Pocket Vaults and the second password

What a Pocket Vault is

The New Vault sheet describes it like this: “For notes, photos and PDFs (up to 5 MB each), opened inside Doghouse — never in Finder. The file takes about twice this size on disk, is kept out of Time Machine, and its size can’t be changed later. Need more than 50 MB? Use a Standard Vault.”

In practice:

• It is one file, Name.pocketvault (or Name.nosync with Keep out of iCloud on), of a fixed size that never changes whatever you put in it. From the outside it is random data: nothing about the number of items, their size or how many passwords exist can be read from the file.
• It holds three kinds of item: notes (plain text), photos (JPEG, PNG, HEIC) and PDFs, each up to 5 MB and together up to the vault’s capacity.
• It is encrypted with AES-256 (GCM) and a slow password-hashing function (Argon2id), so each password guess is deliberately expensive.
• It is excluded from Time Machine backups and warns if it sits in a cloud-synced folder; see keep one copy.
• Unlike a Standard Vault, it is a Doghouse format. It needs Doghouse to open. Export anything you might need elsewhere.

Create a Pocket Vault

Click New Vault, switch to Pocket Vault and pick a Size of 1, 5, 25 or 50 MB. Name, location, password, hint, Keychain and Keep out of iCloud work as for a Standard Vault. The new vault opens straight away in its window. The sheet warns if the folder is synced by Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, Box or Proton Drive, because those services keep a copy of every version of the file.

The vault window

An unlocked Pocket Vault is a window titled with the vault’s name. Doghouse never writes anything about it to its saved window state, so nothing reappears after a restart.

• Lock (top right, ⌘ L) saves and locks. Closing the window does the same. The main window’s Lock, Lock All, auto-lock and the panic shortcut also lock it.
• New Note adds an empty note; Add Files… opens a file chooser for “Notes (text files), photos (JPEG, PNG, HEIC) and PDFs — up to 5 MB each”. You can also drag files from Finder onto the window.
• The list on the left shows each item with its size. Select one to read or edit it; the name at the top of the right pane is editable. PDFs are displayed inside Doghouse and their links are deliberately inert.
• Export (the share-arrow button, or right-click › Export…) saves a plain copy wherever you choose. The save dialog warns: “The exported copy is not encrypted and can leave traces on this Mac.”
• Delete (the trash button, or right-click › Delete) asks “Delete “Name”? It is removed from the vault. This can’t be undone.”
• Optimize photos (bottom left, on by default) resizes photos to 2500 px on the long side when they are added. Location and camera details are always removed from photos, optimised or not.
• The footer shows how much of the capacity is used and “Saved” or “Saving…”. Changes are saved automatically a moment after you make them. If a save fails, the footer says “Not saved: …” and a manual Lock refuses to close the vault until it can save: ““Name” could not be saved, so it stays open.”

Adding something that doesn’t fit shows a notice such as ““Scan.pdf” doesn’t fit — 1.2 MB left.” or “Not enough room — this needs 5.4 MB of 5 MB.” A file over 5 MB is refused with a suggestion: turn on Optimize photos, or scan the document again at a lower resolution. Since the size can’t be raised, delete items or create a bigger Pocket Vault (or a Standard Vault) and move things across.

Keep one copy

A Pocket Vault file changes as a whole every time you save, and every copy of it from a different moment makes it easier to see which part of the file changed. That is why it is excluded from Time Machine, and why its window shows an orange banner when the file lives in a synced folder: “This vault is in your Dropbox folder, which keeps a copy of every version. Move it to a folder that isn’t synced.” or “This vault syncs with iCloud, which keeps copies of it. Lock it, then turn on “Keep out of iCloud”.” If you need a safety copy of the contents, export the items to a Standard Vault instead of copying the file around.

Right-click menu differences

Compared with a Standard Vault, a locked Pocket Vault’s right-click menu has no Change Size Limit… and no Reclaim Free Space…, because the size is fixed and there is no free space to give back. Rename… asks for no password (only the file name carries the name). Verify Vault… decrypts every item in memory and checks it. Keep out of iCloud and Move Vault to Trash… work the same. While unlocked, the menu offers Vault Settings… and Second Password….

The second password

Every Pocket Vault can carry a second password. Entering it unlocks the same file but shows a different set of items. The feature is only reachable from the right-click menu of an unlocked Pocket Vault, and the vault window never hints that it exists.

1. Unlock the Pocket Vault, then right-click it in the main window and choose Second Password….
2. Read the warning. “Add a second password to “Name”? A second password opens this vault with its own set of items. It takes the place of any other password set up for this vault, together with what that password opens.” Click Continue.
3. Set the password. In the “Second Password — Opens this vault with different items” sheet, type the second password twice (at least 6 characters). It must differ from the password you unlocked with; otherwise saving fails with “The second password must be different from the password you unlocked with.” Optionally tick Remember this password in my Keychain.
4. Add the items this password opens in the editor on the right. It works exactly like the vault window: notes, files, drag and drop, the same capacity.
5. Complete the “Ready to save” checklist, then click Save Second Password.

The checklist compares the new items with the vault you have open, in memory only, and the Save button stays off until every check passes:

• At least 3 items.
• A similar mix of items — for each kind in your open vault (notes, photos, PDFs), at least as many here, up to two of each. The detail line says what is missing, for example “Add 1 more note, 2 more photos”.
• A believable amount — at least a quarter of the size of your open vault’s items.

The sheet’s “Good to know” notes are worth repeating in full:

• Use your own real, low-value items — old notes, expired documents.
• Touch ID and the Keychain should only ever hold this second password. A saved main password is removed.
• The vault’s hint is shown for both passwords — keep it about this one.
• Open it now and then, so it looks used.
• Keep just one copy of this vault — none in backups, cloud folders or on other drives.
• Rules about handing over passwords differ by country.

Saving does three things: it writes the second password and its items into the vault file, it removes any password saved in your Keychain for this vault, and, if you ticked Remember, it saves the second password there instead. From now on one-click unlocking (and Touch ID) opens the second set of items. “Takes the place of any second password set up before” means exactly that: running Second Password… again replaces the earlier second password and everything it opened.

Using a vault with two passwords

• Unlocking works the same with either password: the window, the footer and the menu are identical. Doghouse does not know, and never shows, which password opened the vault or whether a second one exists; the Second Password… menu item and its warning are the same for every Pocket Vault.
• Each password has its own items and its own share of the capacity. Saving under one password never touches what the other opens.
• Changing either password: lock the vault, choose Change Password… and type that password as the current one. The other password is unchanged.
• Verify Vault… checks the items of whichever password you type.
• The hint is shown at every unlock, so it should only ever refer to the second password.

Frequently asked questions