Vaultine for Personal Safety — Keeping a Record Somewhere Safe

Situations this covers

—Photos, screenshots or financial records that may matter later to an advocate, a lawyer, a court or the police.

—Copies of documents you might need at short notice: ID, bank statements, tenancy or immigration papers, medical letters.

—A phone that someone else regularly picks up, borrows, or knows the passcode to.

—A device that could be taken, broken or reset, taking the only copy of everything with it.

What does the work

Encrypted backup to your own Dropbox

Optional, and encrypted before it leaves the device, so a copy exists somewhere other than the phone in your hand. This is the feature that matters most here.

12-word recovery phrase

Access does not depend on the device surviving. Keep the phrase somewhere separate from the phone it protects.

Decoy Vault

A second code opens a separate vault stocked with files you chose, so an unlock in front of someone produces something ordinary while the real vault stays closed and intact.

No account or email to sign up

The app itself needs no sign-up and no email, so there is no account someone else could reset. A Pro purchase still goes through the app store, which keeps its own records.

Stealth auto-lock

The vault closes and cryptographic keys are cleared from memory the moment the app is minimized, so putting the phone down does not leave it open.

Built-in secure viewer

Photos and documents open inside the vault, so nothing is decrypted into a camera roll or folder where it would be visible.

Keeping a record, not destroying one

Documentation matters in these situations, and it usually matters later rather than now: photos, screenshots of messages, financial records, letters. What it needs to do is stay intact and stay unreadable to anyone else until it reaches someone who can act on it.

That makes this the opposite of the usual vault pitch. Vaultine has a Duress Vault, a code that wipes your real vaults when entered, and for some people it is the right tool. For preserving a record it usually is not, because destroying the record under pressure is the outcome to avoid. The Decoy Vault is the fitting feature here: a second code opens a separate vault holding files you chose in advance, so an unlock in front of someone produces an ordinary result while the real vault stays closed and untouched.

A copy that isn't on the device

Phones get taken, broken and reset. If the only copy of a record is on the phone, then whoever controls the phone controls the record.

Encrypted backup to your own Dropbox puts a copy somewhere else, encrypted before it leaves the device, so it is unreadable to Dropbox or anyone reaching the account. The 12-word recovery phrase is what restores access to it, which is why it belongs somewhere other than the phone it protects: written down somewhere safe, or left with someone you trust.

What this cannot do

This section matters more than the rest of the page.

Vaultine is visible on the device. It appears as Vaultine, with its own name and icon. The Decoy Vault changes what opens when a particular code is used; it does not change whether the app is on the phone. For some people, an unfamiliar app being found is itself the risk, and no setting inside the app changes that.

It does not defeat monitoring software. If something on the device is capturing the screen, keystrokes or activity, it can capture what happens inside any app, encrypted or not. A device the other person has never had access to is safer than one you are trying to secure after the fact. That might be a friend's phone, a work computer, or a machine at a library or an advocacy centre.

A purchase leaves a trail we do not control. Vaultine itself requires no account and no email address. But if you buy Vaultine Pro, that purchase goes through Apple, Google or Microsoft, and their records are their own: a receipt can be emailed to the account that made the purchase, and on a shared or family-linked account it can appear in a purchase history someone else can see. The free tier involves no purchase at all, and covers one vault of up to 10 files. If a purchase record would be a problem, that is worth knowing before you buy rather than after.

It is not a safety plan. Software cannot tell you what is safe to do, when, or in what order. That is real expertise and it exists.

Where the actual help is

Domestic abuse advocates and helplines work on exactly these questions, including technology and device safety specifically, and they do it without charge and without judgment. Many organisations publish guidance on phones, accounts and monitoring, and can help you work out what is safe in your particular circumstances rather than in general.

If you are deciding whether a vault app is a good idea for your situation, that is a better question to ask them than to ask us. Vaultine's job here is narrow: keep a record encrypted, keep it deniable during an ordinary look at the phone, and help a copy of it exist somewhere the device cannot take with it.

The bottom line

Vaultine is a file encryption app. It can keep a record unreadable and help a copy of it survive, and that is genuinely useful. It cannot make a situation safe, it cannot tell you what to do, and no software should be the thing you rely on for that. Domestic abuse advocates and helplines do this work professionally, including specific guidance on phones and technology, and they are the right people to talk to about what is safe in your circumstances.

Frequently asked questions

Can Vaultine hide that it is installed on my phone?

No, and this matters, so we want to be plain about it. Vaultine appears on the device as Vaultine, with its own name and icon. The Decoy Vault changes what opens when a particular code is entered; it does not change whether the app is visible on the phone. If someone checking your device would react badly to finding an unfamiliar app, a vault on that device may not be the right approach, and an advocate can help you think it through.

Does Vaultine protect me if there is monitoring software on my device?

No. If something on the device is recording your screen, your keystrokes, or your activity, it can capture what you do inside any app, including this one, and encryption does not prevent that. A device that the other person has never had access to is safer than trying to secure one that they have. Domestic abuse organisations have specific guidance on device monitoring and can help check.

What happens to my files if my phone is taken, broken or reset?

If you turned on encrypted backup to your own Dropbox, an encrypted copy exists independently of the phone, and your 12-word recovery phrase restores access to it. The backup is encrypted before it leaves the device, so Dropbox cannot read it either. Without a backup, the vault exists only on that one device.

Should I use the Duress Vault?

Usually not, in this situation. The Duress Vault wipes your real vaults, and a record you may need later for an advocate, a lawyer or a court is the one thing you generally do not want destroyed. The Decoy Vault is the feature that fits: it diverts without touching the real vault. Duress exists if your circumstances genuinely call for it, but it is the wrong default here.

A record of what's happening shouldn't live only on a phone someone else can pick up.