on your priority list.
