A
Founder story · Launched
ArkWarden
@arkwarden
ArkWarden is a privacy-focused, zero-knowledge vault for iPhone with open source encryption. No account and no server.
1
Chapter
1
Upvotes
Keep private photos, videos, documents and audio encrypted on your iPhone. ArkWarden opens with a pattern you draw, combined with a key in the iPhone's Secure Enclave. Only you can open your files.
The journey
· LaunchedArkWarden started with a simple wish: a place on the iPhone for private photos and documents that does not open just because the phone is unlocked, and that does not depend on an account or a company's server. Most options we found either hid files behind the same passcode as the phone, or asked users to trust a cloud service with their data. We wanted only the person who owns the files to be able to open them. So we built a vault where every file is encrypted on the iPhone, and the vault opens with a pattern combined with a key in the iPhone's Secure Enclave. The hard part was trust. A privacy app has to earn it in public, so we published the encryption code as open source, and we went through Yubico's technical review to be listed in the Works with YubiKey catalog. Each decision came from the same question: can anyone other than the owner open these files? ArkWarden is now live on the App Store. Every week we learn from people using it and keep improving it.
Advice to founders
Build the product you would trust with your own data, then explain how it works in plain words. For a privacy app, showing the code and passing an outside review did more for trust than any marketing line.
Dreams & what's next
We want strong encryption to feel normal for everyday iPhone users, not something only experts set up. The goal is a vault anyone can set up in minutes, where only they can open their files.
Chapters shipped