Moving a photo vault to a new phone
This is where people lose libraries, usually a day after wiping the old handset. The reason is structural, and the fix has to happen before the transfer, not after.
Why vault photos do not come across
Three mechanisms. The third is the one that catches people.
Location
Vault files live in app-private storage, which phone transfer tools do not copy. Google and Apple move your camera roll, not the inside of an app.
Keys
The master key sits in the Android Keystore or iOS Keychain, both hardware-backed and non-exportable. A key that can be copied off the device is a key an attacker can copy off the device.
The trap
A cloud device backup can restore the encrypted files without the key. New phone, restore, open the app, and you get an empty grid or a code that no longer works.
Move it, step by step
Everything happens before the old phone is wiped.
- 1. Save a backup on the old phone
- Settings, Encrypted Backup, Save a Backup. Enter your code. The app writes one encrypted file for the space.
- 2. Put the file somewhere else
- Share it to a computer, a drive or cloud storage. It is encrypted, so the cloud cannot read it. Not to the phone you are about to wipe.
- 3. Restore on the new phone
- Install AlterVault from the store, then Restore from a Backup. Enter the code that file was made with. Count the items before you touch the old phone.
Two things people get wrong
One file per space
A backup covers one space. Several vaults behind several codes means several files. Note which code sealed which.
The code travels with the file
A restore replaces that space. It then opens with the backup's code, not the one set on the new phone.
No server holds a second copy. Lose the phone before making a backup and the photos are gone.
If you are moving from something else
- Google Photos Locked Folder
- Move items out before the transfer, bring them across normally, then import them into AlterVault.
- Samsung Secure Folder
- Move out of Secure Folder for everything, before any factory reset. It does not go to a non-Samsung phone.
- Keepsafe or another cloud vault
- Export to the camera roll while the subscription is live, import into AlterVault, then verify the count before deleting.