How many dots does a pattern need?

A pattern is an ordered run of 6 to 16 distinct dots on a 4×4 grid. The permitted space is over 52 billion ordered selections, though a typical short pattern is far smaller before human bias — the real resistance comes from Argon2id, not the grid size.

Can I enrol both a password and a pattern?

Yes. They occupy separate wrap slots in the same container, and either one opens the vault. Remember that the vault is then only as strong as whichever of them is weaker.

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Password or pattern

Q: Is a pattern as safe as a password?

A pattern runs through the exact same Argon2id derivation as a password, so each guess costs the same. But a vault is only as strong as its weakest enrolled credential — a very short or obvious pattern is weaker than a long password, so choose it with the same care.

Open your vault the way that suits you — a password, or a pattern on a 4×4 grid. Both go through the same memory-hard key derivation.

A pattern is a knowledge credential, just like a password. On a 4×4 grid you trace an ordered run of 6–16 distinct dots; Kistvault canonically encodes it to bytes and feeds it to the same Argon2id derivation a password uses. The container format doesn't change either way.

The threat it solves

A short PIN or a lazy swipe is weak against someone who has your phone in hand. And when the stretching is weak — or absent — guessing is cheap, so a simple secret falls fast. Kistvault makes every guess expensive, whichever method you pick, and lets you use the one you'll actually remember.

How it works

Choose your credential. A password, or a pattern of 6–16 dots.
Stretch it. Argon2id — memory-hard — turns it into a key-encryption key (KEK).
Unwrap the vault. The KEK unwraps the random master key that actually decrypts your files.

The key difference

A pattern is not a weaker shortcut — it runs the identical Argon2id path at the same cost per guess. Said honestly, though: a vault is only as strong as its weakest enrolled credential. The permitted pattern space is over 52 billion ordered selections, but a usual short pattern is far smaller before human bias — so pick it like it matters.

The crypto, in the open

// password OR pattern -> same derivation
secret_bytes = encode(password) || encodePattern(dots);
KEK          = Argon2id(secret_bytes, salt, m, t, p);
master_key   = unwrap(KEK, wrap_slot);  // then AES-256-GCM

Questions

Is a pattern as safe as a password?

Same Argon2id path, same cost per guess. But the vault is only as strong as the weaker of the two, so a trivial pattern is still a trivial pattern.

How many dots?

An ordered run of 6–16 distinct dots on the 4×4 grid. The real brute-force resistance comes from Argon2id, not from the grid.

Can I use both?

Yes — separate wrap slots, either one opens the vault. The weakest one sets the strength.

Bottom line: flexibility without a security tax — the method changes, the cryptography doesn't.