How VaultShield protects your photos
No slogans. Here’s exactly what’s encrypted and with what, where the keys live, what we can and can’t see, and what no app can protect you from.
What protects what
- Photos, videos and files
- XChaCha20-Poly1305
- Index, names and previews
- SQLCipher
- Your pattern
- Argon2id
- Vault key
- Secure Enclave, this iPhone only
- Recovery
- 24 words, shown once
At a glance
On your iPhone
What’s encrypted, and what isn’t
Encrypted before it’s stored
- Every photo, video and document, each with its own key
- Thumbnails and previews
- File names, folder names and file details
- Locked folders, under a second key of their own
- The optional iCloud backup, before it leaves your iPhone
Still visible
- That VaultShield is installed and roughly how much space the vault takes
- To anyone in your unlocked vault: a locked folder's name, item count and dates
- Anything you share or save out of the vault
- Your screen, while the vault is open (iOS screenshots still work)
The key flow
How the keys fit together
Hover a line in the list to see where it sits in the flow, from your pattern to your encrypted files.
How your vault key is made
- Your patternOnly you know it
- Argon2id key derivationSlow on purpose, so guessing is expensive
- Vault keyProtected by the Secure Enclave
- Photos and videosEncrypted with XChaCha20-Poly1305
- Vault databaseEncrypted with SQLCipher
- iCloud backupOptional, and encrypted before upload
Encryption
- Files
- XChaCha20-Poly1305Every photo and video is encrypted on your iPhone before it is saved.
- Database
- SQLCipherFolder names, file details and photo thumbnails are encrypted too.
- Your pattern
- Argon2idTurns your pattern into a key in a deliberately slow, memory-hard way, so guessing is expensive.
- Key storage
- Secure EnclaveProtected by a key that never leaves this iPhone. With Face ID on, the Secure Enclave itself requires it.
Access and recovery
- Wrong guesses
- Growing wait timesAfter a few wrong patterns, each new try has to wait longer.
- Recovery
- 24-word phraseShown once, at setup. It is the only way back in if you forget your pattern.
- Backup
- Optional, encryptedOff unless you turn it on. Your files stay encrypted in iCloud, and restoring needs your recovery phrase.
Good to know
What no app can protect you from
These come straight from the app’s own threat model. Knowing them is part of staying safe.
A compromised iPhone
If your iPhone is jailbroken or infected with malware, no app's protection can be relied on, including ours. Keep iOS up to date.
Someone who sees or forces your pattern
Encryption can't stop someone who watches you draw your pattern. Draw it out of sight. If you're ever made to unlock, a duress pattern opens a decoy vault and erases the real one.
A weak pattern
Your pattern is the weakest link. Obvious shapes are refused and every guess is slowed down, but a longer pattern with several changes of direction is harder to guess.
Your recovery phrase in the wrong hands
The 24-word phrase opens the vault without your pattern or Face ID. That's what makes it a backup, so keep it offline and private.
Losing both your pattern and phrase
We keep no copy of either, so there's no reset. If both are gone, nobody can open the vault, including us.
FAQ
Common questions
Your photos are encrypted on your iPhone with XChaCha20-Poly1305 before they're stored. Your pattern becomes a key through Argon2id, and that key is protected by your iPhone's Secure Enclave. No app is perfectly secure, so this page also lists what it can't protect against.
No. There's no account and no VaultShield server holding your photos. They're encrypted on your iPhone, and we never have your keys or your recovery phrase.
They'd still need your pattern. The vault key is tied to that iPhone's Secure Enclave, so the files can't be decrypted on another device, and guesses on the phone itself are slowed by Argon2id and growing waits. With Face ID on, the Secure Enclave also requires your face.
No. We keep no copy of your keys or recovery phrase, so there's nothing for us to use or hand over. That's also why we can't reset your vault if you lose both.
Because it doesn't mean anything specific. We'd rather name the exact methods, XChaCha20-Poly1305, Argon2id, SQLCipher and the Secure Enclave, so you or anyone you trust can check them.