PhraseVault® protects selected phrase contents with a PIN, encrypting the text in the database while leaving the names visible and searchable. Unlock with your PIN when you need to insert, copy, or edit protected text. The PIN accepts passwords of at least four characters, including letters and spaces, so you can choose something stronger than a short numeric code.
How do I lock a phrase?
Open the phrase, tick Lock with PIN, and click Save. If this database has no PIN yet, PhraseVault asks you to choose one and confirm it first. Spaces are part of the password, so enter them consistently when unlocking. Choose a long, hard-to-guess password; four characters is only the minimum.
To remove protection from that phrase, open it, unlock if prompted, untick Lock with PIN, and save. There is no button that deletes the PIN from the database. Change PIN replaces it with a new one.
What can other people still see?
Protected phrases always show their names and a lock icon in the list, without a text preview. Search finds them by name only, even during an unlocked session, so keep sensitive details out of the name. Unprotected phrases stay unencrypted. The copy button puts unlocked text on the clipboard; insertion pastes it into the target app.
One PIN protects the selected contents in each database, rather than locking the whole app or encrypting the whole database. It travels with the database file, so the same PIN unlocks those phrases on another computer. Use a dedicated password manager for passwords and other credentials.
If you forget the PIN, the locked text cannot be recovered. Keep the PIN somewhere you already trust, such as a password manager, rather than inside a PhraseVault phrase.
Someone who has a copy of the file can try PINs offline, as fast as their computer allows. After several wrong tries, PhraseVault waits longer before the next one, and that wait applies only inside the app. Protected contents use AES-256-GCM encryption. PIN-based key derivation uses Argon2id when available or scrypt otherwise.
If a {{phrase:id}} reference points to protected text while the database is locked, insertion stops. Open the protected phrase and unlock with your PIN, then retry the original phrase.
When does PhraseVault lock again?
Open Settings, then Security. Lock automatically after is on by default, at 15 minutes, counted from the moment you unlock rather than from the last phrase you insert. You can turn it off or choose 5 minutes, 1 hour, 4 hours, or 24 hours. The duration is saved when you click Save preferences, and it belongs to this installation, not to the database file.
Lock now locks immediately. Change PIN requires your current PIN and applies the new one when you confirm it. Switching to another database, or quitting PhraseVault, locks as well.
What counts as a backup?
Export All and Export Filtered leave every PIN-locked phrase out, even while you are unlocked, and PhraseVault tells you how many were left out. A JSON export is not a full backup of a protected library.
Copy the database file instead. In Settings, open Database, then Open Current Database Location. Quit PhraseVault from the tray or menu bar before copying the .sqlite file. It holds your phrases and the encrypted key information needed to unlock them; it does not store the PIN as readable text. Preferences, including how soon PhraseVault locks again, stay on this computer.
A file you exported before locking a phrase still contains the old text. Locking does not go back and protect exports you already made. Importing over a locked phrase in the app clears the lock. A command-line overwrite keeps it. The import and export guide covers moving a library.
Command line
Under Settings → Security → Command line & AI agents, Locked phrases stays Off unless you change it. With Off, list and search still show a locked phrase's name, and the text stays closed. While unlocked allows those phrases while you have unlocked them in the app. With PIN also lets unlock read the PIN from standard input, not from the command itself. Export from the command line never includes locked phrases. See the command line.
See also
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