Changing phones shouldn't mean rebuilding your private vault from scratch — or abandoning it. A Kistvault vault is a single encrypted container that opens on both iOS and Android, byte for byte, so you carry it to your next phone whichever way you're crossing: iPhone to Android, Android to iPhone, or just this year's phone to next year's. An iPhone-only vault can't make that jump at all.
Why switching usually breaks a vault
Most photo and document vaults are single-OS, or they don't share a container format across platforms. So moving means decrypting everything, shuttling the raw files across, and re-encrypting on the new phone — losing your organization along the way — or simply giving up on the old vault. And an iOS-only app has no Android version to open on, so the moment you switch ecosystems, the vault is stranded. The thing you trusted with your most private files becomes the one thing that can't come with you.
One container, either platform
Kistvault stores your vault as one encrypted container. Because both the iOS and Android apps run the same crypto core — pinned to the same test vectors — a container written on one platform is read identically on the other. There's no "export to a lesser format" step and no re-encryption: the bytes that left your old phone are the bytes your new phone opens.
The key idea
Portability here is a tested guarantee, not a hope. The same vectors that prove the crypto is correct also prove a vault made on Android opens on iOS, and the reverse. Your vault belongs to you — not to the ecosystem you happened to buy into.
How the move works
- Export on the old phone. Produce the encrypted container while the vault is locked — it leaves as opaque ciphertext, readable to no one without your credential.
- Move the file across. Use whatever you trust: a cable, a local transfer, or your own cloud storage. Since the file is already encrypted, the path it travels doesn't have to be.
- Import on the new phone. Install Kistvault on the new device — iPhone or Android — and import the container.
- Unlock with what you already have. Open it with your password, your pattern, or your Recovery Kit. Same bytes, same vault, now on the new phone.
Want the iPhone-to-Android case spelled out screen by screen? The step-by-step switching from iPhone to Android walkthrough covers that exact direction in detail.
Both directions — and every upgrade after
This isn't a one-time migration trick. Because the container is cross-platform and local-only, the same routine works every time you change phones: Android to iPhone, iPhone to Android, or last year's phone to this year's. You're never re-committing to an ecosystem just to keep your vault; the vault simply follows you.
If you're starting fresh, not transferring
Lost the old phone, or never exported a container? That's a different path: you rebuild the vault on the new device from your Recovery Kit. See recover on a new device for how that works, and forgot your vault password for what's possible when a credential is gone.
Questions
Does a vault made on an iPhone really open on Android?
Yes. Kistvault runs one shared crypto core pinned to the same test vectors on both platforms, so a container created on iOS opens on Android and vice-versa — the same bytes, read identically. An iPhone-only vault app can't do this at all, because it has no Android side to open on.
Do I need a cloud or an account to move my vault?
No. There's no account and no Kistvault cloud. You export the encrypted container from the old phone and move that file across by whatever means you like — a cable, your own cloud storage, a local transfer. The container is opaque ciphertext in transit; it's only readable once you unlock it on the new phone with your password, pattern or Recovery Kit.
What if I forget my password midway through switching?
The container is useless to anyone without your credential, so a half-finished move leaks nothing. To finish it, unlock on the new phone with your pattern or your printed Recovery Kit instead — any one of them opens the same vault. That's exactly what the Recovery Kit is for.