Guides

Sending your iPhone for repair

Last updated: 2026-10-25

A repair may involve handing your iPhone to strangers, sometimes with your passcode, and it can end with an erased or replaced phone. A few minutes of preparation keeps your vault both private and intact.

Before you hand it in

Export a backup file of the vault in the app's Settings, and store it somewhere other than the phone, such as a computer or a storage service you trust. Make sure you know the master password the backup is made with.
Make an iPhone backup too, if you use one. It only contains the vault if you allowed that.
Check that your vault PIN or pattern is not the same as your iPhone passcode. If it is, anyone with the passcode could open the vault. Change it, or turn the PIN off for the time being.
If you are asked for your passcode, ask what it is needed for. Change it when you get the phone back.

What the repair shop can and cannot see

With your passcode, someone can open the iPhone and see your apps, Photos and Notes, including the Hidden album and notes locked with the passcode. They can also see that Encrypt My Data is installed.

They cannot open the vault without your master password. Adding a face to Face ID does not help them, because Face ID then stops opening the vault. After a restart, which many repairs involve, only the master password opens it.

When you get it back

Same phone, not erased: the vault is as you left it. Open it with your master password.
Erased or replaced: restore the vault from the backup file or your iPhone backup, with the master password. Set up Face ID, PIN or pattern again afterwards.
If you gave out your passcode: change it in the iPhone's Face ID & Passcode settings.