---
title: "What Is Decoy vault on iPhone? Meaning and Settings"
description: "A decoy vault is a second, ordinary-looking vault that opens with a different code, so you can show it instead of your real files when you're pressured to unlock."
url: https://www.vaultforyou.app/en-gb/glossary/decoy-vault
lang: en-gb
published: 2026-10-31
updated: 2026-10-31
author: "VaultForYou Editorial Team"
publisher: VaultForYou
---

# What is Decoy vault?

Published 2026-10-31 - Updated 2026-10-31 - By VaultForYou Editorial Team

## Quick answer

A decoy vault is a second, harmless-looking vault that opens with a different password or pattern. If someone pressures you to open your vault, you can open the decoy, and nothing in it points to the real one.

In VaultForYou, a duress pattern opens an ordinary-looking decoy vault, and inside it there are no names, counts or activity that hint at other vaults. Optionally, the duress pattern can also wipe your real vaults; that is off by default.

## Frequently asked questions

### How does a decoy vault work?

You set up two codes. Your real code opens your real vault; a second code opens a decoy filled with ordinary content. A well-made decoy shows no sign that another vault exists, so opening it does not reveal anything else.

## Guides that use this term

- [What is a duress password? How decoy vaults work on iPhone](https://www.vaultforyou.app/en-gb/blog/decoy-vault-iphone)

## Related terms

- [Duress password](https://www.vaultforyou.app/en-gb/glossary/duress-password)
- [Vault app](https://www.vaultforyou.app/en-gb/glossary/vault-app)

## Browse

- [All glossary terms](https://www.vaultforyou.app/en-gb/glossary)

---

Our guides are written and fact-checked by the VaultForYou team against Apple's own documentation. We make VaultForYou, a private vault app for iPhone. Download on the App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/vaultforyou/id0000000000