What Private vaults can and can't protect against

Private vaults make private things much harder to reach, but no app can protect against everything. Here is what they do well, where they stop, and what you can do about it. The full technical detail is in the security whitepaper.

What it is

What Private vaults protect against

Someone browsing your unlocked iPhone. Vault items never appear on Home, in Recent, All items, folders, shelves, search, the AI helper or notifications. A vault needs Face ID and its pattern every time, and locks when you leave the app or after 5 minutes.
Someone who knows your iPhone’s passcode. The phone’s passcode alone never opens a vault: it needs Face ID and the vault’s pattern.
Someone guessing patterns. Every pattern drawn counts as a try. After 9 tries in an hour, or 50 in a day, the pad makes you wait, up to an hour per try. Restarting the iPhone doesn’t shorten a wait.
Someone counting your vaults. Every pattern opens a vault, so there’s no “wrong pattern”. Paperwise never lists or counts vaults, and only the limits are public (1 on Free, 100 on Pro).
Reading the files off the phone. Everything Paperwise stores is encrypted with its own key. Vault items also have their own keys, which need Face ID and the vault’s pattern.
The cloud. Synced and backed-up vault items are encrypted on your iPhone, and their keys never travel with them. Our server and Apple can’t open them.
AI. Vault items are never sent to AI.
Being forced to open a vault (Pro). The decoy and the emergency pattern reduce what someone can make you show.

Known limits

A compromised iPhone

Malware or a jailbreak that controls your phone while a vault is open can see what you see. What to do: keep iOS up to date and don’t install profiles or apps you don’t trust.

Face ID and someone watching

A vault needs both Face ID and the pattern. Someone who can pass Face ID on your phone and has seen your pattern can open that vault. What to do: draw where nobody can watch, keep Show pattern while drawing off, and change the pattern if you think it was seen.

Coercion

Someone who forces you to unlock can see the vault you open. The decoy and emergency pattern reduce this risk; they can’t remove it. The emergency pattern deletes other vaults on this iPhone only: copies of recoverable vaults in your backups stay, encrypted, and anyone with your vaults key and a vault’s pattern can restore it. It also loses Lock Screen camera shots that no vault has imported yet.

Your vaults key

Whoever has your vaults key and a copy of your backup can try patterns against your recoverable vaults, away from your iPhone. Patterns for recoverable vaults need at least 8 dots, and each try is deliberately slow, but a short or simple pattern can still be guessed. What to do: keep the key on paper, away from the phone; use longer patterns; choose This iPhone only for anything that must stay gone.

Screenshots and the app switcher are best effort

Vault screens block screenshots and screen recording, and cover the app in the app switcher. iOS doesn’t let any app block every capture (another camera pointed at the screen, for example).

What counts and sizes reveal

Someone who can examine the iPhone’s decrypted database could see that encrypted vault items exist and roughly how many, though not what they are or which vault they belong to.
Anyone with your account key (any of your paired devices, or someone with your account recovery key) could count your synced vault items and see when they change, but not open them.
The screen that saves a new vault, and the one-new-vault-a-day limit, can show someone who is using your phone that a new vault was just made.

Shared links from vault items stay valid

Share links (Pro) you made from vault items keep working until they expire (7 days at most) or are revoked. Anyone who opened a link may also have saved a copy.

Photos and files you moved in were somewhere first

Photos moved from your camera roll were in Photos (and iCloud Photos, if it’s on) first, and deleted originals stay in Recently Deleted for up to 30 days. See Where copies of your files can remain.

Copies you make leave the vault

Export to Photos, Share a copy…, Share PDF, Save PDF to a folder… and Print create readable copies outside the vault. Move to the main screen puts an item back on Home, which is encrypted with a key kept on this iPhone but not behind Face ID.

Losing the key and the pattern

A forgotten pattern can’t be recovered. If you also lose your vaults key, or the vault was This iPhone only, nobody can open it, including us.

Apple and iOS

The Secure Enclave, the Keychain, Face ID and iOS itself are part of what Private vaults rely on.

Free and Pro

The protections on this page apply on every plan. More vaults, the decoy and emergency pattern, share links and sync are Pro.

Privacy

We’d rather you know the limits than trust a promise we can’t keep. An independent security audit is planned, not done yet. If you find something we’ve missed, write to security@paperwise.app.

Tips

Use patterns of 8 dots or more, with turns.
Keep your vaults key on paper, away from the phone.
Start scans from inside a vault, so they never pass through Home.

What if…

What if I think someone saw my pattern?

Open the vault and change it: settings button (the gear) → Change pattern…. Keep Show pattern while drawing off.

What if my iPhone is lost or stolen?

Every vault needs Face ID on that phone and its pattern. Recoverable vaults come back on your new iPhone with your vaults key. See If you lose your phone.