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Scenarios

What your family can see on iPhone, and how to keep photos private

What Family Sharing, a Shared Library and a shared Apple Account show your family, how to check with Safety Check, and where a Vault9 vault helps. Safety first.

Your family sees what you share with them, and little else. Before you change anything, check what that is. A change can be noticed, and no setting is worth a risk to you.

If you are in danger now, call your local emergency number.

What each Apple feature shows

  • Purchases. With Purchase Sharing on, family members get the apps and media that you buy.
  • Location. Family members’ devices show in Find My. You can share your location with them, or pause it.
  • Shared Library. In an iCloud Shared Photo Library, up to 5 other people can add, edit and delete items.
  • One Apple Account for two people. Apple says some of your personal data can then be visible to the other person.

Safety Check shows who has access

Go to Settings, Privacy & Security, Safety Check. It lists who can see your information and lets you stop sharing.

It does not cover social media, accounts that are not Apple’s, or a device where someone uses a different Apple Account. So it is a good first look, not a full answer.

Two smaller changes, if they fit your case:

  • Hide an app. In the App Store, tap your photo, then Your Apps. Swipe left on the app and tap Hide. The app stays on every device where it is installed.
  • Leave a Shared Library. Go to Settings, Apps, Photos, Shared Library, and tap Leave Shared Library. Choose to copy everything or only your own items. Stay signed in to iCloud, with iCloud Photos on, until it finishes.

For the photo side of Family Sharing, read what Family Sharing can see in your photos.

A vault sits outside your family’s settings

Vault9 has no account, so there is no login for a family member to share. Items in the vault are encrypted on your phone and do not show in Photos. The vault opens with your pattern or passphrase and your Secret Key, or Face ID if you turn it on. The passcode that the household knows does not open it.

To move a photo or a screenshot, import it from Photos. Then delete the original in Photos and in Recently Deleted. With iCloud Photos on, that delete reaches all your devices.

What it will not hide

We want you to know these before you rely on it.

  • The Vault9 icon shows on your iPhone. It has no disguised icon, so a family member who looks through your apps can see it.
  • A wrong pattern shows an error. There is no decoy vault.
  • A vault that is open on an unlocked phone is not protected.
  • Your Emergency Kit holds the Secret Key. Keep it on paper where people in the house do not look, and not in iCloud Drive.

Questions about Vault9: support@vault9app.com.

Sources

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