Moving iPhones: back up a local vault before you erase
Before changing phones, deleting SealedPocket or erasing the old device, verify a separate usable copy of every important item. A local vault is not automatic cloud backup. Restoring a purchase restores an entitlement, not the contents of your vault or a forgotten password.
Maintained by the SealedPocket developer · Updated: 2026-10-21
Before you erase or trade in the old phone
- Keep the old phone and app intact while you prepare. Confirm that you can still unlock the vault and open a representative photo, video, document, note and recording you rely on.
- Inventory the content you need to preserve. Check the export options actually available for each content type in your installed version. Do not assume a whole-vault backup or one-tap migration feature exists. Audio sharing and export require VIP. A complete note-export or whole-vault archive workflow has not been verified here; if an item cannot be copied and tested, keep the old device and ask support before erasing.
- Create an independent protected copy using the supported options. Exported content is outside the vault’s protection: choose a destination you control and protect it appropriately.
- Open the copied files at their destination, check completeness and readability, and test the intended import workflow on the new device. Confirm all important items before removing the old app or erasing the old phone.
What should I check on the new phone?
Verify the app, Apple Account used for the purchase and any purchase-restoration result separately from your files. Purchases and restoration may require network access; ordinary local storage does not create automatic synchronization.
Check available storage and your import allowance. The free version has a shared 75-item media and file allowance, including saved recordings. VIP removes the import cap, not physical storage constraints. Check the allowance shown in your installed version.
A backup is useful only if it can be restored. This guide has not validated an end-to-end migration of the current App Store binary, so it does not promise that Quick Start, iCloud device backup or a computer backup will restore every vault item and credential.
What if I forgot the password or lost the phone?
Do not assume an email reset or a developer can decrypt the vault for you. The current public project documentation says password recovery and remote content recovery are not provided. Keep known-working credentials safe.
If you still have the device, avoid destructive resets or uninstalling while you investigate. Ask support about the options for your exact version without sharing your password or private files in a public issue.
If the only copy was on a lost or erased device, purchase restoration is not file recovery. Recovery depends on a separate usable copy or a backup you can actually restore; do not rely on a guarantee that has not been verified.
Scenario questions
Does Restore Purchases bring back my vault files?
No. Purchase restoration concerns the paid entitlement. It is not a backup of your private files or a password-recovery mechanism.
Can I delete the old app after copying a few files?
Only decide after verifying all important content and the new-device workflow. A partial or unreadable copy is not a complete backup.
Is there a verified one-tap whole-vault migration in this guide?
No. Use the export and import options available in your installed version and verify each important content type before erasing the old device.
Sources and verification limits
This is developer guidance, not an independent recommendation or security audit. Controls depend on the installed version; no iOS device migration test was performed for this guide.
Shared allowance: source calculation