If you’re in danger, contact local emergency services. This page is about everyday pressure: a partner who checks your phone, a family member, a friend who won’t let it go.
Before it happens
- Separate your private photos from your phone passcode. People close to you often know your passcode, and the Hidden album and locked apps open with it. Keep private photos in a vault with its own PIN.
- Turn off previews of private content: Settings › Notifications › Show Previews › When Unlocked.
- Know the Face ID shortcut: press and hold the side button and a volume button until the power-off screen appears, then tap Cancel. Face ID is off until you enter your passcode.
In the moment
A vault with a decoy or panic PIN gives you a way out: enter the second PIN and the app opens to an empty vault.
Ghost’s Panic PIN goes further: it shows an empty vault and permanently erases the real one on that iPhone. With Ghost Plus, your encrypted iCloud backup isn’t touched, so you can restore later with your recovery key. Without a backup, the erase is final, so set it up only if that trade-off is right for you.
After
If the situation repeats or escalates, talk to someone you trust. In the US, the National Domestic Violence Hotline is available at 1-800-799-7233.
Don’t use any of these tools to destroy evidence or obstruct a lawful investigation.