When we started on VaultBe, the first design decision was about something that would not be in the app: a sign-up screen.
An email address is data too
A vault app that asks for your email has learned, before you add a single photo, that this particular person wants to hide something. That list of addresses then sits in a database, waiting for the day it is breached, sold or subpoenaed.
VaultBe has no such list. You install the app and draw a pattern. We do not know who you are, how many vaults you have, or whether you still use the app.
What replaces an account
- Identity: your pattern. It selects the vault and derives its key.
- Password reset: your recovery phrase, kept by you.
- Cloud storage: your own iCloud, holding encrypted backups.
- Purchases: the App Store. Pro is tied to your Apple Account, and Apple does not tell us who you are.
No analytics either
VaultBe contains no analytics SDK, no advertising SDK and no third-party crash reporter. We do not see which features you use or how often. The only crash information we can receive is what Apple shares in aggregate from users who have opted in to share it with developers.
What we gave up
This is not free. Without accounts we cannot email you about updates, restore a forgotten pattern, or look up your subscription when you write to support. Without analytics we learn what to improve from the messages people choose to send us, not from dashboards.
We think that is the right trade for an app whose whole job is keeping things private. If you have feedback, the support form is the way we hear it.