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Staying Private · Guide 6 of 11 · 3 steps · 1 min read

Disguise HypaVault as a Calculator or Clock

A lock screen that works as a real calculator or alarm clock, an app icon to match, and how to open your vault from each.

Before You Start

  • Your passcode, to practise unlocking
Lisa Noronha, Co-FounderBy Lisa Noronha
9:41

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Stealth Mode lets HypaVault pass for an ordinary utility app. The lock screen becomes a working calculator or an alarm clock, and the app icon can change to match. Someone who opens it finds a calculator that does sums or a clock that sets alarms.

Choose a Lock Screen

  1. 1Open Settings › Stealth Mode.
  2. 2Choose a lock screen: Light, Dark, Calculator or Clock.
  3. 3Pick the matching app icon when HypaVault offers it: HypaVault, Calculator or Clock.

Light and Dark are the plain passcode screen in a fixed look. Calculator and Clock are the disguises. Pair a disguise with its matching icon, so the app looks the same from the home screen to the lock screen.

Unlock the Calculator

The calculator is fully working, with order of operations, %, ± and delete. To open your vault, type your passcode and press =. Any other sum is just arithmetic, and a wrong passcode looks like any other number.

Unlock the Clock

The clock shows an alarm clock's Alarms screen. To open your vault, tap +, type your passcode as the alarm time and tap Save. Anything else just sets an alarm.

Neither disguise ever says a try was wrong or shows a lockout. If you need your recovery options, press and hold the calculator's display, or the Alarms title on the clock.

Change the App Icon

  • On iPhone, the icon changes but the name under it stays Hypa, and iOS asks you to confirm the change.
  • On Android, both the icon and the name change.
  • In the app switcher, the disguise shows instead of the vault.

Practise Once

After you switch, lock the app and open it the way you will from now on, so the new unlock feels familiar before you rely on it. The press-and-hold recovery options are there if you ever need them.

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Lisa Noronha, Co-Founder

About the Author

Lisa Noronha · Co-Founder

Lisa Noronha co-founded the company behind HypaVault and leads its teams. She has more than 20 years of experience in product, digital experience and growth, working with major brands worldwide. Here she writes about keeping personal photos, documents and crypto keys private on everyday phones.

Next: Guide 7 of 11 · Staying Private

Keep Up to Three Hidden Vaults on One Phone

Up to three vaults on one phone, each behind its own passcode, and nothing in any of them that shows the others exist.

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Questions About This Guide

A lock screen that works as a real calculator or alarm clock, an app icon to match, and how to open your vault from each.

  1. Yes. It's a fully working calculator, with order of operations, %, ± and delete. Any sum that isn't your passcode is just arithmetic.

    Read the Help Article
  2. Four: Light and Dark, which are the plain passcode screen in a fixed look, and the Calculator and Clock disguises.

    Read the Help Article
  3. No. A wrong passcode looks like any other number, and neither disguise ever says a try was wrong or shows a lockout.

    Read the Help Article
  4. No. On iPhone the icon changes but the name under it stays Hypa, and iOS asks you to confirm. On Android both the icon and the name change.

    Read the Help Article
  5. Press and hold the calculator's display, or the Alarms title on the clock.

    Read the Help Article
  6. The disguise, instead of the vault, so a look at your open apps gives nothing away.

    Read the Help Article
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