diff --git a/api/src/appRequest/appRequest.database.ts b/api/src/appRequest/appRequest.database.ts
index 7c996d84..71309ce8 100644
--- a/api/src/appRequest/appRequest.database.ts
+++ b/api/src/appRequest/appRequest.database.ts
@@ -121,8 +121,12 @@ function processFilters (filter?: AppRequestFilter) {
     joins.set('u', 'INNER JOIN accessUsers u ON u.id = ar.userId')
     joins.set('t', 'LEFT JOIN app_request_tags t ON t.appRequestId = ar.id')
     joins.set('tl', 'LEFT JOIN tag_labels tl ON tl.category = t.category AND tl.tag = t.tag')
-    where.push('(p.name LIKE ? OR u.login LIKE ? OR u.fullname LIKE ? OR t.tag LIKE ? OR tl.label LIKE ?)')
     binds.push(`${filter.search}%`, `${filter.search}%`, `%${filter.search}%`, `${filter.search}%`, `${filter.search}%`)
+    if (filter.searchNotes) {
+      joins.set('arn', 'LEFT JOIN app_request_notes arn ON arn.appRequestId = ar.id')
+      binds.push(filter.search)
+    }
+    where.push(`(p.name LIKE ? OR u.login LIKE ? OR u.fullname LIKE ? OR t.tag LIKE ? OR tl.label LIKE ?${filter.searchNotes ? ' OR MATCH(arn.content) AGAINST (? IN NATURAL LANGUAGE MODE)' : ''})`)
   }
   if (filter?.createdAfter) {
     where.push('ar.createdAt >= ?')
diff --git a/api/src/appRequest/appRequest.model.ts b/api/src/appRequest/appRequest.model.ts
index 605f2802..52c7dffb 100644
--- a/api/src/appRequest/appRequest.model.ts
+++ b/api/src/appRequest/appRequest.model.ts
@@ -225,6 +225,10 @@ export class AppRequestActions {}
 
 @InputType()
 export class AppRequestFilter {
+  constructor () {
+    this.searchNotes = false
+  }
+
   @Field(type => [ID], { nullable: true })
   ids?: string[]
 
@@ -252,6 +256,8 @@ export class AppRequestFilter {
   @Field(type => String, { nullable: true, description: 'Search for appRequests that match this search term. This will do a prefix search across all fields that are indexed.' })
   search?: string
 
+  searchNotes?: boolean
+
   @Field(type => DateTime, { nullable: true, description: 'Only return appRequests that were created after this date.' })
   createdAfter?: DateTime
 
diff --git a/api/src/appRequest/appRequest.service.ts b/api/src/appRequest/appRequest.service.ts
index 042ba5dc..2212b14d 100644
--- a/api/src/appRequest/appRequest.service.ts
+++ b/api/src/appRequest/appRequest.service.ts
@@ -108,8 +108,13 @@ export class AppRequestService extends AuthService<AppRequest> {
   protected raw = this.svc(AppRequestServiceInternal)
 
   preprocessFilter (filter?: AppRequestFilter) {
-    filter ??= {}
+    filter ??= new AppRequestFilter()
     if (filter.own) filter.userInternalIds = [this.user?.internalId ?? -1]
+    // Notes are reviewer-only and never visible to applicants.
+    // non-reviewers should not be able to probe the existence/content of notes
+    // (even on their own requests) by observing which requests match.
+    // TODO: May need to add a mayViewNotes method.
+    if (this.mayViewReviewerInterface()) filter.searchNotes = true
     return filter
   }
 
diff --git a/api/src/notes/notes.initialize.ts b/api/src/notes/notes.initialize.ts
index d03a12b9..c10f60c8 100644
--- a/api/src/notes/notes.initialize.ts
+++ b/api/src/notes/notes.initialize.ts
@@ -23,5 +23,15 @@ export const noteMigrations: DatabaseMigration[] = [
       const exists = await db.getval("SELECT 1 FROM information_schema.COLUMNS WHERE TABLE_NAME = 'app_request_notes' AND COLUMN_NAME = 'persistent'")
       if (!exists) await db.execute('ALTER TABLE app_request_notes ADD COLUMN persistent TINYINT(1) NOT NULL DEFAULT 0')
     }
+  },
+  {
+    id: '20260617120000',
+    async execute (db: Queryable) {
+      // NOTE: Requires mysql version 5.7 which our systems support (may even be supported earlier)
+      //   https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.7/en/fulltext-natural-language.html
+      // However if this is an issue we can revert to searching with LIKEs.
+      const exists = await db.getval("SELECT 1 FROM information_schema.STATISTICS WHERE TABLE_NAME = 'app_request_notes' AND INDEX_NAME = 'ft_content'")
+      if (!exists) await db.execute('ALTER TABLE app_request_notes ADD FULLTEXT INDEX ft_content (content)')
+    }
   }
 ]
diff --git a/test/tests/default.notes.test.ts b/test/tests/default.notes.test.ts
index 7d44ebdb..44b3b0bb 100644
--- a/test/tests/default.notes.test.ts
+++ b/test/tests/default.notes.test.ts
@@ -70,6 +70,17 @@ const NOTES_QUERY = `
   }
 `
 
+const SEARCH_APP_REQUESTS_QUERY = `
+  query SearchAppRequests($search: String!) {
+    appRequests(filter: { search: $search }) {
+      id
+    }
+  }
+`
+
+// Search term only to be found in notes for reviewer-gated note-content search test.
+const NOTE_SEARCH_MARKER = 'txstsearchmarker'
+
 function warningMessages (messages: { message: string, type: string }[]) {
   return messages.filter(m => m.type === 'warning').map(m => m.message)
 }
@@ -482,4 +493,26 @@ test.describe.serial('Notes - XSS sanitization', { tag: '@default' }, () => {
     expect(after.appRequests[0].notes.find(n => n.id === noteId)).toBeTruthy()
   })
 
+  test('Reviewer - can find app request by searching note content', async ({ reviewerRequest }) => {
+    const content = `Reviewer-only note for internal purposes only ... ref ${NOTE_SEARCH_MARKER}. Applicants should not be able to search for this note.`
+    const { addNote } = await reviewerRequest.graphql<AddNoteResponse>(ADD_NOTE_MUTATION, { appRequestId, content })
+    expect(addNote.success).toEqual(true)
+
+    const { appRequests } = await reviewerRequest.graphql<{ appRequests: { id: string }[] }>(SEARCH_APP_REQUESTS_QUERY, { search: NOTE_SEARCH_MARKER })
+    expect(appRequests.map(r => String(r.id))).toContain(String(appRequestId))
+  })
+
+  test('Applicant - cannot discover notes via search, but can find their own data', async ({ applicantRequest }) => {
+    const { appRequests } = await applicantRequest.graphql<{ appRequests: { id: string }[] }>(SEARCH_APP_REQUESTS_QUERY, { search: NOTE_SEARCH_MARKER })
+    expect(appRequests.map(r => String(r.id))).not.toContain(String(appRequestId))
+
+    const byLogin = await applicantRequest.graphql<{ appRequests: { id: string }[] }>(SEARCH_APP_REQUESTS_QUERY, { search: applicantLogin })
+    expect(byLogin.appRequests.map(r => String(r.id))).toContain(String(appRequestId))
+  })
+
+  test('Applicant2 - cannot discover other applicant notes via search', async ({ applicant2Request }) => {
+    const { appRequests } = await applicant2Request.graphql<{ appRequests: { id: string }[] }>(SEARCH_APP_REQUESTS_QUERY, { search: NOTE_SEARCH_MARKER })
+    expect(appRequests.map(r => String(r.id))).not.toContain(String(appRequestId))
+  })
+
 })