Fully offline, no account

Many vault apps start by asking for your email. Velcrypt does not ask for anything. There is nothing to sign up for, nothing to log into and nothing on a server that could leak, because there is no server. This page explains what that means in practice, including the downside.

What “offline” means in Velcrypt

An offline vault is one that stores and encrypts everything on the device itself, without relying on a remote service. In Velcrypt that means:

• No account. No username, password reset or profile.
• No email or phone number. Velcrypt never asks who you are.
• No servers. There is no Velcrypt cloud that holds your files or keys.
• No uploads. Photos, videos and documents you import stay on your iPhone.
• No analytics on vault content. Nothing about what you store, how many items you have or what they show is collected.

Your files are encrypted on the phone with keys derived from your pattern, as described on the encryption page. The keys never exist anywhere else.

Why no account is a privacy feature

Every account is a link between you and your data. It is an email address someone can search for, a password someone can phish and a database someone can breach. Leaving accounts out removes all three.

It also means Velcrypt cannot hand over your files, because it has none. There is no company-side copy to request. The guide on photo vaults without an account goes deeper into why this matters, and the privacy policy describes exactly what the app and website do and do not collect.

Excluded from iCloud and computer backups

In the first version, vault data is excluded from iCloud Backup and from computer backups made with Finder or iTunes. That is intentional: a backup is another copy, stored somewhere you do not fully control, and Velcrypt keeps the number of copies at one.

This is different from Apple's own Hidden album, which syncs through iCloud Photos when that is turned on. If you are unsure how your existing photos are stored, read are hidden photos saved to iCloud?

The honest trade-off: no recovery

Keeping everything on one device has a clear cost, and it is better to see it plainly:

Situation	Can the vault be recovered?
You forget your pattern	No
Your phone is lost or stolen	No
Your phone breaks beyond repair	No
You restore a new phone from a backup	No, vault data is not in the backup
You delete Velcrypt from the phone	No, deleting an iOS app removes its data

Nobody can help, including Velcrypt, because no one else ever had a copy. Before you move irreplaceable files into a vault, decide where a second copy should live, for example on an encrypted drive you keep at home. The guide on what to do if you forget your vault pattern explains the options that remain.

Planned: encrypted backup

An encrypted backup and recovery option is planned for a future version, as part of the optional Premium upgrade. The goal is to let you keep a protected copy without giving up the principle that only you hold the keys. There is no date for it yet, and nothing in this page should be read as a promise of when it will arrive.

Good habits for an offline vault

• Choose a pattern you will remember and practise it in the first days.
• Keep a separate copy of anything irreplaceable, such as ID scans or family photos, in a place you trust.
• Delete originals deliberately once a copy is in the vault, including from Recently Deleted. See deleting originals after import.
• Keep the auto-lock delay short so an open vault does not stay open if you put the phone down.