A duress code is a second PIN or password that erases your whole vault the moment it’s typed. You use it if someone forces you to open the vault: instead of your real password or PIN, you type the duress code. Stillgarth erases every file, folder and unlock method at once, without any warning on screen, and then looks as if it had just been installed.
How do you set a duress code?
You can set one when you create your vault (it’s the optional “Duress credential” step), or later in Vault settings, under Duress credential. It can be a PIN or a password, and it must be different from your vault password and your PIN. You can change it or remove it from the same place.
What happens when someone types it?
Typed at the vault’s unlock screen, the duress code:
- erases every file and folder in the vault;
- erases your password, PIN and fingerprint unlock, and the vault’s keys;
- deletes the key that opens Guard’s photos, along with any photos still waiting to move into the vault;
- forgets your backup settings and puts the vault settings (auto-lock, screen-off lock, screenshot block) back to their defaults.
What the person in front of you sees is what looks like a brand new, empty vault. Guard’s log doesn’t announce it either: an event whose photo was erased just reads “photo not kept”.
The same works when Guard asks “Is it you?” before it can be switched off or changed. If the duress code is typed there, the change goes through and the vault is erased.
What does it not erase?
The duress code only wipes the phone. A backup file you saved elsewhere, for example in your Google Drive, is not touched. That is deliberate: it’s how you get your files back later, from the backup, with your vault password or recovery code. See backing up to Google Drive and restoring on a new phone.
It also doesn’t change anything outside Stillgarth. Files you shared or exported from the vault earlier are still wherever you put them.
When should you use one?
A duress code is for one situation: someone is making you open the vault, and you would rather lose what’s in it on this phone than show it. Some things to weigh first:
- It can’t be undone on the phone. Once the vault is erased, the only way back is a backup saved somewhere else. If you rely on a duress code, keep a backup.
- Pick something you won’t type by accident. A duress code that’s one digit away from your real PIN is easy to hit by mistake, and the result is the same either way.
- It isn’t in the backup. After a restore you set it again, along with your PIN and fingerprint.
If you never expect that kind of pressure, you don’t need one. It’s optional, and the vault works the same without it.
How is it different from “Erase vault”?
“Erase vault” in Vault settings does the same erasing, but openly. It asks “Erase everything?” first, and you have to be inside the unlocked vault to reach it. A duress code does it from the locked screen, in one step, with nothing on screen to show what happened.
What happens to Guard’s photos?
Photos that Guard already moved into the vault are erased with everything else, and photos still waiting to move in are deleted too. So a duress wipe also removes any intruder photos on the phone. If those photos matter to you, unlock the vault regularly so they move in, and keep a current backup: photos already in the vault travel in it.
Is a duress code the same as a fake second vault?
No. Some apps show a second, harmless vault when a decoy code is typed. Stillgarth doesn’t keep a second vault. Its duress code erases the real one, so there is nothing left on the phone to find, and nothing hidden for anyone to keep looking for. If you want the files back afterwards, that is what the encrypted backup is for, opened with a strong password you chose carefully.