Keeping sensitive documents on your iPhone
Tax forms, contracts, bank statements and scans. How to choose between Files, a locked PDF, a locked note and a vault, and what each one protects.
Files has no folder lock, so anything there opens for anyone with your unlocked phone. For a single document, lock the PDF in the Preview app with a password. For a set of files you want behind one secret, use an encrypted vault, and keep a second copy somewhere you control so one lost phone cannot erase them.
Almost everyone has a phone full of paperwork now: W-2s, leases, pay stubs, a scan of a birth certificate. The right place depends on who you are trying to keep out, and how bad it would be to lose the file.
Match the storage to the worry
Someone picks up your unlocked phone. Require Face ID for the Files app, or keep the files in a vault with a separate secret.
Someone knows your passcode. Face ID locks fall back to the passcode. A password on the PDF or a vault with its own pattern still stands.
Your cloud account gets broken into. Turn on Advanced Data Protection, or keep the files out of iCloud Drive.
You lose the phone. You need a second copy. A vault with no cloud sync will not help here on its own.
The options side by side
Locked PDF. Scan in the Preview app, then tap the arrow next to the filename, tap Lock and enter a password. The file travels with its password, so you can email it. Keep an unlocked duplicate only if you need one, because Apple’s steps replace the original with the locked version.
Locked note. Good for short text, such as an account number. Apple does not allow locks on notes with PDF or other file attachments, so it will not hold your documents. See the Notes guide.
Vault app. Good for a mix of files. Backroom encrypts each file with AES-256-GCM and needs your pattern or recovery phrase to open. Its import from Files makes a copy and leaves the original in place, so delete the original yourself.
Before you delete the originals
Open the protected copy and check that it works. Then remove the originals from Files and from any Mail or Messages thread. A document you emailed yourself is still in that account’s Sent folder.
Keep the secret safe too
An encrypted file you cannot open is the same as a lost one. Write your PDF password or Backroom recovery phrase on paper, and store it where you would keep the paper originals.
Frequently asked questions
Can I password protect a folder in Files?
Files has no option for that. You can require Face ID for the Files app, or lock individual PDFs. Our guide to locking a folder goes through the workarounds.
Are documents in iCloud Drive encrypted?
Yes, with keys held by Apple under standard data protection. With Advanced Data Protection on, iCloud Drive is end-to-end encrypted.
Does Backroom open documents?
Backroom stores any file you import, encrypted. To read a document in another app, use Save a copy, which hands a temporary unencrypted copy to that app.