Make room for
what matters.

Start with a vault

Create a vault, choose a pattern and select a location in Files. Choose On My iPhone for local storage, or iCloud Drive to keep the encrypted working file there. Your changes save back to that same file.

Use a pattern you can remember. Optional recovery setup generates 24 words that let you regain access if you forget it. Save the phrase outside the vault and confirm the requested words before recovery is enabled.

Add photos, files or a scan

Use the add button in the library to select several photos or files, take a photo, or scan a document. The scanner combines your pages into one PDF. Imports are copies; the originals stay in Photos or Files. When you take a photo inside the app, Locked Documents does not add a copy to Photos.

• Photos: JPEG, PNG, HEIC and HEIF.
• PDFs: unlocked documents with up to 250 pages, including scans.
• Text: TXT and CSV in UTF-8 or UTF-16 with a byte-order mark. The text preview shows up to 100,000 characters.
• Office files: DOC, DOCX, XLS and XLSX are stored without an in-app preview.
• Other files: ZIP archives, audio and other regular files are stored as attachments, without extraction, playback or preview. Folders, packages, symbolic links and empty files cannot be imported.

Each file can be up to 20 MiB. Each vault can hold up to 200 items. A password-protected PDF needs to be unlocked before importing.

Import several files

Select the files in the picker, then confirm your selection. The app shows progress as it reads and encrypts each file. If a file cannot be imported, use Review files to see its name and the reason. Valid selections are saved together.

Cancel during preparation to discard that selection; files already in your vault stay there. The final save finishes before another import can begin.

Save a copy to Files

Open a file and choose Save a copy from its options. For an attachment without a preview, the button is on its opening screen too. Choose Save to Files, then pick the destination in the system dialog.

The exported copy contains the original file contents and is outside your vault’s encryption. Your item stays in the vault. Check the destination, including any iCloud upload, before relying on that copy.

Working file, backup and pattern

Your working vault

The encrypted file that the app updates as you add or change items. It may be local or in iCloud Drive.

A manual backup

A separate encrypted snapshot exported from the app. Keep it in a safe location separate from your working file. Importing it creates a recovered vault with the contents it held at that time.

Your pattern

Your everyday unlock secret. A backup needs the pattern that protected it when it was created, unless a recovery phrase was already enabled.

Your recovery phrase

An optional, app-generated set of 24 words that can unlock the encrypted file and let you choose a new pattern. It restores access, not missing files. It must be enabled before access is lost.

Extra copies shows the last successful manual export recorded on this iPhone and whether the vault changed afterwards. The date does not confirm that the backup still exists or that iCloud finished uploading it. A gentle reminder can be dismissed for a week.

Change your pattern or set up recovery

Open Vault settings, then Pattern and recovery. Change pattern asks you to confirm the current pattern, then enter the new pattern twice. Recovery setup asks for the current pattern, shows 24 generated words, and checks three words from your saved copy before enabling recovery.

On the locked screen, choose Forgot pattern? and enter your recovery phrase, then choose a new pattern. A vault without recovery enabled still needs its original pattern. The app does not save the phrase as readable text.

Save a fresh encrypted backup after updating security settings. Older copies keep their earlier unlock methods. Update the app on every device before editing the updated vault. These controls update how the vault key is unlocked; they do not revoke keys someone obtained from an earlier copy. For suspected compromise, move files into a newly created vault.

Use another iPhone

Install Locked Documents on the other phone. For an iCloud working vault, choose Open existing vault and select the same file. Unlock with the pattern from the original vault or its recovery phrase.

To transfer a separate copy, export an encrypted backup and save it in iCloud Drive or send the saved file with AirDrop. On the other phone, choose Import a backup. Use its original pattern, or choose Use recovery phrase instead and select a new pattern for the restored copy. Your original vault and input backup are kept. An imported copy does not sync later changes.

Enable Face ID again on the new phone. Keep the original phone and vault until you have opened and checked the transferred files.

If an iCloud vault will not open

Open Files and check that the vault is available in the location you chose. If it is still downloading, allow that to finish. Check your iCloud account and connection, then return to Locked Documents and select the vault again.

If you have a separate backup, you can import it as a recovered vault. You will need the pattern or recovery phrase that protected that backup.

If you normally use Face ID

Keep your pattern safe too. Biometric access may become unavailable after changes to your device’s security settings. Use your pattern to unlock the vault when needed.

Contact support

Email lockeddocuments@vedranv.com for help. Include your device model, app version and the steps that led to the problem. Never send your pattern, recovery phrase or private files.

Current testers

If you installed a test build through TestFlight, use TestFlight’s “Send Beta Feedback” option to report a problem with that build.