What can you do when a photo vault app is not opening?

Why a vault that will not open is so stressful

When a vault app fails, the photos inside often exist nowhere else. We studied 836 App Store reviews. 132 describe a vault that will not open, and 44 of them mention an update. One Keepsafe user wrote that the app was “stuck on the “Updating Keepsafe. DO NOT CLOSE THE APP.” screen for more than 7 days”. Another wrote: “I dare not delete the app because I will lose everything.”

That fear is correct. Read the next section before you do anything else.

Do not delete the app first

On iPhone, Apple says: “Deleting an app removes it and its data from your iPhone.” Android Developers says the same for app storage: “When the user uninstalls your app, the files saved in app-specific storage are removed.”

So if a vault app will not open:

1. Do not delete it, and do not offload it.
2. Check if your backup is complete, if the app has one.
3. Write to the support team of that app from its website.
4. Delete the app only after you know that a complete backup exists.

In York Vault, a complete backup restores on a new phone with your recovery key. See how backup works.

How does the York Vault library check work?

Open York Vault, go to settings and run the library check. York Vault opens every item, decrypts it and compares it with its stored hash. Then it shows the result as counts, with a fix for each problem:

Problem found	Fix that York Vault offers
An item does not decrypt or does not match its hash	Restore that item from your backup
An item is on the phone but not in the backup	Upload it now
The index is damaged	Rebuild the index from the file headers

No fix deletes an item. A test damages 5 files on disk, and the check must find all 5 and restore all 5.

Errors that say first if your items are safe

Each error screen in York Vault starts with one line about your items. Then it gives one next step and a support link with an error code. The code has one letter for the area and 4 digits. Here is the form:

Unable to save this video. Your other items are not affected. Try again, or send code I-3107 to support.

York Vault has a screen like this for each of these cases:

• Library files from another device
• A backup that is not complete
• An iCloud or Google Drive account that is signed out or full
• A backup from another Apple Account
• Low storage on the phone
• A damaged index

Updates never lock you out

Some vault apps stop you at a full-screen update that you must not close. York Vault runs each data update after you open the app, one file at a time, with a journal. During the run, it reads both the old format and the new one, so the library stays open. It keeps the old data until the new copy checks out. If a step fails, it tries again later and never blocks opening.

The test for this kills the app 50 times during an update of 20,000 files. The library must open every time and finish the update.

A diagnostics report you can read

If you need help, York Vault can make a diagnostics report. It holds the app version, the system version, the device model, backup counts and error codes. It never holds a file name, an album name, a code or any content. You see the full text before you send it.

Crash reports follow the same rule. York Vault removes paths and text from each report before it leaves the phone. You can turn crash reports off in Settings, then Privacy. See ad measurement and privacy.

Support that works when the app does not

The support link in York Vault opens a web form in your browser. So it works when the library will not open. The same form is on this website and on the store listing. A person replies within 1 business day. A ticket about lost items goes to an engineer the same day.

Go to support, or read contact support first. Never send your code or your recovery key. Nobody at York Vault asks for them.