How it works
- Pick the vault you are willing to show. Put ordinary things in it.
- In that vault's settings, choose Set Duress Pattern and draw a pattern you will remember under stress.
- If you are ever forced to open the app, draw the duress pattern instead of your real one.
The decoy vault opens exactly as it normally would. There is no warning, no animation and no delay to give it away.
What gets destroyed
VaultBe uses crypto-shredding. Rather than overwriting gigabytes of photos, it destroys the small pieces of key material that make them decryptable, then removes the encrypted files. For every vault other than the decoy, the duress pattern removes:
- the vault header that holds the wrapped master key,
- the encrypted index and all encrypted files on the device,
- the vault's backup records in iCloud.
Once the keys are gone, what remains is indistinguishable from random noise.
This is permanent
Duress Mode is deliberately a one-way door. Recovery phrases for the destroyed vaults stop working, because there is nothing left for them to unlock. Only set a duress pattern if you accept that trade, and choose one you will not draw by accident. Our Duress Mode guide walks through a safe setup.
When it helps, and when it does not
Duress Mode protects you when someone is watching you unlock: a border search, a controlling partner, a thief who wants "everything opened". It is not a substitute for a strong pattern, and it does nothing after a vault has already been opened in front of someone.
Common questions
Can I get my vaults back after using the duress pattern?
No. The keys are destroyed on the device and the backups are removed from iCloud. That is the point: nobody can make you restore something that no longer exists.
Will anyone be able to tell I used a duress pattern?
The app behaves like a normal unlock and opens a normal vault. The duress pattern keeps working afterwards and opens the same vault.