1 Setting up the vault
The very first time you launch the app, a short introduction walks you through the essentials. Then you set up your vault:
- Choose a password. It's the key to your vault.
- Optional: enable Face ID / Touch ID for convenient unlocking.
- Write down the recovery code that's shown, and keep it somewhere safe.
2 Unlocking & security
Every time you launch the app (and after locking it), the vault is locked. You unlock it with Face ID / Touch ID or your password.
PIN as a convenience lock
You can also set a PIN in the settings. It's a quick convenience lock for everyday use – the actual encryption still depends on your password/biometrics.
Recovery code
If you forget your password, you can reopen the vault with the recovery code. Without either of the two, there is no way in.
Locking
The lock icon lets you lock the vault instantly at any time. When the app moves to the background, a privacy screen also covers it automatically.
3 Home screen & overview
After unlocking, you land on the Overview screen – the entry point to your vault. At the top you'll see the date and time in your chosen app language, along with a personal greeting.
Personal greeting
Under Appearance → Greeting name in the settings, you can enter your name; the overview then greets you depending on the time of day, e.g. "Good evening, Kai". Leave the field empty to skip the name.
The tiles
Large tiles take you straight to each area: Photos, Albums, Documents, Audio, Contacts, Search/Favorites, and the security of your credentials. A subtle slideshow of your photos plays in the background.
Upcoming birthdays Pro
If one of your contacts has a birthday coming up within the next 14 days, the Contacts tile shows it as a small pill in the top right: name and days remaining. That way you never miss one. This display is a Pro feature and can be turned off in settings under Appearance.
4 Adding media & camera
There are several ways to bring content into the vault:
- From the Photos library: use the + in the header to select photos/videos (including Live Photos).
- From Files: Menu → Add → Import from Files (iCloud Drive, Downloads, …).
- Camera: use the built-in camera to capture directly into the vault – no detour through the Photos app.
- Scan a document: Menu → Add → Scan document turns several pages into a single PDF (with edge detection).
- Import shared items: read in content securely transferred from another device via a code.
The camera
At the bottom you switch capture mode: Photo, Live Pro (a Live Photo with a short moment of motion), and Video. The shutter button stays fixed in place; the mode selector and controls rotate as you tilt the device.
Captures are always saved upright – no matter how you're holding the iPhone. Photos and videos shot in landscape land the right way up in the vault, just like with Apple's Camera app.
5 Managing originals
Removing originals from the Photos app
After importing from the library, the app asks whether the originals in the Photos app should be removed. You choose per image which ones get deleted and which stay in the library. Deleted originals stay in the Photos app's "Recently Deleted" album for 30 days and can be restored from there.
Saving back to the Photos app
Conversely, you can put content from the vault back into the library: in the detail view via More → Save to Photos, or several items at once via the selection bar. The original capture date is preserved.
PDFs can't be saved back to the Photos app; Live Photos are saved as a still image.
6 Organizing: albums & keywords
Albums & sub-albums
Create albums via Add → New album. Albums can contain sub-albums – open an album and create another one inside it. This lets you build any structure you like.
Cover image & mosaic
You can set a custom cover image for each album from its contents (otherwise the newest item is shown automatically). Parent albums that only contain sub-albums automatically show a 2×2 mosaic of their sub-albums' cover images as their tile – so you can see what's inside at a glance.
Album menu
Inside an open album, the menu lists actions as an icon row: rename, slideshow, sort order, share, plus hide, cover image, and delete. Use Show in Photos to also display the album's contents in the Photos tab.
Moving items
Select items (selection mode) and move them into an album via the menu. In the picker, "New album" sits right at the top; your albums appear below it, with sub-albums indented under their parent album – so you hit the right target even in nested structures.
Favorites & keywords
Mark items as a favorite (heart) and assign keywords Pro. You can assign keywords one at a time or add them to several items at once (batch) via the selection bar.
7 Hidden albums Pro
You can hide particularly sensitive albums: they then disappear, contents and all, from the gallery and the "All" view. If you hide an album, all of its sub-albums automatically count as hidden too.
A small eye icon on the album tile shows that an album is hidden – visible only once you've revealed hidden albums.
To reveal them, you confirm your identity; after that you can see hidden albums normally again and unhide them if you want.
8 Finding: search, sorting, filters
- Search: Pull the view down to search for albums or media (including by keyword) – across all levels.
- Sorting: Menu → View → Sort order (e.g. newest/oldest first, by capture date).
- Filter: Menu → View → Filter shows only photos, videos, documents, or favorites.
- Group by date: groups media by month instead of an endless grid.
9 Viewing & editing
Tap an item to open it in the detail view. There you can zoom, browse, and access further actions via the More menu:
- Add a note and view info (format, size, capture date, location if available).
- Edit image: rotate, flip, and crop – save as a new copy or replace the original.
- Trim video: set the start and end point on the timeline (also operable via VoiceOver) and save as a copy or a replacement.
Slideshow Pro
Start a slideshow with a gentle zoom/pan motion (Ken Burns effect). You set the duration per image and random order in the settings. Tapping the image or swiping left to right ends the slideshow.
10 Documents, notes & scans
The Documents tab brings together everything that isn't a photo or video – split into Notes, Files, and PDFs.
Notes Pro
Write notes directly into the vault: password hints, serial numbers, anything that shouldn't sit in a regular notes app. Notes stay encrypted at all times and are only decrypted in memory for reading – never stored as a file.
Scanning documents Pro
Via Add → Scan document you capture several pages in a row. The app detects the edges automatically and corrects the perspective; the result is a single PDF.
While scanning, the app also reads the text on the page and suggests a title from it – usually the document's heading. The recognized text also makes the scan searchable: you can find an invoice later by a word inside it, without opening it. Text recognition follows your chosen app language and runs entirely on the device.
Files Pro
Any file can be imported from the Files app. The app opens Office documents via the iOS preview; the file is briefly decrypted for that and removed again immediately afterward.
11 Voice recordings & transcription
In the Audio tab you record voice memos directly into the vault. While recording you see a waveform, then duration and date in the list.
Managing several at once
Use Select in the header to mark several recordings and move them into an album or delete them together.
Trimming Pro
Open a recording and trim it down to the relevant part using the timeline – you set the start and end yourself. Save the result as a new recording or replace the original.
Convert to text Pro
Every recording can be converted to text. Open the recording and tap Transcribe. Recognition runs entirely on the device – no audio data is sent anywhere. You can edit and copy the result, and find it again via search.
The app inserts paragraph breaks at pauses in speech; you set how long a pause needs to be for that yourself. You choose the recognition language per recording – the languages offered are the ones installed on your iPhone.
Converting to text is an optional feature. Transcripts you've already created always remain readable and editable.
12 Contacts
In the Contacts tab you keep addresses that shouldn't be in your regular address book – encrypted like everything else in the vault.
Import or create new
You can bring in contacts from your iPhone's address book – choosing exactly which ones. The app doesn't read any other contacts. You can just as easily create new contacts directly in the vault.
Fields
The same fields as in Apple's Contacts are supported: prefix, title, first and last name, birth name, nickname, company and department, multiple phone numbers and email addresses with type, addresses, websites, messenger services, social profiles, related people, plus birthday and other date fields. The birthday is displayed in the contact using your app language.
Sorting
Above the list you choose the sort order: by first name, last name, or days until birthday (the next upcoming one first).
Birthdays in the list Pro
If a contact has an upcoming birthday, the list shows it on the right as an orange pill with the days remaining. This display is a Pro feature and can be turned on or off in settings under Appearance → Show birthdays in the contact list.
Take action directly
From within a contact you can call, write a message or email, open the address in the Maps app, or start a WhatsApp chat if it's installed.
13 Logins: passwords, cards & AutoFill
The Logins tab is the place for everything people otherwise scribble on notes: credentials, cards, document numbers, PINs. Known services automatically get a brand icon in the right colour – with no network requests at all: no web favicon is ever loaded (that would reveal which services you have saved). Unknown services get a coloured tile with an initial letter instead.
Nine kinds of entries
Tap + and pick what it is: login, card, bank account, ID document, PIN / code, licence, Wi-Fi, backup codes or loyalty card. Each kind brings its own fields along – a card, for instance, comes with cardholder, number, expiry, security code and PIN. Confidential fields are hidden by default and only revealed when you tap them.
You are not tied to the template: fields can be renamed, removed and added, and for every field of your own you decide whether it is shown hidden. If you change the kind of an entry, the fields are swapped out – and if you have already typed something in, the app asks first.
Finding things: filters, favourites, sorting
Above the list sits a bar with All · Favourites · Codes and the kinds you actually use – empty categories never show up. Next to it you switch the sort order: by title or by recently used. Favourites stay on top either way; you set the star in the detail view.
Several accounts with the same service are grouped into one card with several rows – instead of three „Google" entries in a row. Logins also appear in the global search, which looks at title, username and address. Passwords, card numbers and notes deliberately stay out of the searchable index.
Verification codes at a glance
The Codes filter lists every entry with a two-factor code, each with its countdown bar. The code stays hidden until you tap it – a list of open codes on an unlocked device would give everything away. One tap reveals and copies it at the same time.
Services that deviate from the norm are handled properly: eight digits, a 60-second interval or a different hash algorithm are taken from the QR code instead of stubbornly computing six-digit 30-second codes.
The other way round, a verification code can also be passed on: the QR code shown can be shared, for example to move an account into another authenticator app. The warning that belongs with it sits right below the button – this QR code is the secret, and “Save to Photos” would drop it unprotected into your photo library.
Cards & bank accounts
As you type a card number, its check digit is verified and the card brand recognised (Visa, Mastercard, American Express and others) – both calculated on your device, without asking any provider. For an IBAN, the app verifies the checksum. These hints catch transposed digits; whether the card or account actually exists is something only your bank can tell you. Everything you enter is saved either way.
The overview shows the brand and the last four digits; the full number appears only when you tap it. It is copied without spaces – exactly as payment forms expect it.
Photographing an ID document
ID cards, passports and residence permits don’t have to be typed in. Inside an ID entry you capture both sides – the machine-readable lines along the bottom edge matter most, because that is where the verified details are. The app reads the images itself and proposes name, document number and expiry date. It also reads the EU driving licence via its field numbers, and from the front of a German ID card it picks up what is printed there in plain text.
Before anything is taken over you get a preview in which every field can be deselected individually and carries its origin: “verified” means the check digits of the machine-readable zone confirmed the value; “guessed” comes from the printed text and deserves a second look. A misread expiry date would be worse than an empty field. Anything you typed yourself is never overwritten by the scan. If you like, the photos go into the vault encrypted and stay attached to the entry.
Loyalty cards with a barcode
The loyalty card kind turns the number into a real barcode – EAN-13, EAN-8 and UPC-A are drawn by the app itself, plus Code 128 and QR. It suggests the format from the length of the number, and you can switch it at any time. You do not have to type the number either: point the camera at the card and the scanner reads EAN, UPC, Code 128 and more.
Show card opens the code full width and turns the screen to full brightness – the most common reason a checkout scanner cannot read a display. The previous brightness is restored when you close it. If number and format do not match, the app says so while you are creating the entry, not at the till.
Sharing Wi-Fi without reading it out
A Wi-Fi entry holds the network name and the key, and turns them into a QR code on request. Guests point their camera at it and they are connected – nobody has to spell out a 20-character key. The code is created on your device; none of it goes online.
Backup codes for emergencies
The emergency codes that services hand out for two-factor sign-in go in as a list – one per line. Tick off each code you use up; it stays visible with a line through it, and above the list you see how many are left. That is a good deal safer than the screenshot in the Photos app, where these codes usually end up.
Expiry date & reminder
Cards, ID documents, licences and loyalty cards can carry an expiry date. If you want, the app reminds you 30 and 7 days in advance – early enough to renew, and once more shortly before. The notification names neither the entry nor its kind, only that something is expiring; „your card is about to end" has no business on a lock screen. Permission for notifications is requested when you switch on your first reminder, not before.
Attaching scans and photos
Every entry can have media from the vault attached – the scan of your ID next to the ID details, the photo of a card next to the card. Both stay inside the same encrypted vault; nothing is copied and nothing is exported. If you delete the medium later, the link quietly disappears instead of leaving an empty tile behind.
Generating passwords
When creating an entry, the app can generate a password for you – random (length and character types configurable), memorable, built from real words such as calm-salty-House-Keeper with a separator of your choice, or a plain PIN for a door code or SIM. With „at least one of each kind" you can be sure a digit and a special character really are in there – some forms reject the result otherwise. A bar shows the strength.
Security check
On the home screen a tile leads to the security of your logins. Behind it the app examines your entries on the device and names what could be better: reused passwords, weak ones and those unchanged for a long time – plus whether a password matches the username or also appears in the note.
If an entry has no web address, it says so too, because without one AutoFill cannot match it to any form. And where the app knows a service offers two-factor sign-in, it points that out as long as you haven’t set it up there. From the finding, “Change password at the service” takes you straight to the provider’s own page.
Filling in Safari and apps
For MyMediaVault to offer suggestions when you sign in, enable it once under Settings → General → AutoFill & Passwords and select MyMediaVault there.
After that, it appears above the keyboard as soon as you tap a login field. Every access requires Face ID or Touch ID – even if the app itself is currently closed. Only the single entry you choose is ever handed over.
New credentials while signing up
When creating an account on a website, choose Generate new in the same view: you set the length or word count, optionally enter a username – or type your own password. The credential is inserted into the form and moves into the vault automatically the next time you unlock the app.
Extra protection
Under Settings → Security there are two more screws to turn: „Protect passwords with Face ID as well" asks again when a password is shown or copied – useful if you hand over your unlocked iPhone now and then. And the clipboard clears itself after 15, 30 or 60 seconds, or not at all; it is never shared with your other devices anyway.
When you change a password, the app keeps the last five with their dates – in case the service did not accept the change after all. The history sits collapsed inside the entry, stays hidden and can be deleted at any time. It never reaches the AutoFill extension.
Trash
Deleted logins go to the trash like everything else and can be restored from there; after the retention period you set, they are removed for good. In the trash they are marked „contains credentials" – if you would rather not leave them lying around for weeks, delete them there by hand. They disappear from AutoFill immediately, not only when the period runs out.
Transferring to another device
The sort menu of the list leads to Transfer: you pick entries, and the app creates an eight-character code plus a file encrypted with it. Send the file to the second device via AirDrop or a message, open it there with Import shared and enter the code. Pass the file and the code on separately – together in one message the encryption is worthless.
14 Trash & duplicates
Trash
Deleted items move to the Trash and can be restored from there. You set the retention period in the settings (7, 30, or 90 days); after that they're permanently removed. Alongside the item count, the Trash row also shows the storage space used, so you can see how much emptying it will free up.
Find duplicates Pro
Under Settings → Maintenance → Find duplicates, the app tracks down byte-identical copies in your library and moves all but one copy per group to the Trash (recoverable).
Check integrity
Also under Maintenance: integrity check makes sure every encrypted file can be decrypted without errors, catching silent corruption.
15 Sharing & export
- Export / Share: pass content on via the system share sheet (e.g. AirDrop).
- Save to Photos: back into the library (see section 5).
- Share encrypted (code): transfer content securely to another device – the recipient needs the code to import it.
16 Backup & restore
Under Settings → Backup you create an encrypted backup of your entire vault as a file, which you store somewhere safe (e.g. in Files/iCloud Drive or on other storage).
If you lose your device or switch to a new one, you restore the backup and regain access to all your content with your credentials. Without a backup and without your password/recovery code, there is no way back.
When restoring, you can also just add content – items that already exist and are identical won't be imported twice.
17 Settings
In the Settings area (menu) you'll find, among other things:
Settings are organized into sections; at the top there's a search field if you want to jump straight to an option.
- Security & access: change password, PIN, biometrics, recovery code, auto-lock, wipe after ten failed attempts. For logins there is also: Face ID when showing and copying, the clipboard timeout and the password history.
- Appearance: language (German, English, French, Spanish, or System), greeting name for the home screen, show birthdays in the contact list Pro, app icon Pro, haptics.
- Capture & media: default camera mode, import behavior, slideshow – and audio transcription Pro with a display of which recognition method is currently running.
- Privacy: remove metadata when sharing, watermark Pro, show hidden albums.
- AutoFill: enablement status, appearance of the AutoFill view (light, dark, or match system), suggestions above the keyboard.
- Smart search Pro: turn on-device analysis on or off.
- Data & storage: trash retention (7/30/90 days), backup, check integrity, find duplicates.
18 Security & privacy
MyMediaVault is built for maximum privacy:
- All content is encrypted with AES-256 and stored exclusively locally on the device – photos and videos as well as documents, notes, contacts, voice recordings, and credentials.
- The app works entirely offline – no network, no cloud, no analytics, no ads, no tracking. Even the credential brand icons work without any network access.
- No data is collected or transmitted, and there is no user account.
- Face ID / Touch ID are managed by the operating system; the app never gets access to your biometric data.
- Plaintext is never stored permanently on disk – content is only decrypted in memory when needed.
- Contacts are only imported when you select them individually. The app doesn't read any other entries in your address book.
- Speech recognition explicitly runs on the device; no audio data is sent to Apple or to us.
- AutoFill only hands over a credential after a successful Face ID or Touch ID check – and always only the one you select.
- Location is only attached to a recording at your explicit request, and stays encrypted on the device.
- The vault is excluded from iCloud backup – for backups, you create your own encrypted backup.
Details in the Privacy Policy.
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