DotSafe has no password screen and no account. You open a vault with a pattern that you draw on a grid of 25 dots. Each pattern opens its own vault, and the app never says that a pattern is wrong.
How the pattern works
The grid has 5 rows of 5 dots. Draw a line through 4 or more dots, then lift your finger. DotSafe makes a key from the pattern and opens the vault that the key fits.
The pattern is not stored on your device, in iCloud or with us. DotSafe uses it to make the key, then erases it from memory. So no one can recover a forgotten pattern, us included. How to choose a strong pattern gives tips to make one that is hard to guess and easy to remember.
A new pattern opens a new vault
When you draw a pattern that DotSafe does not know, it opens a new empty vault at once. It looks the same as every other vault. There is no "wrong pattern" message, no count of attempts and no lockout.
This is on purpose. A person who watches you open the app cannot see if a pattern is your only one. DotSafe keeps no list of vaults, so the app cannot show how many vaults you have. How plausible deniability works also tells you where it stops.
A decoy vault
Any vault can be a decoy. Put ordinary private things in it, and open it if someone makes you open the app. No one can tell it apart from a real vault. Setting up a decoy vault shows how to make one that looks real.
A duress pattern
You can also set a duress pattern in Settings. When you draw it, DotSafe erases all vaults on the device, then opens a normal empty vault. The duress pattern is in Free and Pro. It does not change the copies in iCloud. The duress pattern tells you what it erases and what it keeps.
Why no Face ID to open a vault
A person can hold your device up to your face, or press your finger on the sensor. A pattern is in your memory only. DotSafe uses Face ID, Touch ID or your device passcode only to confirm three actions: Destroy this vault, Sync off, and the duress settings.
What a pattern cannot do
- It cannot stop a person who watches you draw it. Draw your real pattern where no one can see the screen.
- It cannot come back if you forget it. The data in that vault is lost. There is no recovery.
