What FirstHour can't protect against

Updated 2 November 2026 · By the FirstHour team

Someone getting past your lock

• Watching you. Someone who sees your pattern or PIN, in person or on a camera, can open your Vault if they have your iPhone.
• An easy guess. A simple shape or a birthday can be guessed in a few tries. You get 4 free tries before the first wait.
• Your recovery phrase. Anyone who finds it can open your Vault. A photo of it in your camera roll would defeat the point.
• Being forced to open it. A decoy vault can help, but it's not a guarantee. Someone who knows FirstHour has decoys could keep pushing, and someone who knows it well could notice they're in one.
• An open Vault. While it's open, anyone looking at your iPhone sees what you see. It locks when you leave FirstHour, lock your iPhone or switch tabs.

Copies outside the Vault

• Pictures you've already sent. FirstHour can't reach into someone's chat or their phone.
• Pictures still in Photos. When you move a picture in, iPhone asks before removing the original. If you say no, it stays in Photos. If you say yes, it waits in Recently Deleted for 30 days unless you empty it. With limited Photos access, you may have to delete it yourself.
• Files you bring in. The original stays in the Files app or the other app until you delete it yourself. A file sent from another app is an ordinary unlocked copy until it's sealed or removed. What iPhone's Quick Look keeps while showing a file is also outside FirstHour's control.
• Copies already in iCloud, or on another device, a computer or an old backup.
• Backup files in the wrong hands. A backup can go wherever you save it. It's encrypted, but it isn't tied to your iPhone, so only your recovery phrase protects it.

The picture check can miss things

• It looks at pictures, not videos, PDFs or other files, and it doesn't check your Hidden album.
• It can miss things, especially handwriting. "Nothing found" means nothing obvious, not "safe".
• It only knows what it was built to spot. Here's how the check works.

Your phone itself

• A hacked iPhone. FirstHour trusts your iPhone's software. If that's been compromised, or jailbroken to remove Apple's protections, an attacker may be able to see what you draw or what's on screen. They could also get round FirstHour's waits, and might be able to carry on guessing on a computer.
• A thief who knows your passcode. FirstHour can't stop them changing your Apple Account or reaching your other apps. Here's what to do.

Losing access yourself

• Forgetting both your pattern and your recovery phrase. Nobody can open the Vault, not even FirstHour.
• Losing your iPhone, or deleting FirstHour, without a backup. What's in the Vault is gone. Read this before you delete it.

FirstHour itself

• No outside audit yet. FirstHour's Vault has been through its own security checks, but it hasn't had an independent outside audit.
• Mistakes are possible. Like any software, it could have flaws nobody has found yet. Keep copies of anything you can't afford to lose.

Questions