Can the Police Unlock a Photo Vault on iPhone?
Without the key, a well-built vault cannot be read, by the police or anyone else. The key comes from your pattern, so the real question is who can make you use it.
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What do I need to know?
- Encryption protects the files, not the person. If you draw the pattern, the vault opens. No app can prevent that.
- Weak patterns can be guessed offline. This matters if someone has your phone data and the device salt. Use 8 or more cells.
- There is no back door. We run no server and hold no keys. We cannot unlock a vault for anyone, including us.
Can someone open a vault from a copy of the phone's data?
Every file, thumbnail and index in Cryptile is encrypted with AES-256-GCM. A copy of the app's data is ciphertext. File sizes are padded, and decoy slots hide how many vaults exist.
The key is derived on the device from your pattern and a device salt. The salt is not stored with the vault files. It sits in the iPhone Keychain, behind your passcode and the Secure Enclave.
What if they get the Keychain too?
Then guessing becomes possible. Our threat model says so plainly. A 6-cell pattern on a 4x4 grid can fall in minutes on a large GPU rig. An 8-cell pattern takes hours, and a 10-cell pattern about a week.
Longer is stronger, so choose 8 or more cells.
Can the developer or Apple help them?
No. Apple holds no Cryptile keys, and neither do we. The iCloud backup holds ciphertext and recovery salts, not keys. Restoring it needs your 9-word recovery phrase.
Can a decoy vault help?
A different pattern opens a different vault, and there is no vault list. A decoy looks like any other vault, so the screen never reveals that another exists. This is a privacy feature. It is not a legal defence.
Giving false answers to officials can be a crime in some places. This is not legal advice. If a search is likely, speak to a lawyer first. Our page on crossing a border with your iPhone covers the travel case.
What does the panic pattern do?
On Plus, drawing the panic pattern destroys this device's vault keys. No vault on the phone opens until you restore from your recovery phrase. It does not open a decoy vault.
Think before using it. Deleting data when you have been told to preserve it may carry legal consequences in some places.
What this doesn't protect against
A pattern is weaker than a passphrase, so use 8 or more cells. If someone watches you draw it, or you are made to draw it, the vault opens. Malware on a compromised phone can read a vault while it is open. If you lose both the pattern and the recovery phrase, the vault is gone. There is no reset.
Do it with Cryptile
Cryptile is free for 2 vaults, 100 photos and 10 videos in total. Files, notes and folders are unlimited. Plus removes the limits and adds more decoy vaults, the panic pattern and search inside the vault. It costs $19.99 a year (7-day free trial) or $39.99 once.