How to Make a Decoy Photo Vault on iPhone
A decoy vault is a second, harmless vault that opens with a different secret. If someone makes you open the app, you open the decoy, and nothing shows the real one exists.
iOS has no decoy. Photos has one Hidden album, unlocked with your Face ID or Touch ID, so you need an app for this.
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What do I need to know?
- The secret picks the vault. In Cryptile, every pattern opens its own vault. There is no vault list to give the decoy away.
- The free plan holds 2 vaults. That is one real vault and one decoy. Plus allows more.
- A decoy must look used. An empty vault is the first thing that looks odd.
Can the iPhone Hidden album be a decoy?
No. Photos has a single Hidden album. With iOS 14 and later you can hide that album from the Photos app, and in iOS 16 or later Face ID or Touch ID is required to view it by default (Apple, Apple).
Whoever unlocks it sees everything in it. There is no second album with a second secret.
How do I make a decoy vault in Cryptile?
These steps work on any iPhone that runs Cryptile. Make your real vault first if you have not.
- Lock Cryptile with the Lock button.
- On the lock screen, draw a pattern you have never used. It needs at least 6 dots, and 8 or more is better.
- Cryptile opens a new, empty vault for that pattern.
- Write down the 9 words it shows on paper, then tap I wrote it down. There is no reset.
- Read the This can be your decoy note that follows, and tap Got it. It appears whenever you create a second or later vault.
- Tap Add → Photos & videos and pick some ordinary photos.
- Lock the app. Draw your real pattern to check your real vault is unchanged.
On the free plan, a third new pattern shows a message that the plan holds 2 vaults. The 100-photo and 10-video limits are counted across all vaults, so keep the decoy modest. Decoy vaults explains how the app hides the vault count.
How do I make the decoy convincing?
- Use real, dull photos. Receipts, a parking spot, screenshots of a recipe, a pet. Things you would plausibly want private but not hidden.
- Add a few notes and folders. Add → Note for a wifi password or a gift list.
- Keep it current. Add something every few weeks so the dates are not all from one day.
- Pick a pattern you can draw calmly. You may have to draw it with someone watching.
- Do not save real photos into it. Anything in the decoy is what you show.
Is a decoy the same as the panic pattern?
No. A decoy is just another vault. It needs no setting and leaves your real vault untouched.
The panic pattern is a Plus feature that destroys this device's vault keys. After it, no vault on the phone opens until you restore it from its recovery phrase. It does not open a decoy.
What this doesn't protect against
- Forensic tools. A decoy does not hide that Cryptile is installed. An examiner can see the app and its encrypted files.
- Someone who knows about decoys. They may ask you to draw another pattern. A decoy does not stop that request.
- Legal searches. Never use a decoy to deceive police or border officials. Misleading officials can have serious legal consequences. Talk to a lawyer about your rights. Read crossing a border with your iPhone before you travel.
- Weak patterns and lost phrases. A short pattern can be guessed offline. Lose the pattern and the phrase, and the vault is gone.
For the idea behind all this, see plausible deniability in apps.
Do it with Cryptile
Draw a new pattern, write down the phrase, add ordinary photos. Nothing in the app lists your vaults.
Cryptile is free for up to 2 vaults, 100 photos and 10 videos, with files, notes and folders unlimited and encrypted iCloud backup included. Plus adds more vaults, search inside the vault and the panic pattern for $19.99 a year (7-day free trial) or $39.99 once.
The price is the same every day.