Hidden vault

Set up a duress password that opens a decoy profile instead of your real vault, and understand the limits of this protection.

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A hidden vault is a second password, called a duress password. When you type it where Filarr asks for your vault password, Filarr opens a decoy profile instead of your real vault. If someone forces you to open Filarr in front of them, you can show them that decoy.

How it works

  • Nothing on the lock screen announces a second vault. The only difference is the password you type there. On your real profile, Settings → Hidden vault does show that one is configured.
  • The decoy profile has its own encryption key. The duress password can never reach the files of your real vault.
  • The decoy profile appears in the profile picker as an ordinary profile, under the name you give it.
  • After the duress password, Filarr opens the decoy profile and stays on it: the next launch opens the decoy directly. To go back to your real vault, use Switch profile.

Set up a hidden vault

Before setup, Settings → Hidden vault shows No hidden vault configured, with a Set up button.

  1. Unlock Filarr on your real profile.
  2. Open Settings → Hidden vault and click Set up.
  3. In Decoy profile name, type a name that looks ordinary. Without a name, Filarr uses Personal.
  4. Choose a Duress password. It must differ from your vault password and have at least 8 characters.
  5. Type it again in Confirm the duress password.
  6. Click Create the hidden vault.

The page now shows Hidden vault configured on this device. Filarr refuses a duress password that would also open your real vault: that protection would never work.

Make sure you can use it

The duress password works where Filarr asks for your vault password: the screen Enter your vault password to unlock. Two situations skip that screen:

  • the profile opens with its PIN;
  • the profile opens without asking anything, because the desktop app keeps your key between launches.

For Filarr to ask for a password at every launch, turn on Enhanced lock in Settings → Security. Lock Filarr explains what it changes.

A decoy profile that stays empty is not convincing. Open it from time to time and put some ordinary files in it.

The limits of a hidden vault

The Hidden vault page states its own limits, and they matter:

"Honest limitations: plausible deniability is weak. Total vault size and usage patterns can hint that a second vault exists. Comfort protection under duress, not a cryptographic guarantee."

In practice:

  • someone who examines your computer can notice the space that Filarr takes, and signs that you use another profile;
  • the profile picker lists your real profile next to the decoy. Nothing marks the decoy as a decoy, but nothing hides your real profile either;
  • the hidden vault protects you in a moment of pressure. It does not prove that your real vault does not exist.

Disable the hidden vault

  1. Open Settings → Hidden vault.
  2. Click Disable and confirm.

Filarr asks: "Disable the hidden vault? The decoy profile and its files will not be deleted." To delete the decoy profile as well, use Manage profiles in the profile picker.