ArkWarden

What ArkWarden does

ArkWarden is a privacy-focused encrypted vault for your iPhone. It holds photos, videos, documents and audio, and encrypts each file on the device with AES-256-GCM before it is written to storage. The core encryption code is open source.

No account, no sign-up, no server, no ads, no personal data collected, no file analytics. Works fully offline.

It is for people who want their private files encrypted and would feel comfortable handing their phone to someone else.

How the vault opens

You unlock it by drawing a pattern on a 5x5 grid. Your pattern is never stored. It runs through PBKDF2 with a salt unique to your vault and combines with a key your iPhone keeps in its Secure Enclave, a chip built so that key can never be read out or copied. A vault taken from your phone cannot be opened elsewhere.

The design is zero-knowledge: ArkWarden never receives the key that opens your files.

Features

• Per-file encryption: every file is encrypted individually with AES-256-GCM under a random 256-bit master key
• Two-factor authentication: add Face ID, Touch ID, a 6-digit PIN, or a YubiKey over NFC after your pattern
• A second vault: a second pattern opens a separate vault with its own files and appearance
• In-app capture: shoot photos and video inside the app so they never reach your camera roll
• Unlimited folders: organise files into folders within each category
• Intruder Detection: optional, takes an encrypted front-camera photo after 3, 5 or 10 wrong attempts
• Recovery phrase: a 12 or 24 word phrase restores access if you forget your pattern, kept only by you
• Optional backup: encrypted on the iPhone before it reaches your own iCloud, so neither Apple nor ArkWarden gets the key