Password protect app on launching?

Support
1

Operating system

macOS

Joplin version

3.2.13

Desktop version info

Joplin 3.2.13 (prod, darwin)

What issue do you have?

in order to protect my notes from unwarranted eyes, is there a way to protect Joplin on opening, like prompting for a password or biometric validation ?
This is possible in Notesnook, from which I wish to migrate to Joplin. This is kinda holding me back.

2

@ijoplin welcome to the forum.

From the FAQ Page,

Could there be a password to restrict access to Joplin?

On mobile, you may enable the biometric lock to protect the access to the Joplin application. On desktop we do not currently support this. There is however an issue open about it: https://github.com/laurent22/joplin/issues/289

3

thanks but i was referring to the desktop app, as stated in my description.

4

I know. The quote from the Joplin FAQ says,

On desktop we do not currently support this. There is however an issue open about it: https://github.com/laurent22/joplin/issues/289

5

thanks, but not very encouraging, as the post stems from 2018 and is basically locked since 2019...

6

Please keep in mind that on the desktop, even you managed to lock the application, it would still be possible to simply grab the database (which is stored in an unencrypted form) from the disk. This is not the case on mobile systems like Android or iOS, where each application's internal storage is accessible by the application in question alone.

7

This topic has been raised quite a lot on this forum. It is a bit awkward to search for these topics as "password" is a common term. Searching for something like "PIN Lock" should find a few and it will give you an idea as to the devs reasons behind this decision. This post is an example of the conversations had and also dates from around 2019.

I am not a dev but I believe that the thought is that full disk encryption and not leaving a computer logged in and unattended are far better protection. Adding a password to open the app would only give a pretence of security as your notes would still be stored locally in an unencrypted SQLite database.

1 Like
8

that's why i have the following plugin installed

Note encryption v1.1.1
A joplin plugin, encrypt selected notes on the joplin desktop client. This plugin will modify the notes according to your instructions, please read the precautions before use.

9

this possibility ought to be natively included in the app though IMO...

1 Like
10

Those wanting this feature may be interested in reading the comments of this Reddit thread: password protect app on opening ? : joplinapp

11

ok great, so now we just have to wait for the dev to release the updated version. Any ETA ?

12

Yes but my dog will not be able to look at my screen when I leave the computer for some minutes... And that's a good thing in itself. :smile: Waiting for this feature too !