Features / Vault
Vault
A quiet place, just for you.
Keep the photos, videos, files and notes you'd rather keep private behind their own pattern or PIN, separate from your iPhone's passcode.
What it does
Locked to you
A pattern only you knowDraw a line through 6 or more dots on a 5×5 grid, with at least one turn. A well-chosen one can be much harder to guess than a 6-digit PIN, which you can choose instead. It's separate from your iPhone passcode, so knowing that isn't enough to open it.
Encrypted on your iPhoneEach photo, video, file, note and small preview is sealed with AES-256-GCM. Your pattern or PIN is tied to your iPhone's security chip where it can be, so copied files can't be used to try patterns or PINs on a computer. How it works.
Guessing is slowYour first 4 wrong tries bring no wait. A 5th means waiting 1 minute, then 5, 15 and 60 minutes, and 60 after each wrong try from then on. Changing the clock doesn't skip the wait, and wrong tries never wipe your Vault. On the Forgot screen, wrong recovery phrases get waits too, after 5 free tries.
Locks by itselfThe Vault locks when you switch to another tab or leave FirstHour, and while your screen is being recorded.
A decoy vaultA second vault with its own pattern or PIN of the same kind, if you ever feel pressured to open it. You add a few ordinary pictures yourself, because an empty vault looks suspicious.
Every day
Files and documentsBring in PDFs and any other file from the Files app. PDFs open right in the Vault, and most other kinds open read-only. A few can only be saved or shared. The original stays in Files, and FirstHour tells you so.
Send from other appsChoose FirstHour in another app's Share menu to send it a file. It waits for you to unlock the Vault, then it's sealed. If you don't unlock, the waiting copy is removed. The original stays where it was.
Find things quicklyRename items, sort by newest, oldest, name or largest, or show just one kind. Search looks through names, labels and the words in your notes. Notes are only read while you search, and no search list is saved.
Private notesWrite plain-text notes, sealed the same way. They save by themselves as you type, so locking the Vault doesn't lose your words.
A camera inside the VaultTake a photo or video straight into the Vault, so it doesn't go to Photos.
Getting pictures back outSave a photo or video back to Photos, or share it without the location. A shared picture keeps its date and camera model. To send a copy with no camera details, use Share. Files and notes save to the Files app or share as a temporary copy.
If something goes wrong
A recovery phraseIf you forget how to open the Vault, 12 words you wrote on paper, or a phrase of your own, let you choose a new pattern or PIN of the same kind, and then the Vault opens.
An encrypted backupSave one encrypted file wherever you choose, such as the Files app. Restoring it takes your recovery phrase. It isn't automatic, so repeat it after adding things.
Each copy checked firstFirstHour checks the locked copy opens and matches. Only then does iPhone ask to remove the original from Photos.
How it works
- Set it up. Choose a pattern or PIN, then write your recovery phrase on paper.
- Add what you want to keep private. Tap + to choose from Photos or Files, use the camera or write a note. You can also tap Vault on a picture in Protect, or move a whole group.
- Say yes to iPhone. For photos and videos, iPhone asks before removing the originals. If you say no, they stay in Photos and the copies stay in the Vault.
Good to know
- The Vault stays on this iPhone unless you save an encrypted backup. Without one, losing the phone or deleting FirstHour loses what's inside.
- Lose your phrase, and a backup can never be opened, by anyone. A backup doesn't include what you added after making it.
- Someone watching can see a pattern, so shield your screen when you draw it.
- The original of a file stays in Files. If you want it gone, delete it there yourself.
- Opening a file other than a PDF, or saving or sharing a file or note, makes one temporary unlocked copy. What iPhone's Quick Look keeps while showing a file is outside FirstHour's control.
- The picture check doesn't read PDFs or other files. A password-protected PDF can't be opened in the Vault, only saved or shared.
- Search can't read words inside pictures, PDFs or Word and Excel files.
- A file sent from another app is an ordinary unlocked copy until it's sealed or removed. FirstHour also shows in the Share menu for anyone using your iPhone.
- Notes are plain text, with no formatting. Dictation goes through Apple, and a keyboard app you installed could see what you type. A crash can lose the last second of typing.
- Lose both your pattern or PIN and your recovery phrase, and nobody can open it, including us.
- With limited Photos access, FirstHour may not be able to remove the original. If so, it tells you, and you delete it in Photos yourself. Until you do, the picture is still in Photos.
- Originals you remove stay in Photos' Recently Deleted for 30 days.
- Live Photos and edited photos are kept as you see them now.