Call your lawyer before you delete or move anything. Then look at who else can see your photo library, because every screenshot lands in Photos. This article gives no legal advice.
Leave the originals alone
A screenshot is a picture of a message. The message itself is still in Messages, in your email or in the other app. Do not delete that thread.
Ask your lawyer which form of each item they want, and how to keep it. We cannot answer that, and a wrong guess is hard to undo.
Who can see your library
Every screenshot lands in Photos, so ask who can reach Photos.
- With iCloud Photos on, your library appears on every device signed in to your Apple Account. If your spouse is signed in on a tablet or a computer, they see it there.
- A spouse who knows your phone passcode can open your phone and Photos.
- A photo you delete is deleted on all those devices.
Apple’s Safety Check (iOS 16 or later) is in Settings, Privacy & Security. It shows who and what you share information with, and lets you stop sharing. It cannot review social media sharing, or devices signed in to a different Apple Account.
Ask your lawyer before you change a sharing setting, because it may matter in your case. If the passcode is the problem, read when your partner knows your passcode.
Make private copies in Vault9
Vault9 encrypts the files on your iPhone. You open it with your pattern or passphrase and your Secret Key, or with Face ID if you turn it on. Your phone passcode does not open it.
- Import the screenshots and photos from Photos.
- Make an album for the case, or one album for messages and one for photos.
- Open a few items to check them.
- Leave the originals in Photos until your lawyer says otherwise. Vault9 never deletes anything there.
That last step has a cost. While the originals stay in Photos, the people who can see your library still see them. Vault9 hides the copy, not the original.
Choices that matter here
Pick a pattern or passphrase that your spouse cannot guess. We suggest a long passphrase, because it is stronger than a pattern.
Keep the Emergency Kit on paper or in a password manager. Do not keep it in iCloud Drive or in the vault. A kit with your pattern written on it opens the vault for anyone who also has a copy of your files.
Vault9 does not protect an open vault on an unlocked phone. It has no decoy or duress mode, and a person who makes you unlock it can open it. It also does not prove that a file is genuine or when you made it.
Sources
- Apple Support: Set up and use iCloud Photos (checked 2026-11-06)
- Apple Support: Take a screenshot on iPhone (checked 2026-11-06)
- Apple Support: Safety Check for an iPhone with iOS 16 or later (checked 2026-11-06)
