What Happens to My Photos When I Die?
A Cryptile vault stays closed after you die unless someone holds your pattern or your 9-word recovery phrase. There is no account and no reset, so nobody can open it on your behalf. That includes us.
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What do I need to know?
- Private by design means private afterwards. Without the pattern or the phrase, the files stay ciphertext for good.
- You choose who can open it. That means telling them where the phrase is kept.
- This guide covers vaults only. Your other photos follow the rules of Photos and iCloud, which are not covered here.
Who can open my vault after I am gone?
Only a person who has your pattern and your unlocked phone, or your recovery phrase and your backup. The developer holds no keys and runs no server. A court order or a family request changes nothing, because we have nothing to hand over.
This is the same property that protects you today. It cannot be switched off for one situation and kept for the rest.
What should I do now?
- Write down the 9-word phrase. Use paper, not a note on the same phone.
- Store it somewhere your executor can find it. A safe or a lawyer's file are common choices.
- Say what the phrase is for. Tell them it opens the vault backup, and that nobody else can.
- Choose what stays private. You may want a decoy vault of ordinary photos for family, and the real vault left closed.
Restoring uses the encrypted iCloud backup together with the phrase. Our guide on moving a vault to a new iPhone shows the steps.
Should I share my pattern instead?
Usually not. A pattern is the weaker secret. Anyone who sees it can open the vault on your phone.
The phrase is longer and works for restoring. Keep it apart from the phone, and update it if you ever change vaults.
What about photos I want to leave to someone?
Export the ones you want kept, then share them in the way you prefer. Cryptile Send and shared vaults are coming and are not available yet. For now, moving a file out is a manual step.
What this doesn't protect against
This guide cannot replace a will or legal advice. Rules on digital assets differ by place, so ask a lawyer. A pattern is weaker than a passphrase, so use 8 or more cells. If the phrase is lost and the pattern is unknown, the vault is gone for good.
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.