What is York Vault?

What York Vault does

York Vault keeps the photos, videos and files you add behind a code. The code can be a pattern, a PIN or a passcode with letters and numbers. Face ID or Touch ID, or a fingerprint or face on Android, can open the app faster, on top of the code.

Everything behind one code is a library. Inside a library you sort items into albums, and an album can have albums inside it. You can give a single album its own code, so it stays closed even when the library is open.

How items get in

You add items from Apple Photos, from the Files app, from the share sheet in another app, or with the camera inside York Vault. York Vault keeps the original file: the same format, the same quality, the capture date, and Live Photos as Live Photos.

After York Vault reads back each copy and checks it, it can remove the originals from Photos for you. Apple keeps removed photos in Recently Deleted for 30 days, so York Vault also shows you how to empty it. See Remove originals from Photos.

How York Vault protects items

• Encrypted on your phone. Each item gets its own key. The Secure Enclave protects the keys on iPhone, and Android Keystore protects them on Android. York Vault also encrypts file names, dates, places and thumbnails. Read what we can and cannot see.
• A recovery key you hold. At setup York Vault shows 12 words once. They open your library if you forget your code. We do not keep a copy. See Your recovery key.
• A wait after wrong codes. After 5 wrong codes, York Vault makes you wait before the next try, and the wait grows each time.
• A cover code and an erase code. A cover code opens a separate library with nothing in it that points to your main library. An erase code opens that cover library and erases this phone’s keys to your other libraries. See Cover code and erase code.
• Attempts. York Vault can take a photo with the front camera after a wrong code. After your next correct code, it shows you the time and the count.
• Disguise. Neutral icons with matching lock screens, a working calculator front, and quick exits such as face down hide the app from a glance.
• A security checkup. A list in Settings shows what is set up and what still needs setup: recovery key, backup, Face ID, auto-lock, cover code, erase code, icon and notifications.

How the backup works

The backup is free and goes to your own iCloud, or to your own Google Drive on Android, as encrypted pieces. Neither can read file names, types, dates or albums. An item counts as backed up only after the cloud confirms it has every piece. On a new phone, your code or your recovery key brings the library back. See How backup works.

What York Vault does not do

• No ads. York Vault shows no ads, on any plan.
• No account. There is no email sign-up and no email reset.
• No hostage files. Viewing, export and restore of your own items stay free on every plan, also after a trial ends or a plan lapses. See What stays free.

York Vault does measure which ads bring people to the app, through an attribution tool. That tool never sees your items, file names or codes. The details are on What we can and cannot see.

More in the app

• iPad, Android, Mac and the web. York Vault runs on iPhone, iPad and Android phones and tablets. Plus adds the Mac app and sync between your devices on the same platform. Pro adds a web app at app.yorkvault.com and sync between iPhone and Android, through York Cloud. A plan follows your library, so it works on every device where that library is.
• Private share links. Share items as a link that only opens with the key inside it. Free links use fixed safe settings. Plus and Pro set the expiry, the open limit and more. On iPhone, people without York Vault open links in an App Clip, with nothing to install.
• Shared albums (Pro). Share an album with other York Vault users, encrypted end to end. Only the person who creates it needs Pro.
• Phone-to-phone transfer. Move your library to a new phone with a QR code and no internet, also between iPhone and Android. See Move to a new iPhone.
• Extra libraries (Plus and Pro). Add more libraries, each with its own code.
• York Cloud (Pro). Encrypted storage that we run, for people without enough iCloud or Google Drive space.
• Notes, voice notes, and IDs and cards. Keep text notes, checklists, voice recordings and card scans in your library.
• A private browser (Plus and Pro). Browse with no history by default, and save images and videos straight into your library.

Where to start

1. Read Choosing a code to pick a lock type.
2. Read Your recovery key, because it is the main way back in if you forget your code.
3. Download York Vault on the App Store or Google Play, and set your code.