Separate spaces

With Pro, Hidden can hold separate spaces, each opened by its own passcode. One Hidden screen, one lock: the passcode you type decides which space opens. Paperwise never shows a list of spaces or how many there are.

What it is

A space is a complete Hidden of its own: its own items, photos, albums, notes, name, recovery key and settings. Your first space is the one created when you set up Hidden (free, no account needed). Besides it, you can add up to 9 more (10 in all) on an iPhone.

There’s no list or switcher. You reach a space only by typing its passcode on the Hidden is locked screen. Someone who opens one space sees nothing that points to another.
Every space looks the same. Hidden settings show exactly the same rows in every space, whatever else exists on the iPhone.
Each space has its own recovery key, shown once when you create it.
Each space can have its own emergency passcode (one per space). See The emergency passcode.

A “decoy” is simply a space you keep innocent-looking. There’s no special type.

When to use it

Keep your most private things apart from everyday private things, each behind a different passcode.
Keep a believable space you could open if someone pressured you, with your real one behind another passcode.
Share an iPhone and give someone their own space without them seeing yours.

Step by step

Before you start

Spaces need a Hidden passcode or pattern, because the passcode is what chooses the space. If Hidden opens with Face ID only, the steps below ask you to set one for the space you’re in at the same time.

Create a space

Open Hidden (the space you’re adding from) and tap ••• → Hidden settings.
Tap Passcodes…. Confirm it’s you with Face ID (and this space’s passcode, if it has one).
Tap Add a passcode that opens a different space.
On New space, add a name if you like. Only you see it, inside that space.
If Hidden had no passcode yet, first set Passcode for what’s already here.
Set Passcode for the new space. Use one that’s different from all your others.
Tap Create space and confirm with Face ID.
Save The new space’s recovery key (Copy or Save as PDF / Print), tick I saved this recovery key, then tap Open the new space.

You land inside the new, empty space.

Open a space

Open Hidden. Face ID runs.
Type that space’s code or draw its pattern.

To go to another space, tap ••• → Lock now, then open Hidden again with the other passcode.

Delete a space

Inside the space, go to Hidden settings and tap Delete everything in this space. Its items, albums, passcode and keys are erased from this iPhone at once. Copies synced to your account or kept in your iCloud backup stay encrypted and can come back with its recovery key.

Free and Pro

One space, with Face ID and an optional code or pattern, is free.

Pro: up to 9 more Hidden spaces (10 in all), restoring an extra space with its recovery key, and an emergency passcode (one per space).

Privacy

The number of spaces isn’t stored anywhere readable. Paperwise keeps a fixed set of key slots whether you have one space or ten, with unused slots filled with random data. Every unlock does the same work against all of them, so the number of spaces can’t be read from the iPhone’s storage or from how long an unlock takes.
No “in use” answers. Paperwise never tells you a passcode belongs to another space. If two spaces end up with the same passcode, the one set last opens; the other can then be reached only with its recovery key.
One new space per 24 hours. Creating a space asks for Face ID again and counts as a wrong passcode try. If you can’t create one, Paperwise shows the same message as any other failure to save a passcode (“Couldn’t save this passcode. Try again later.”).
Sync per space (Pro). Each space syncs under a key that comes from its own recovery key, never from your account key. On another iPhone, a space comes back only with its recovery key.

Tips

Give each space a passcode you won’t mix up with the others, and keep each recovery key separately.
The name you give a space shows as its title inside it. Pick something you’re happy for anyone who opens that space to see.
Lock Screen camera saves here is on for your first space and off for new ones. Turn it on in the space where you want Lock Screen shots to land.
Each space keeps its own list in Hidden settings → Shared links from this space.

Which space does something go into?

Always the space that’s open. Open the space you want with its passcode first, then use Hidden’s Camera or +, or ••• → Move to Hidden on a document in your vault, or Save to Hidden while scanning. If Hidden is locked when you hide something, Paperwise asks you to open a space, and the item goes into the one you open.

Two things arrive while your iPhone may be locked, so they can’t know which space you mean: photos from the Lock Screen camera and items sent to Hidden from another app’s share sheet. They wait, encrypted, and go into the space where Lock Screen camera saves here is on, the next time you open it.

Move an item to another space

There’s no direct move between spaces (that would reveal that the other space exists). Instead:

In the space it’s in, open the item and tap Unhide. It goes back to your vault.
Tap ••• → Lock now, then open Hidden with the other space’s passcode.
In that space, tap + → Move from the vault… and pick the item (or use ••• → Move to Hidden on it in your vault).

What if…

What if I can’t create a space?

You may have created one in the last 24 hours, or Hidden may have no room for another. Paperwise gives the same message either way. Try again later.

What if Paperwise says to use a different passcode?

A new space can’t use the passcode of the space you’re in. Choose another.

What if I go back to Face ID only?

Only the space you’re in stays on this iPhone; any other space is erased here. Synced copies stay encrypted in your account and come back with their recovery keys.

What if I forget a space’s passcode?

Use that space’s recovery key. See Recovery key and Forgot passcode.

What if Face ID changed on this iPhone?

Each space needs its own recovery key to open again. The key you type brings back only its own space; open the others with their keys, one by one.