If the app is gone, your vault still opens

The question it answers

What happens to your photos if the app you keep them in stops working one day? It is a fair question to ask of any vault. Apps get pulled from stores, phones get old, companies close.

The open copy keeps a copy of your vault in your iCloud Drive, in a folder named Sealed, that opens without the app on any computer, with your recovery key and the Sealed reader.

How it works

The open copy is a folder. Inside are your encrypted files, an encrypted list of what they are, a short note that explains the folder, and the reader. Each file in the open copy is the vault’s own encrypted file, copied byte for byte. The list of what the open copy holds is encrypted too, so the folder doesn’t even show how many items are in it.

The reader is open source and travels inside every open copy, as a Python script and an offline web page.

To open it, you need two things: the folder and your recovery key. Run the reader on a computer, point it at the folder, type the key, and it writes your photos, videos, notes and records back out as ordinary files.

Anyone who holds your recovery key can open your vault, and Sealed’s printed key sheet says never to keep it in a photo, a message or an email. So the open copy is as safe as your recovery key is.

What it costs

Everything in the open copy stays encrypted, it uses about as much iCloud Drive space as your vault, and it is only as current as its last save.

Backup uses your iCloud storage, and when it is full Sealed says so and stops adding new items. The open copy takes its space on top of the backup, so together they need about twice the space of your vault. The open copy is free, and you can also save the same folder to Files, a drive or a computer. If storage is tight, export the folder to a drive instead.

Turning it on

The open copy is off until you turn it on, and the automatic copy starts only once your recovery key is saved.

1. Save your recovery key first. The recovery key page explains how.
2. In Sealed’s Settings, open Open Without Sealed. In Settings, under Data, Open Without Sealed has a Keep a Copy in iCloud Drive switch, a Save Copy Now button, and Export a Copy for Files, a drive or a computer.
3. Turn on the copy in iCloud Drive, or export the folder once, to a drive or a computer, and keep it there.

With the switch on, Sealed saves the copy again once a week, after 20 or more new items, or when your recovery key has been replaced.

What it leaves out

• Files Space Saver took off the phone. Items that Space Saver keeps only in your iCloud backup are listed in the open copy, but the copy can’t include them.
• Some kinds of item. The open copy leaves out the decoy vault, Recently Deleted, and shared items that have expired or are view only.

The encryption specification describes the folder’s format, for anyone who wants to check the reader’s work.

With a duress code

Entering a duress code deletes this vault’s open copy from iCloud Drive, and leaves the iCloud backup alone. The duress code page explains why.

Where Sealed helps, and where it doesn’t

It helps if you want your photos to outlast the app, with no account and no company in the way. The open copy is free, and you can also save the same folder to Files, a drive or a computer.

It doesn’t do these things:

• Stay current by itself every second. With the switch on, Sealed saves the copy again once a week, after 20 or more new items, or when your recovery key has been replaced.
• Open without your recovery key. Lose the key and the copy stays locked. Because your key never reaches us, we cannot recover your vault or reset your passcode for you.
• Start on its own. The open copy is off until you turn it on, and the automatic copy starts only once your recovery key is saved.
• Hold the files Space Saver took off the phone. Items that Space Saver keeps only in your iCloud backup are listed in the open copy, but the copy can’t include them.
• Replace the backup. It is a second copy for a different day. See the backup page.