Your private photos and files,behind a pattern only you know.
Pearlin is a private vault for photos and files on iPhone and iPad. Draw a pattern on a 5×5 grid, and it becomes the key to your photos, videos, documents and notes.
No sign-up and no ads. It comes with you to your next phone.
Coming soon to the App Store
For iPhone and iPad with iOS 17 or later.
Draw to open
-
No accountNo sign-up, email or password.
-
No adsNot now, not ever.
-
No trackingNo analytics in the app.
What keeps it private
Everything is encrypted on the phone before it’s saved. There’s no Pearlin server: backup and sync use your own iCloud, and only ever see encrypted data.
Your pattern is the key
Join six or more dots on a 5×5 grid. Argon2id turns that drawing into the key for one vault, with 64 MiB of memory per guess to slow anyone trying.
A recovery phrase
Every vault has one phrase that opens it if you forget the pattern. New vaults show a reminder until it’s saved.
No list of vaults
The lock screen never shows how many vaults there are. One unlock does the same work whichever vault opens, so the timing gives nothing away.
Separate vaults
Keep family, work and private apart. Each pattern opens its own vault with its own key.
Duress vault
Choose one vault that, when it’s opened, quietly erases the other vaults on this phone and then opens as normal.
Take it to a new phone
Export a vault as one encrypted file, move it by AirDrop, cable or USB drive, and open it on the next phone with the same pattern. No account, no network.
Encrypted iCloud backup
Vaults back up to your own iCloud, encrypted on the phone under a separate key, so Apple stores them without being able to read them.
iPhone and iPad sync
Keep the same vault on your iPhone and iPad. Every change is encrypted before it leaves the device.
Encrypted sharing
Send a vault with a one-time phrase. Choose when it expires, how many times it opens and whether files can be saved.
A camera that skips your library
Photos and videos you shoot with Pearlin’s own camera are saved to the vault, not to the Photos app.
Folders, notes and files
Nested folders, encrypted notes, PDFs and any file from the Files app, all inside the same vault.
Other app icons
Your Home Screen can show a calculator, a notepad or another everyday tool in place of Pearlin’s own icon.
Made for looking at
GIFs move, videos and wide photos turn to landscape, and a swipe down closes a photo right where you left off.
How it works
1. Draw it
Join at least six dots and turn at least once. Pearlin gives you a recovery phrase for the vault; write it down somewhere only you will look.
2. Fill it
Pick photos and videos from your library, files from the Files app, or shoot new ones with Pearlin’s camera. Delete the originals afterwards if you like.
3. Close it
Switch away from Pearlin and the vault closes. Next time, the same pattern opens the same vault, and a different one opens another.
Security model
Your keys are made on your phone, and they stay there.
- AES-256-GCM for files, thumbnails and the vault index
- Argon2id to turn your pattern into a key, 64 MiB per attempt
- SQLCipher so names, notes and folders are unreadable too
- Keychain device secrets that never leave this phone
- Your iCloud for backup and sync, and only ever encrypted data
Read the config
const pearlin = {
cipher: "AES-256-GCM",
kdf: "Argon2id, 64 MiB, 3 passes",
index: "SQLCipher",
secrets: "Keychain, this device",
backup: "your iCloud, encrypted first",
account: null,
server: null,
analytics: null,
};
// One key derivation per unlock,
// tried against every vault, so the
// timing never says which one opened.You, with your pattern
The photo as you took it. It only looks like this inside an open vault, on your phone.
Anyone who copies the phone’s storage
AES-256-GCM ciphertext. Without the vault key, which only your pattern or recovery phrase can make, it’s noise.
Apple, if backup or sync is on
The same ciphertext, cut into chunks and padded to standard sizes, so even file sizes give little away.
Pearlin’s developer
Nothing at all. There’s no account, no server and no copy, so there’s nothing we could hand over.
Forget the pattern. Not the photos.
Every vault gets a recovery phrase: a little picture made of words, and the only other way in. Here’s what one is like.
Seven spiky opticians confidently pilot clockwork tricycles near the majestic crocodiles.
Each one is drawn from about 4.8 septillion. The chance of anyone else getting yours is next to nothing.
-
Picture the sceneIt makes the phrase easier to recall and to copy right. Write it down too.
-
Write it on paperPaper can’t be hacked or synced somewhere you forgot.
-
Keep it where only you can reachNot in a photo, a note app or your email.
Hand someone your phone.Your vaults stay shut.
Pearlin’s lock screen looks the same for everyone: a grid of dots and nothing more. There’s no list of vaults to scroll, no number to count and no names to read over your shoulder.
Each pattern opens its own vault and leaves the rest closed. That covers what the screen shows. Someone who copied your phone’s keychain and the app’s storage could still work out roughly how many vaults exist, so we say so here rather than promise more.
What you show is up to you.
Hide it in plain sight
Pearlin can wear any of twelve icons. Three are its own, and nine look like an everyday tool.
How Pearlin compares
Apple’s Hidden album and the usual vault apps, side by side with Pearlin.
| Apple Hidden album | Typical vault apps | Pearlin | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opens with | Face ID or your phone passcode | Usually a PIN | A pattern only you know |
| Its own encryption key | No, it shares the phone’s | Varies | Yes, one per vault |
| More than one private space | No | Sometimes, often listed | Yes, never listed or counted |
| Account needed | None | Varies | None |
| Moving to a new phone | With iCloud Photos | Often through their account | One encrypted file, or your iCloud |
| Ads | None | Common | Never |
Hidden album as in the Photos app on iOS 17 and later. Vault apps: from 485 public US App Store reviews of four popular vault apps, 2023 to 2026.
Questions, answered
How is Pearlin different from the Hidden album?
The Hidden album opens with Face ID or your phone passcode, so anyone who can unlock your phone can open it. A Pearlin vault opens only with its own pattern, under its own key, and the app never shows how many vaults there are.
What if I forget my pattern?
Use the vault’s recovery phrase. If you lose both the pattern and the phrase, nobody can open that vault, us included. That’s what makes it private.
What if I change or lose my phone?
Your vaults come with you two ways. Encrypted iCloud backup restores them on the new phone, or you can export a vault as one encrypted file and open it there with the same pattern. If a phone is lost, the backup is what brings the vault back, so keep it on.
Is anything sent to a server?
There’s no Pearlin server and no Pearlin account. If you use iCloud backup or sync, your own iCloud stores the data, encrypted on your phone first, so Apple can’t read it either.
Is there a sign-up?
No. No email, no password and no profile. You open the app and draw a pattern.
What can I keep in a vault?
Photos, videos, GIFs, PDFs and other documents, any file from the Files app, and encrypted notes.
Can folders go inside folders?
Yes, as deep as you like.
Can I share a vault with someone?
Yes. You send a vault with a one-time phrase, and choose when it expires, how many times it opens and whether files can be saved. Opening a shared vault is free.
Does it work on iPad?
Yes, on iPhone and iPad with iOS 17 or later. Sync keeps the same vault on both.
Do you collect analytics?
Not in the app. Pearlin has no analytics or tracking at all. If you’ve allowed it in iOS, Apple passes on anonymous crash reports, and that’s all. This website measures visits with Google Analytics and PostHog; the privacy policy explains how to turn that off.
Is there an Android version?
Not yet. Pearlin is for iPhone and iPad.
Your photos.Your pattern.
Coming soon to the App Store for iPhone and iPad. Draw your first pattern in under a minute.