1Password or Sealed for your IDs and documents?

Disclosure. Sealed is made by Loopware LLC. We read 1Password’s own pages and its App Store listing on 13 November 2026 and did not test it. Where it is ahead, this page says so.

Two different starting points

1Password starts from logins. Its App Store text says it fills forms, payment details and logins in websites and apps, works as an authenticator for one-time codes, and encrypts what you store end-to-end, with only you holding the keys (App Store record). Its item types go well beyond logins: Passport, Driver License, Credit Card, Bank Account, Social Security Number and Document, among others (1Password, item categories).

Sealed starts from photos. Sealed is a private photo vault for the photos, videos and documents you’d rather not keep in your camera roll. It also keeps typed records. Records keep logins, 2FA codes, credit cards, bank accounts, IDs and passports, Wi-Fi networks, recovery codes, license keys, contacts and custom fields.

So the overlap is IDs, cards and scans. Here is how each handles them.

Side by side

On the App Store, 1Password lists Individual Annual at USD 47.99 and Family Annual at USD 71.99 (App Store page). The website and the App Store charge differently, so check both before you pay.

Where 1Password is ahead

• It fills logins. That is its main job. Copying a value out of a vault and pasting it is slower.
• It runs almost everywhere. Phone, computer and browser, from one account (App Store record).
• A family can rescue a member. Its glossary says someone with recovery rights, such as a family organizer, can restore access for a person who lost the account password or the key (glossary). In Sealed, the recovery key you saved is the only way back.
• More item types. Medical Record, Membership, Crypto Wallet, SSH Key and Server are on its list too (item categories).

Where Sealed fits better

Your camera roll, not your logins. A vault built for photos imports them, seals them and then offers to clear the originals. After you import photos, Sealed asks whether to delete the originals from Photos or keep them, and says that deleted originals move to Recently Deleted in Photos.

No account at all. No email, no sign-in, nothing on a server of ours. We run no server, so there is nothing of yours for us to see.

A backup in your own iCloud. Backup goes to your own iCloud account, not to a server of ours. Encrypted iCloud backup is free.

Paying once. Sealed Pro Lifetime costs $79.99, paid once, with no subscription and nothing to renew. The password manager’s plans are billed monthly or yearly (pricing).

Locks made for a vault. You can open Sealed with Face ID or Touch ID, a 4-, 6- or 9-digit passcode, a password or a pattern. A decoy vault opens with a second passcode, and it is part of Sealed Pro.

A setup many people end up with

1. Keep logins in a password manager, whether 1Password or the Passwords app, with AutoFill on.
2. Keep photos, scans and the numbers you only read out in Sealed. Records and documents need Sealed Pro.
3. Keep an account’s printed backup codes apart from the password they back up. Our guide to storing backup codes explains why.
4. Write down both ways back: 1Password’s Emergency Kit and Sealed’s recovery key. During setup Sealed gives you a recovery key: a long code of letters and numbers, in groups, that can bring your vault back.

For the record types, see Sealed’s records. For scanning paper, see how to store documents securely on iPhone.

Where Sealed helps, and where it doesn’t

It helps when the things you most want kept are photos and scans, sealed on the phone with no account behind them. Sealed encrypts every file with AES-256-GCM before it is saved.

It isn’t a password manager. Records keep logins, 2FA codes, credit cards, bank accounts, IDs and passports, Wi-Fi networks, recovery codes, license keys, contacts and custom fields. You open a record and copy from it: nothing fills it in for you.

It doesn’t have an Android, Windows or web app. Sealed runs on iPhone and iPad.

It doesn’t let anyone restore your access for you. Because your key never reaches us, we cannot recover your vault or reset your passcode for you.

It doesn’t hold IDs, cards or documents on the free plan. On the free plan you can add photos. Videos, documents, notes and records need Sealed Pro.