Guides

Sharing an iPhone with family

Last updated: 2026-10-25

In many families, everyone knows the iPhone passcode, or one phone is shared. Encrypt My Data lets you keep some things to yourself anyway.

What helps

A password of its own. The vault opens with your master password, not with the iPhone passcode the others know.
Face ID stays yours. If a family member's face is added to Face ID, for example as an alternate appearance, Face ID stops opening the vault until you enter the master password.
It locks when you put it down. The vault locks when you leave the app and after a short time without use, and it is covered in the app switcher.
Nothing in the shared photo library. Photos and videos you take with the camera in the app go straight into the vault, not into Photos.
Nothing on the other devices. The vault is not synced through iCloud, so it does not appear on other devices signed in to the same Apple Account. Copied passwords are kept off them too.

That the app is installed. Anyone using the phone can see Encrypt My Data on it.
A password or pattern that has been seen. Someone who watches you type your master password or draw your pattern can use it.
An open vault. If you hand over the phone with the vault open, it is open.
Copies outside the vault. Photos you imported from your library stay in Photos until you delete them there and in Recently Deleted. Screenshots also end up in Photos.

Choose a master password the others could not guess: not a birthday, a name or the iPhone passcode.
Do not use the iPhone passcode as your vault PIN.
If you use a pattern, turn on hiding the pattern while unlocking.
Set auto-lock to 30 seconds if the phone often changes hands.