Nestra keeps photos and videos in a private, locked vault on your iPhone. It works offline, has no account, and never uploads anything.
If something isn't working or you have a question, the answers below cover the most common ones. If yours isn't here, email me — it's a one-person app and I read every message.
Email: tamsnir@gmail.com
It helps if you mention your iPhone model and iOS version, and what you were doing when the problem happened. Please don't send screenshots of anything private.
Open the app, unlock it, and tap the add button. Apple's system photo picker appears — select the items you want and confirm. They are copied into the vault.
You don't need to grant photo library permission for this. The picker runs outside the app, so the app only receives the items you specifically chose and never gets access to the rest of your library.
After an import, the app offers to delete the original copies for you. Choosing this asks for full photo library access, because iOS only lets an app delete library items with your permission — and iOS will show its own confirmation before anything is removed. If you'd rather not grant that, you can delete the originals yourself in the Photos app; the vault copies are unaffected either way.
Important: deleted isn't gone yet. When photos are deleted from your library, iOS moves them to Photos › Albums › Recently Deleted, where they stay for 30 days and are still viewable by anyone who opens the Photos app.
To finish the job, open Photos, go to Albums › Recently Deleted, and delete the items from there too. This album is part of iOS, not the app, so only you can empty it.
Please read this before it matters: a forgotten passcode cannot be recovered.
The app has no account and no server. Your 4-digit passcode is stored only as a salted hash in the Keychain on your iPhone — there is no copy of it anywhere else, no reset email, and no master key. If you forget it and don't have Face ID or Touch ID enrolled for the vault, nobody can open the vault, including me. I have no way around it, so please don't email asking for a reset — I genuinely cannot help.
Two things that prevent this: pick a passcode you'll actually remember, and keep Face ID or Touch ID enabled so you have a second way in.
Open the app's paywall or Settings screen and tap Restore Purchases. Make sure you're signed in to the same Apple Account you originally purchased with — purchases are tied to the Apple Account, not to the device.
If the restore doesn't find anything, check Settings › your name › Media & Purchases to confirm which account you're signed in with, then try again. Still stuck? Email me.
Subscriptions are managed by Apple, so cancelling happens in iOS Settings rather than inside the app:
To avoid being charged for a free trial, cancel at least 24 hours before it ends. You keep access until the end of the period you already paid for. Deleting the app does not cancel a subscription. Refunds are handled by Apple at reportaproblem.apple.com — I can't issue them myself.
The lifetime purchase is a one-time payment, so there is nothing to cancel.
No. There is no server, no backend, and no account. Your photos and videos are copied into the app's private storage on your iPhone, protected by iOS encryption, and they never leave the device through the app. The app contains no analytics, no tracking and no third-party code of any kind.
The app does read your photos, on your iPhone, so you can search them — it notes what is in each picture and any text it contains, and keeps that alongside the item. It happens offline, using Apple’s own on-device technology, and none of it is sent anywhere. The Privacy Policy explains it in full.
One thing worth knowing: vault contents are included in your own iPhone backups, to iCloud or your computer. That's intentional, so you don't lose your vault when you get a new phone. Those backups are yours — I have no access to them. See the Privacy Policy for the details.
Bug reports, feature ideas and questions are all welcome: tamsnir@gmail.com. I usually reply within a few days.