Privacy Policy

Matrix Vault is a privacy and security app, so privacy is the whole point. It is built device-first: your vault, photos, passwords, notes and messages are encrypted on your iPhone or iPad with AES-256, and the key that unlocks them is sealed inside your device's secure hardware. The overwhelming majority of what Matrix Vault touches never leaves your device in a form anyone but you can read. This page explains exactly what stays on your device, the few things that travel over the network and why, and the choices you have.

What we can never read

Everything in your vault is encrypted on your device, and your messages are end-to-end encrypted. We do not hold your keys and cannot read your content. None of the following is ever readable by us, sold, or shared with data brokers:

• The files, photos, notes and passwords stored in your vault.
• The contents of your one-to-one and group messages, and your call audio and video.
• Your private browser activity within the app.
• The existence or contents of a hidden, plausibly-deniable vault (see below).
• Attachments, voice notes and on-device transcriptions.

Matrix Vault has no advertising, runs no profile of you to target ads, and never sells your data. The vault key is wrapped by your iPhone's Secure Enclave, so even a full copy of your phone's storage is useless without the device itself.

Plausible deniability

Matrix Vault can hold a hidden vault that there is no setting, badge or telltale to reveal. Whether such a vault exists, and what it contains, is not knowable to us — there is nothing on our side that records it, and nothing we could be compelled to hand over. This is a property of the on-device encryption, not a promise we monitor.

No phone number, no email

The built-in messenger needs no phone number and no email address. You add contacts by scanning a QR code in person or by a chosen username, so your conversations need not be tied to your real-world identity or a contact-list upload.

The only data that travels over the network

A small number of clearly-purposed network calls exist. Each uses certificate-pinned HTTPS, and none of them gives us the content of your vault or conversations:

• Encrypted message & call routing. To deliver an encrypted message or set up a call, our relay forwards the encrypted envelope between devices using minimal account identifiers. The relay is “blind” — it moves ciphertext it cannot read. Calls connect device-to-device whenever the network allows, with an encrypted relay fallback when a direct connection is not possible.
• Push notifications. So your device can wake for a new message or call, a notification is sent through Apple's Push Notification service. The push does not contain your message content.
• AI assistant & translation. If you use the built-in AI assistant, the question you type (and, for translation, the text you ask to translate) is sent to our own privately-owned servers to generate a reply. See “AI assistant” below.
• Email features. If you connect the optional email assistant (for example, to read your Gmail), that mail is handled to provide the feature and is clearly labelled not end-to-end encrypted, because email itself never is.
• Purchases. Your Pro subscription status is provided by Apple's App Store. See “Payments” below.
• Support requests. Only if you contact us — your message and the email address you choose to provide.
• Launch notifications (website only). If you sign up on our website to be told when Matrix Vault is publicly released, we store the email address you enter and use it solely for that announcement. It is never shared or used for marketing lists, and you can have it deleted at any time by emailing support@matrixvault.app.
• Optional anonymous diagnostics. Aggregate, anonymous crash and reliability reports that contain no vault or message content. You can turn these off.

AI assistant

Matrix Vault's built-in AI runs on our own privately-owned servers. Nothing is sent to any third-party AI service (such as OpenAI or Anthropic). Questions you send to the assistant are processed ephemerally to produce an answer and are not stored, and the assistant is not given your vault contents or message history. The optional email assistant only sees the mailbox you connect, for as long as you keep it connected.

Backups & device transfer

Backups are compressed and encrypted, and moving to a new iPhone happens as a direct, device-to-device transfer over a QR code — there is no big-tech cloud holding your vault. You choose where an encrypted backup is stored.

Payments

The vault, password manager, browser and messenger are free. An optional Pro subscription raises the AI assistant's usage limits. All purchases and subscriptions are handled by Apple through the App Store under Apple's terms; Matrix Vault never sees or stores your card details. You manage, renew or cancel a subscription in your App Store account settings.

Your choices

• Use a username instead of any real-world identifier in the messenger.
• Set disappearing-message timers so content removes itself.
• Turn off optional anonymous diagnostics in the app's settings.
• Leave the email assistant disconnected, or disconnect it at any time.
• Delete your account, which removes your account data from our relay.
• Uninstalling Matrix Vault removes its local data from your device.
• Request deletion of any support correspondence at any time.

Children

Matrix Vault is not directed to children under the age required to consent to digital services in your country, and we do not knowingly collect data from them.

Contact

Questions about this policy, or a data request? Reach us at support@matrixvault.app or via the support page.