Common questions about LifeVault.

LifeVault turns documents into structured, connected records. Scan a document — we extract the key details, you review and confirm — and instantly create an organized record fully linked to the right person or pet. Then generate a complete, shareable summary in seconds. It's not a file storage app. It's a system that transforms documents into usable life records.

Cloud storage apps store files — you design your own system and stay disciplined about updates. LifeVault extracts data from documents, structures records, links everything across profiles, and builds a connected system. It understands the structure of an insurance card, vaccination record, or prescription and turns that document into a usable record linked to the right person. Then generates a shareable summary on demand. A folder of files is not the same as an intelligent record system.

Yes. Your records and documents live on your device — not on our servers. We don't have a copy of your family's medical records, insurance information, or personal documents. We can't access it, and we can't be compelled to hand it over — because we never have it.

Automatic Backup does put an encrypted copy outside the device, but into storage you already own — your iCloud on iPhone, your Google Drive on Android. It is encrypted before it leaves, and it never touches a LifeVault server. There is no LifeVault account and no LifeVault-hosted vault. Everything else leaves your device only when you choose to share or export it.

Yes — this is one of the most common uses. LifeVault helps caregivers organize medication lists, specialist contacts, insurance information, prescriptions, advance directives, and emergency contacts for aging parents. This is especially valuable when a parent begins experiencing cognitive decline or memory loss — having their information already organized means you're not gathering it under pressure. Share a medical profile with doctors or an emergency room when it's needed.

Yes. Each pet gets a full profile with vaccination records, medications, vet contacts, microchip numbers, a weight chart, feeding with several foods and portions, and a Behavior Guide for temperament, fears, triggers, and training. Share everything a pet sitter or boarding facility needs in a single PDF — no more writing out instructions by hand before every trip.

Yes. LifeVault turns records into beautifully organized, professionally styled PDFs that are easy to read outside the app. Share one profile and choose which sections to include, or export your whole household as a single document to hand to a doctor, school, or sitter. Send it however you like: text, email, AirDrop. Support Guides and Behavior Guides also have their own PDF, so you can hand one to a teacher or sitter on its own.

Two ways, and the first one asks nothing of you.

Automatic Backup runs as you use LifeVault. Your vault is encrypted on your device first, and only then is the encrypted copy saved to your own cloud storage — your iCloud on iPhone, your Google Drive on Android (tap Connect Google Drive once in Settings → Backups). It never goes to a LifeVault server, and because the encryption happens before anything leaves your device, we cannot read it. LifeVault keeps several recent copies rather than only the last, so you can go back to an earlier restore point. Check when the last backup finished under Settings → Backups.

Your Recovery Key can open those backups on a new phone, and on Android it is the only way in. View, copy, print, or save it under Settings → Backups → Recovery Key, and keep it somewhere safe.

On Android, those backups live in Google Drive's private app storage, so they will not appear alongside your ordinary Drive files — you reach them from inside LifeVault.

A Backup File is the copy you make and keep yourself. In Settings → Backups, tap Export Backup File and choose a password. LifeVault produces a single encrypted file you can save wherever you like: Files, a cloud drive, an external drive, an SD card, or a computer. It is a complete, portable copy of your vault, and Restore Backup brings it back on this phone or a new one. Keep the password somewhere safe — it is the only thing that opens that file.

Your vault is locked, and your records are recoverable. App Lock keeps LifeVault shut behind Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode on iPhone, and your fingerprint, face unlock, or screen lock on Android. It is always on and relocks a minute after you leave the app, so someone holding your phone cannot open it.

Automatic Backup means your records were never only on that phone. Every backup is encrypted on the device and saved to your own cloud storage, never to a LifeVault server.

On iPhone — install LifeVault on a phone signed in to the same Apple ID with iCloud Drive on, and it can find your backups and offer to bring everything back on first launch. These are separate from your iPhone's own iCloud Backup, so you never have to restore a whole phone just to get LifeVault back.

On Android — install LifeVault, connect the same Google account under Settings → Backups, choose a backup, and enter your Recovery Key to restore it. These are separate from your phone's own Google backup.

Automatic Backups stay with the platform that made them: an iPhone backup restores to an iPhone, an Android backup to an Android phone.

A Backup File you exported yourself works on either platform: choose Settings → Backups → Restore Backup and pick the file. You will need the password you set when you created it.

Yes. LifeVault works offline, including document scanning and extraction. LifeVault is built for the moments when you need information fast: an ER visit, a school emergency, handing a sitter what they need. Only backups need a connection.

Yes — by sharing the records, not the vault. Generate a profile or household summary and AirDrop, email, or text it to your co-parent, and they get a clean PDF they can read, save, or print. LifeVault does not sync between phones, and that is a deliberate privacy and product decision rather than a missing feature — see the two questions below.

No. LifeVault does not sync your vault between devices, and that is a deliberate privacy and product decision.

LifeVault is designed around a local-first model: your vault lives on your device, there is no LifeVault account, and LifeVault does not maintain a shared server-side copy of your vault to keep multiple devices continuously in sync. That means a change you make on one device does not automatically appear on another.

Moving to a new phone is different, and it is fully supported. Install LifeVault on the new device and restore your vault from an encrypted backup.

If you want your information on a second device, you have two options that keep you in control:

Move the whole vault. Export an encrypted Backup File from Settings, protected by a password you choose, and restore it on the other device. Nothing passes through a LifeVault server.

Send only what's needed. Export a profile, your household, or a Support Guide as a PDF and share it however you like. Often, the other person needs the information rather than a continuously synchronized copy of your vault.

There is no invite or shared-household feature, and the reason is the same one that keeps the app private. An invite system requires accounts, a server that knows who is related to whom, and a copy of your records that LifeVault could pass to another person. LifeVault is built without any of that, so there is nothing to invite someone into.

Your relative can download LifeVault free from the App Store or Google Play and set up their own vault — no account, no sign-up, and nothing linking it to yours. From there, two ways to get them what they need:

Share a copy of what's relevant. Export a profile, your whole household, or a Support Guide as a PDF and send it by text, email, or AirDrop. This covers most cases: a sibling who needs your mother's medication list and specialist contacts, or a sitter who needs the pet's routine.

Hand over an entire vault, on purpose. If you are transferring responsibility — a parent's records passing to the sibling taking over their care — export an encrypted Backup File, then give them the file and the password separately. They restore it into their own LifeVault and it becomes theirs to maintain. It is a transfer, not a link: their changes stay theirs, and yours stay yours.

Yes. LifeVault is live on Google Play for Android and on the App Store for iPhone. On both, your vault stays on your device, and Automatic Backup saves an encrypted copy to storage you already own — your Google Drive on Android, your iCloud on iPhone.

Yes — each profile has a timeline you build. Turn on "Add to timeline" for any record — medications, procedures, diagnoses — and add custom events like a hospital stay, a fall, or a cognitive change. One record can add several dated events, such as a medication started, paused, and stopped. When you renew or replace a record, the previous version is saved to your Archives, so you can see what changed and when.

Yes, inside the app. Anything with a renewal or expiration date shows up in Coming Up on your dashboard before it lapses, and anything overdue shows in Needs Attention, so you can renew in time. These are in-app reminders, not push notifications. When you renew or replace a document, the new version becomes current and the old one is saved to your Archives — never deleted.

As you build records, LifeVault links them. A medication connects to the condition it treats, the doctor who prescribed it, the pharmacy, and the scanned label. A procedure connects to the surgeon, the facility, and the discharge paperwork. So when someone asks "what is this for, and who prescribed it?" — the answer is already there.

LifeVault is free to download and use — every record type, document scanning, App Lock, and Automatic Backup. Your data is always yours: you'll never lose access to records you've already created. We'll never sell your data or run ads.

Your data is yours, on your device. If LifeVault were discontinued, the app would continue working as installed. We recommend maintaining current encrypted backups and PDF exports of important records for long-term portability.