How Easy Vault keeps your photos safe
The short version first. The details for curious people are further down.
The short version
- Everything is encrypted on your iPhone. Before a photo is saved, it is scrambled with a key only your phone can rebuild. Without your pattern, password or Face ID, the file is just noise.
- We never see your files. There's no account and no server. Your files stay on your phone.
- Guessing your passcode is slow on purpose. Your key is tied to your iPhone's security chip, so someone can't copy your vault to a computer and try millions of passcodes.
- Nothing leaks out. No thumbnails in your camera roll, no previews in the app switcher, no copies left behind after import.
- No lock-in. We'll publish the file format at launch, so your files never depend on Easy Vault existing.
The technical details
Encryption
Each file gets its own random 256-bit key and is encrypted with AES-256-GCM, which also detects any tampering. File keys are wrapped by a vault key that never leaves your device unencrypted.
Your passcode
Your passcode is turned into a key with Argon2id, a deliberately slow, memory-hungry function designed to make guessing expensive. That key is combined with a key held in the iPhone's Secure Enclave, so guesses have to happen on your phone, at the speed the hardware allows.
On the device
- Vault files use iOS Complete Protection, so they can't be read while your phone is locked, not just before the first unlock after a restart.
- Keys are wiped from memory when the app goes to the background.
- The app-switcher snapshot is blurred, and imports are cleaned out of temporary storage.
Open format
We'll publish the vault file format and open-source the encryption code when the app launches, along with a free tool that can decrypt an exported vault without our app. If we ever disappear, your files don't.
What Easy Vault can't protect against
- Someone who knows your vault passcode, or can make you unlock it. That's what the decoy passcode is for.
- A phone that's already compromised by malware with full device access.
- Copies that exist elsewhere, like photos you've already sent or shared.