Stillgarth questions, answered

Nobody can recover it, including us. The password is never stored, so there's no reset link and no back door.

If your PIN or fingerprint still opens the vault, export what you need, or turn on an encrypted backup with a recovery code (that choice doesn't ask for the password); a backup restored with its recovery code lets you choose a new password. Otherwise the only way forward is to start again with an empty vault.

No, not without your vault password, PIN or fingerprint. Each file is encrypted with AES-256-GCM on your phone before it is stored, and the file names, folders and dates are kept in an encrypted database too.

Your gallery and other apps can't see inside the vault, and the developer never receives anything: Stillgarth has no internet permission.

Any file you can pick in Android's file picker, plus photos you take straight into the vault. Photos, PDFs and text open inside the vault without being written to the phone in readable form. Other kinds of file can be exported or shared to open in another app.

Yes. A file bigger than about a fifth of the memory Android gives the app can't be added, exported or shared (roughly 100 MB on a phone that gives the app 512 MB), and previews inside the vault stop at 64 MB.

The limit exists because the whole file is decrypted and checked before a single byte is shown. Photos and documents fit easily.

Only if you choose "Move files into vault". It encrypts each file, checks the vault copy opens to the same bytes, and only then erases the original. "Import files" leaves the originals where they are.

Copies elsewhere, such as a Google Photos backup, aren't touched, and phone storage can keep traces of erased files.

Not by default. Screenshots and app previews are blocked inside the vault, and you can turn that off in Vault settings ("Block screenshots and app previews") while the vault is unlocked.

Home and Guard always block screenshots. The one exception is the screen that shows your backup recovery code, which can be screenshotted on Android 13 and newer.

When you leave the vault for Home or Guard, when the screen turns off, and after you leave Stillgarth, with a delay you choose: immediately, 15 or 30 seconds, 1, 5 or 15 minutes, or 1 hour.

Locking when the screen turns off is on by default and can be changed in Vault settings.

Android tells it. When a wrong PIN, password or pattern is typed on the lock screen, Android reports the failed attempt to Guard, and Guard tries to take a photo with the front camera. It never learns the digits or pattern that were typed.

Because Android's device administrator feature, in its "watch login" form, is the only way an app is told about wrong unlock codes. Guard calls it unlock detection.

It cannot lock, wipe or change your phone. You can turn it off in Guard settings or in Android's own settings, and it has to be off before Stillgarth can be uninstalled.

Yes. While Guard is on, it runs as a background service with a permanent notification, so it keeps watching the lock screen with the app closed.

After a restart or an app update, Android pauses the camera until you tap the "Re-arm Guard" notification. Before the first unlock after a restart, no photo is possible. Setting Stillgarth to "Unrestricted" in Android's battery settings stops Android from shutting Guard down.

In your vault, in a folder called Guard photos, under Failed unlocks or Successful unlocks. Each photo is encrypted for the vault the moment it's taken and moves into that folder the next time you unlock the vault.

Guard itself only shows a lock tile, never the photo. If you haven't set up a vault yet, photos are kept in the app's private storage and move in once the vault exists.

Partly, if you allow it. With "Record what an intruder opens" on and Android's Usage access granted, Guard lists which apps were opened, and for how long, when the phone is unlocked right after a wrong code.

It never sees what was typed, sent or deleted inside those apps. The report is sealed into your vault, in the Guard activity folder.

Guard is meant for your own phone. Laws on recording people differ from place to place, so please don't use it to photograph people without their knowledge where that's against the law.

Every file in the vault, their names, folders and dates, and your vault settings, all still encrypted.

Not included: your PIN and fingerprint unlock (tied to the phone's security chip), your duress code, Guard's log and settings, and Guard photos that haven't moved into the vault yet. You set the PIN, fingerprint and duress code again after a restore.

It goes wherever you pick on Android's "save to" screen, for example your Google Drive. Google can't read it: the file holds only encrypted data, and it opens only with your vault password (at least 12 characters) or a recovery code shown to you once.

Stillgarth doesn't upload anything itself. The app you pick does, under its own privacy policy.

Turn on the encrypted backup on the old phone, then install Stillgarth on the new one and tap "Restore from a backup" on the create-vault screen. Pick the file, type the password or recovery code, and every file is checked before it moves in. Then set up your PIN, fingerprint and backup again.

Your files stay encrypted on it. Opening the vault needs your password, PIN or fingerprint; the PIN locks for 30 minutes after 5 wrong tries, and wrong passwords make each wait longer.

If you turned on the backup, you can restore your vault on a new phone. Stillgarth can't locate, lock or wipe a lost phone, and Guard's photos stay on that phone, because the app has no internet access.

No. Stillgarth doesn't even have Android's internet permission, so it can't connect to any server. The encrypted backup reaches Google Drive through Android's "save to" screen, and the app you pick does the uploading.

No. There are no accounts, no ads, no analytics, no crash reporting and no tracking of any kind, and the developer never receives any of your data. Everything the app holds stays on your phone.

A duress code is a second PIN or password that erases the whole vault the moment it's typed, with no warning on screen. Stillgarth then looks as if it had just been installed.

It also works on Guard's "Is it you?" check. A backup file you saved elsewhere isn't touched, so you can restore from it later.

Because root breaks the walls Android puts between apps, which is what keeps other apps out of the vault's memory and storage while it's open. If Stillgarth finds signs of root or modification, the vault won't open there.

Home and Phone Guard still work on that phone, and you can restore a backup on a phone that isn't rooted.

No. Stillgarth is an Android app only. It runs on Android 8.0 and newer.

Turn off unlock detection first: in Guard settings, under Uninstalling, tap "Turn off unlock detection". Android won't uninstall an app while its device admin is on. If Guard settings asks for a vault you can't open, turn it off in Android's own device admin settings instead.

Uninstalling deletes everything Stillgarth stored on the phone, so export or back up what you want to keep first.

No. There's nothing to sign up for. Stillgarth works entirely on your phone, and your vault password is the only secret you need.