Can border agents search your phone? What a vault can and cannot do

In many countries, border agents can ask to look through your phone and can hold it if you refuse. What they see in Photos is everything, Hidden album included, once the phone is unlocked. A vault with a separate passcode, a decoy and a self-destruct passcode changes what an unlock reveals. It does not change the law.

Updated September 6, 2026 · 2 min read

The direct answer

If you unlock the phone, Photos is open, and the Hidden album opens with the same passcode. Files in a vault with its own passcode stay encrypted. If you are asked to open the vault, a Decoy Vault opens a real vault with harmless contents. If it comes to it, Self-Destruct Mode erases the local vault with a single passcode and opens an empty one. Your encrypted backup elsewhere is untouched.

This is not legal advice. Rules on device searches differ by country and change. If you travel with material that matters, talk to a lawyer about the rules where you are going, and about whether to carry it at all.

What an unlocked phone shows

Photos, including the Hidden album and Recently Deleted.
Messages, mail, notes, browser history.
App names in Settings and the App Library, including any vault app's real name.
Cloud content that the phone can reach.

What to do before you travel

Decide what should not be on the phone. The safest file at a border is the one that is not there.
Move what must travel into Kryptis. Delete the originals from Photos and Recently Deleted.
Make an encrypted backup with the extra lock and keep it somewhere other than the phone, so self-destruct is not the end of the file.
Set up the Decoy Vault with contents that make sense for a traveller.
Set up Self-Destruct Mode and know the passcode cold. There is no confirmation when it fires.
Turn Face ID unlock off for the vault. Face ID can be compelled in ways a passcode often cannot; the rules vary.
Power the phone fully off before the checkpoint if you can. A freshly booted iPhone requires the passcode, not Face ID.

What not to rely on

A disguised icon: the app name is in Settings. The Hidden album: it opens with the phone. Deleting things at the desk: Recently Deleted keeps them.

What Kryptis covers

Encryption on the phone with no server that can be asked for anything, a vault passcode separate from the device passcode, a decoy, a self-destruct, and a backup that lives where you put it.

What Kryptis does not solve

Whether you have to comply, what happens if you do not, and what an agent can ask of a cloud account. Those are questions for a lawyer in the country you are entering.

Frequently asked questions

Does the Hidden album protect photos at a border?

No. It opens with Face ID or the phone passcode, which is what you have just been asked for.

Can agents tell I have a decoy vault?

The decoy opens like a normal unlock and shows its own albums. There is no list of vaults in the app.

Is self-destruct reversible?

Not on the phone. Restore from an encrypted backup you kept elsewhere, with that backup's passcode and recovery keys.

Kryptis is on its way to the App Store.

Coming soon to theApp Store