Add photos and files to Cryptile from other apps
Cryptile appears in the iPhone Share sheet. Send it photos, videos, files and text from Photos, Files, Safari or Messages. The items wait on the phone until you next open a vault, then they are encrypted into that vault.
Try Cryptile free: join the beta on TestFlight
What do I need to know?
- Items go into the next vault you open. Open the right one, not a decoy.
- The original stays where it was. Sharing copies. Delete the original yourself.
- One share holds up to 50 photos, 10 videos or 50 files.
The share sheet is part of the free plan. Shared photos and videos count towards the free limits.
How do I send something to Cryptile?
These steps match Apple's iPhone User Guide for iOS 27.
- In Photos, Files or another app, select the items and tap the Share button.
- Tap Cryptile in the row of apps. If it is missing, swipe left, tap More, then Edit, and turn Cryptile on. Apple explains the Edit list here.
- Wait for the message that the items are waiting in Cryptile.
- Open Cryptile and draw the pattern of the vault they belong in.
- A note at the bottom confirms how many shared items were added.
- Go back to the first app and delete the originals. In Photos, empty Recently Deleted too.
If a share would take you over the free limits, the items are not added. Keep the originals until you see them in the vault.
Where do shared items wait?
Until a vault is open, Cryptile cannot encrypt anything, because the keys come from your pattern. So the share step copies items into a private folder that only Cryptile can reach.
iOS protects that folder while the phone is locked. As soon as you open a vault, the items are encrypted with AES-256-GCM and the waiting copies are deleted.
What does the share sheet protect against?
- Photos sent to you in chats. Move them into a vault without saving them to Camera Roll first.
- Documents from Files, Mail or Safari. They end up encrypted and padded like everything else.
- The share step holding your keys. It has none by design, so it cannot open any vault.
What does the share sheet not protect against?
- The copy left behind. The source app keeps its original until you delete it.
- The waiting period. Until you open a vault, items sit unencrypted by Cryptile, protected only by iOS.
- Opening the wrong vault. Items land in whichever vault you open next.
- Cloud copies made earlier. If the original already synced to iCloud Photos or a chat backup, that copy remains.
Read the security page for the full limits.