Can Apple read my Sort Admin backup?

Apple stores the backup in your private iCloud database, but it is already encrypted by Sort Admin, and the key is kept in iCloud Keychain, which Apple end-to-end encrypts. Apple holds the encrypted copy, not the key.

Do I need to turn on Advanced Data Protection?

Not for Sort Admin. Your items are encrypted before they reach iCloud, so they are protected with standard data protection too. Advanced Data Protection is still worth considering for the rest of your iCloud data.

What happens if my phone is stolen?

Sort Admin has its own lock: Face ID, with a separate app PIN as the fallback rather than your phone passcode. Someone who watched you type your phone passcode still can't open your vault without the app PIN.

What if I lose my phone and my recovery key?

If iCloud Keychain restores your key on a new device, your vault comes back. If it doesn't and you have lost your recovery key, nobody can recover the vault, including us. That is the trade-off for us never holding a copy.

How Sort Admin protects your data

Q: Can Sort Admin see what I store?

No. Everything is encrypted on your device before it is saved or backed up, and the key stays on your own devices and in your iCloud Keychain. Sort Admin has no servers and no accounts, so there is nothing for us to look at.

In short: everything you add to Sort Admin is encrypted on your iPhone or iPad, using 256-bit AES-GCM, before it’s saved or backed up. The key stays on your own devices and in your iCloud Keychain, which Apple end-to-end encrypts. We have no servers and no accounts, so we can’t read your data, and Apple can’t read what it stores.

Sort Admin holds the details people normally keep in a drawer: policy numbers, renewal dates, your car registration, scans of letters. That deserves more than a promise, so this page sets out how the protection works and where its limits are. The legal side is in the privacy notice.

What happens when you add something

The item gets its own key. Each item you add, such as your car insurance, is given a new random 256-bit key.
The item is encrypted. Its contents, including any scanned pages, are encrypted with that key using AES-GCM through Apple’s CryptoKit. AES-GCM also checks the data hasn’t been altered: a changed or damaged item fails to open rather than showing something wrong.
The item’s key is locked with your vault key. Your vault key is one random 256-bit key, made on your device the first time you open the app.
Only then is anything saved. What reaches your phone’s storage, and your iCloud backup, is encrypted. Our tests check that no item is ever written in readable form.

Giving every item its own key (known as envelope encryption) means your vault key never has to encrypt large amounts of data directly, and it leaves room for features like sharing one item with a partner later without exposing everything else.

Where the keys live

Your vault key is stored in the Keychain on your device and synced through iCloud Keychain, so it follows you to a new iPhone signed in to the same Apple Account. According to Apple’s iCloud data security overview, passwords and Keychain data are end-to-end encrypted even with standard data protection, with the keys held on your trusted devices.

Sort Admin never receives your vault key. There is no copy with us, because there is nowhere for us to put it.

What’s in iCloud, and what Apple can see

If backup is on, your encrypted items go to your own private iCloud database. Apple’s overview says that, without Advanced Data Protection, data third-party apps store in iCloud is encrypted in transit and on Apple’s servers, but not end-to-end. That’s why Sort Admin encrypts everything itself first: Apple stores a copy it can’t read, because the key sits in iCloud Keychain. Apple can still see that your Sort Admin backup exists, how many records it holds, their sizes and when they changed, but not what’s in them.

So you don’t need to turn on Advanced Data Protection for Sort Admin. It’s still worth considering for the rest of your iCloud, such as photos and backups.

Locking the app

Sort Admin has its own lock on top of your phone’s. You open it with Face ID, and the fallback is a separate app PIN, not your phone passcode. That matters because phone thieves often watch someone type their passcode before taking the phone. With a separate PIN, knowing your passcode isn’t enough to open your vault.

You choose how quickly it locks after you leave the app, from instantly to a short delay. Exporting a PDF asks for Face ID or your PIN again, even if the app is already open.

Details that never leave the vault

Reminders are scheduled on your phone and only say that something needs attention, never what. Your lock screen gives nothing away.
The widget receives only the dates, encrypted, so it can count down to your next renewal without knowing what’s renewing.
Siri can take you to your car registration, but the app asks for Face ID or your PIN first, and Siri never reads your details out. Nothing is added to Spotlight search.
Copied details, like a policy number, are cleared from the clipboard after a minute.
Scanning reads dates from your documents on the device, using Apple’s built-in text recognition. Nothing is uploaded.

The recovery key

When you set up Sort Admin, it shows you a recovery key once. It’s a long random code (at least 128 bits) that can unlock a copy of your vault key, which is kept, locked, in your private iCloud database. If you get a new phone and iCloud Keychain doesn’t bring your key across, entering the recovery key brings your vault back.

Sort Admin never stores the recovery key itself. You can save it as a one-page Recovery Kit PDF or write it down. It’s always free, and never behind the paywall.

No tracking

The app contains no analytics, advertising or tracking tools, and its App Store privacy label says Data Not Collected. If you’ve chosen in your iPhone’s settings to share analytics with app developers, Apple may send us anonymous crash reports. These contain technical details only, never anything from your vault.

The limits, plainly

No app can protect everything, and it’s better you hear the limits from us:

Your Apple Account is the front door. Your backup and vault key live in your iCloud. Use a strong password and two-factor authentication on your Apple Account.
A PDF is outside the encryption. Once you export an item and share or save it, anyone with the file (and its password, if you set one) can read it. Send any password separately.
Losing everything means losing the vault. If you lose your devices, iCloud Keychain can’t restore your key and you’ve lost the recovery key, nobody can open your vault, including us.
An unlocked app is unlocked. If someone has your phone with Sort Admin open, they can see what’s on screen. Set the app to lock instantly if that worries you.
It isn’t a password manager. Sort Admin doesn’t store logins and never asks for them. Keep passwords in a password manager: see how the two differ.

Questions

Can Sort Admin see what I store?

No. Everything is encrypted on your device before it’s saved or backed up, and the key stays on your own devices and in your iCloud Keychain. We have no servers and no accounts.

What happens if Sort Admin stops trading?

Your data is on your phone and in your own iCloud, not with us, and the app doesn’t rely on a server of ours to work. You can also export any item as a PDF at any time.

Is it safe if my phone is stolen?

Your vault needs Face ID or the separate app PIN, so a thief who knows your phone passcode still can’t open it. Report the phone lost in Find My and change your Apple Account password.

Can I delete everything?

Yes. In the app, go to Settings, then Delete everything. It removes your vault from your phone and from iCloud. The privacy notice explains how to remove the backup if you’ve already deleted the app.

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