What is a decoy password in a photo vault app, and what does a panic password do?

What people use a decoy for

A decoy library is the feature that users praise most in vault app reviews. Of the 836 App Store reviews we studied, 18 praise the decoy and 28 mention it. One Keepsafe user said the app “has a decoy vault feature that just had some silly pictures in them and after I showed them that they were content.”

York Vault keeps the store words in this page’s title, because that is what people search for. Inside the app, the names are plain: a cover code opens the cover library, and an erase code opens the cover library and erases the keys to the rest.

How the cover code works

The cover code is free on every plan.

1. Open your main library and go to settings.
2. Set a cover code. It can be a pattern, a PIN or a passcode.
3. Lock York Vault. Type the cover code to open the cover library.
4. Add ordinary photos to it, the same way you add to your main library.

When you create the cover code, York Vault offers to fill the cover library from Photos with ordinary pictures, such as pets, food or memes. They keep their real dates, so the library has a believable history. You can also skip this step.

The cover library is a full library, with albums, camera, adding from Photos, backup and settings. It has its own key and its own backup. No file, setting or network call links it to your main library.

Inside the cover library, settings show no cover code, erase code or extra library options. It looks like a copy of York Vault with one library.

Three details that keep it believable

No billing text. No cover library, erase code or album code ever shows a plan message. LockMyPix shows the failure: when Premium lapses, its app text says “Reactivate %@ Premium to open your FakeVault again”. That screen tells the other person that a second vault exists. In York Vault, a cover code you set up keeps working whether you pay or not.

No flash of your main library. Users of SPV reported that real albums flashed on screen. One wrote: “When exiting from the ‘decoy’ account the ‘real’ account front screen flashes up briefly”. York Vault shows nothing from a library until its key is open, and it clears all pictures from memory before the lock screen appears.

Codes that never clash. You set every top-level code from inside your main library. No two codes can be equal, and no code can be the start of another. If a new code breaks a rule, the message says only “Choose a different code”. It never names the code it clashes with, because that would show a cover code exists.

How the erase code works

The erase code is on the Free plan.

1. In your main library settings, set an erase code. It needs at least 6 digits, 6 dots or 8 characters.
2. It must differ from every other code in at least 2 places, so one wrong key does not trigger it.
3. Type a confirmation to save it.
4. Use Test to see what the code would erase. The test erases nothing.

When you type the erase code, the cover library opens as normal. At the same time, York Vault erases this phone’s keys to every other library, in under 1 second. Without the keys, the stored items on this phone cannot be opened.

York Vault also deletes the backups of those libraries, in iCloud or Google Drive and in York Cloud. Erased means gone. If the phone is offline, the delete runs at the next connection. When you set the code, you can turn on Keep backups. Only then can your recovery key restore those libraries later.

The erase code records no entry in your attempts. Apart from the backup delete, which goes only to your own cloud or York Cloud, it sends no network request that a normal cover code would not send. No file or setting on the phone marks that an erase code exists.

The erase code also turns off your active private share links and stops sync.

The erase-all code

The erase-all code is a second erase mode, also on the Free plan, with the same rules and the same test mode. It erases the keys to every library, including the cover library, and York Vault shows its first-run welcome screen. It deletes your backups too, unless you turned on Keep backups.

Restore after an erase

A restore works only if you turned on Keep backups when you set the code. Then, on this phone or another one, enter your recovery key. Your real library restores from the backup in iCloud or Google Drive. A restore check then confirms that every item is back. With Keep backups off, nothing is left to restore.

More libraries on Plus and Pro

The Free plan has your main library and one cover library. Plus and Pro add more libraries, up to 8 in total. Each one has its own code, its own key and its own backup. No list of libraries exists anywhere in the app.

Nobody can count the libraries

All libraries share one store of encrypted blocks that look the same, with a fixed number of key slots. Unused slots hold random data. So a person who inspects the phone sees the same layout for one library or four. No setting or Keychain item marks a cover code or an erase code.

How other apps do it

App	Decoy	Panic or erase	Where we read it
Private Photo Vault	“Decoy Password”	Not found	App Store listing
Keepsafe	Secondary vault, paid: “Fake PIN is a Keepsafe Premium feature.”	Not found	App text
LockMyPix	“a decoy secret Fake Vault with a separate code”, paid. Stops opening when Premium lapses.	Not found	App Store listing and app text
SPV	Fake passcode	Not found	App text and reviews
Vaultaire	Free decoy vaults. “A different pattern opens a different vault.”	Duress vault on Pro. Its page says “The local wipe is immediate and has no undo button.” One duress vault only.	App Store listing and feature page
Privault	Second passcode	Erase-all passcode: “all data will be erased immediately without a second confirmation alert.”	App Store listing and app text

We read the app text in each App Store package in September 2026, and checked the listings and Vaultaire’s page on 2026-10-02.

To see what a cover library looks like next to Apple’s own options, read can you make a secret photo album on iPhone. For a side-by-side view of one rival, see the Private Photo Vault alternative page.