What a movie cover does
A movie carrier combines playable movie content with the encrypted vault. A video player plays the movie; PhantomVault opens the vault using its normal credentials. The movie is visible cover content, so choose footage you are comfortable leaving outside the encrypted files.
The carrier can be larger than the source movie because it also holds vault storage. A movie cover is not a guarantee that software or another person cannot identify a vault.
Mac: choose the cover
In New Vault → Choose a Disguise → Movie, choose:
- Generated Cover for a short abstract movie created by the app.
- Use My Movie for an MP4, M4V or MOV file you select.
Wait until preparation completes. Use Change to choose a different movie or Cancel to stop preparation.
Mac: decide where the original goes
On the summary screen, inspect Where to Save:
- Keep Original & Save Elsewhere keeps the source movie where it is and saves a separate vault. Use Choose Folder… for the vault destination.
- Move Original & Save Here saves the original movie in another folder and puts the vault at its former location. Choose the original's destination and grant Allow Saving Here… if asked.
Read both Original saved to and Vault saved to before Create Vault. If you want the least change to an existing movie collection, keeping the original and saving the vault elsewhere makes the two files easiest to distinguish.
iPhone and iPad: select a video
In Create Vault, tap Choose a video under Optional video carrier. The app creates a separate carrier in the Save Location folder. The original video stays unchanged. iOS creation does not offer the Mac's generated-cover or move-original choices.
Keep the complete carrier intact
Back up or transfer the complete vault file after locking it. Editing, trimming, transcoding or sending it through a service that recompresses videos can remove vault data. Use a file-copy route that preserves the original bytes.
To access private files, choose Open Vault on Mac or Open Vault from Files on iOS and select the carrier. Playing the video does not unlock the vault. See backup and transfer.