Where to keep gift card codes so nobody spends them first

A code is cash with no name on it

Most gift cards work like a bearer note: whoever has the number and the PIN can spend the balance, usually online, usually in seconds. There’s no chargeback and rarely a way to get it back once it’s gone. That shapes everything about where the code should live.

The three things that matter:

Best option: redeem it into your account

If the card is for a shop where you have an account, redeem it there as soon as you get it. The balance then sits behind your account login, which you can protect with a strong password and two-factor authentication. A thief with your old photo of the code finds it already used.

This works for app stores, big online shops and many chains. It doesn’t work for cards you plan to give away, cards for shops without accounts, or prepaid cards you use at a till.

Until you redeem it: keep it locked

The usual homes for gift card codes are the worst ones:

• A photo of the back in the camera roll, which syncs to your other devices and can surface in search by its printed numbers. You can search Photos by date, place, category, people you have named and text, with an email address or a phone number as Apple’s examples of text.
• A screenshot of an email code, saved to the same library. Screenshots are saved to your photo library automatically.
• A note with no lock, readable by anyone holding your unlocked phone.

A locked place is better. In Sealed:

1. Add the photo of the card front and back, with the receipt, from Photos. That’s free. You can add photos from Photos, files from Files, and items from the share sheet of other apps.
2. Or type the code as a record, with fields named Card number, PIN, Balance and Shop. Lock the PIN field so it stays masked. In a record you can add fields of your own with Add Field, and lock any field so its value stays masked until you reveal it.
3. Copy the code at checkout, and the clipboard clears itself shortly after. The fields of a record have a copy button, and what you copy stays off your other devices and clears from the clipboard after 45 seconds.
4. Delete the photos from Photos once they’re in the vault. 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.

Typed records are part of Sealed Pro.

When you give one as a present

If you’re sending a gift card by message, you’re sending cash in plain text. Send the code in one message and tell the person to redeem it right away, or give the physical card. Keep your own receipt until they confirm it worked, since that’s your proof if the card was tampered with before you bought it.

Watch for the scam pattern

Gift cards are the payment method of choice for many scams precisely because they’re hard to trace. A caller who says you owe taxes, a “boss” texting for cards for a client, a tech-support popup asking for codes: all are the same trick. Nobody legitimate asks you to pay in gift cards.

Our guides to clipboard privacy and keeping screenshots private cover the two ways codes most often leave a phone. For codes that unlock software rather than spend money, see software license keys.

Where Sealed helps, and where it doesn’t

It helps keep unspent codes, PINs and receipts behind a passcode separate from your phone’s, masked until you reveal them. Sealed has a passcode of its own, a gate inside the app that is separate from your iPhone passcode. In a record, sensitive fields such as a document number stay masked until you tap Reveal Values and confirm with Face ID or your device passcode, and they mask themselves again after 30 seconds.

It helps copy a code without leaving it on the clipboard for long. The fields of a record have a copy button, and what you copy stays off your other devices and clears from the clipboard after 45 seconds.

It doesn’t check balances, redeem codes or alert you when a card is used. Only the shop can see that. Records keep logins, 2FA codes, credit cards, bank accounts, IDs and passports, Wi-Fi networks, recovery codes, license keys, contacts and custom fields.

It doesn’t keep typed records on the free plan. On the free plan you can add photos. Videos, documents, notes and records need Sealed Pro.