Support — HushKeep

How to reach us

Please include a short description of what happened and, if you know it, the app version. Do not include your unlock pattern, your recovery phrase, or your files: support never asks for them, and sending them would put your vaults at risk.

Because we collect no analytics and no personal data, your email is the only way we hear from you — make sure the reply-to address is one you check.

What we can help with

How the app behaves — import, folders, export, auto-lock, the privacy cover, the emergency pattern, anything else.
Purchases — restoring a purchase (“Restore Purchases” in the app), managing or canceling a subscription (your Apple account: Settings → Apple Account → Subscriptions), and refunds (handled by Apple — contact Apple).
Moving to a new phone — restoring a backed-up vault with your pattern or your recovery phrase.
Backup status — why a backup is waiting or paused, and what to do about it.

What we cannot do

We cannot recover a vault whose pattern and recovery phrase are both lost. Your vaults can only be decrypted with your pattern or recovery phrase. We hold neither. That includes iCloud backups: they can be restored only with the vault’s pattern (with iCloud Keychain available) or with its recovery phrase. If both are lost, the vaults are unrecoverable by design — by us or by anyone else. Deleted files are erased and their keys destroyed.

The canned reply support sends in this situation is in recovery-reply.md. It is sent as-is, with no promises beyond it.

Frequently asked questions

I forgot my pattern. What now?

Use your recovery phrase: on the lock screen choose “Use recovery phrase” and enter the words. The phrase is a password — capitalization and punctuation don’t matter. After a successful phrase unlock the app asks you to set a new pattern; the old one stops working. If you don’t have the phrase, the vault cannot be recovered (see above).

I lost my recovery phrase.

If you still know the pattern, open the vault normally and replace the phrase from the vault’s settings. If you don’t know the pattern either, the vault cannot be recovered.

I got a new phone. How do I get my vaults back?

If backup was on for the vault: install HushKeep on the new phone, sign in to the same Apple ID, and choose “Restore from iCloud”.

With your pattern: draw the vault’s pattern. This needs iCloud Keychain on the new device (Settings → Passwords); without it, restoring by pattern is disabled — use the phrase instead.
With your recovery phrase: enter the phrase, then set a new pattern for the restored vault. The vault opens as soon as its index and thumbnails are local; the rest downloads in the background.

What does the emergency pattern do?

It is a personal-safety feature. The emergency pattern opens a decoy vault and instantly destroys the keys to your other vaults on this device. It works only once: after it opens the decoy vault, the emergency pattern is gone. You set it up from inside the vault it protects, and at setup you can choose to also erase the iCloud backups of the other vaults (off by default). If you leave that off, those vaults can still be restored from iCloud with their recovery phrases.

Why does the app’s name stay under the icon?

iOS shows the app’s name under its icon on the Home screen, and the app cannot change that label. The alternate icons (Pro) change only the icon image, to a generic utility glyph; the name underneath stays the same.

My backup says “Paused” or “Waiting”.

The usual reasons, in the app’s own words:

“iCloud storage is full. Backup paused.” — free up iCloud space or raise your iCloud plan; the backup resumes on its own, or when you tap Retry.
“Sign in to iCloud to continue backing up.” — sign back in to iCloud.
“Waiting for Wi-Fi” — the vault is set to back up on Wi-Fi only; connect to Wi-Fi.
“Paused: backed up from another device” — the vault is currently backed up from a different device; that is normal. A paused backup does not delete anything: your items stay on your device.

How do I cancel my subscription?

In your Apple account: Settings → Apple Account → Subscriptions → HushKeep. Canceling takes effect at the end of the current billing period; cancel at least 24 hours before a renewal to avoid the next charge. Refunds are handled by Apple — contact Apple Support.

What is limited on the Free plan?

The limits are per vault: 100 photos (including Live Photos and GIFs), 10 videos and 25 other files, in each vault. Vaults are not limited: Unlimited vaults, free. We never count them. Pro removes the per-vault item limits and adds the emergency pattern, alternate app icons and the slideshow.