Back Up a Private Vault to Google Drive

What a backup is

A backup is one encrypted copy of your vault. It is made on your phone, and only then uploaded to a hidden folder inside your own Google Drive. Google stores a file it cannot read, and we never receive it.

How to make one

Open Seakret and unlock your vault.
Go to Settings and choose Google Drive backup.
Connect your Google account when asked. Seakret asks for one narrow permission: its own hidden app folder. It cannot see your other Drive files.
Choose to back up.

What Google can still see

Encryption hides what is inside, not that a backup exists. Google can see that a file is there, its size, when it was made and a label that groups backups of the same vault. The details are listed in the privacy policy, and the design is described on the security page.

Restoring on a new phone

Install Seakret on the new phone.
On the first screen choose that you have a backup, and connect your Google account.
Enter your 24-word recovery phrase when asked. Without it the backup cannot be opened. (What the recovery phrase is.)

A backup is not sync

A backup is a snapshot of your vault at the moment you made it. It is not live syncing between phones. If you restore on a new phone, you get the vault as it was at the last backup, and anything you added after that is not in it. Restoring adds a vault to the phone, and your original vault on the other phone is not changed or merged. If you add many files, back up again.

Where it is stored and what it uses

The backup lives in a hidden folder that only Seakret can reach, inside your own Google Drive. It does not show up in your normal Drive files, but it does count towards your Drive storage. A large vault means a large backup, so check you have the space. The permission Seakret asks for covers only that hidden folder, not your other Drive files, and it does not ask for your name or email address.

Good to know

Backing up is your choice every time. Nothing is sent unless you choose to.
You can delete backups in the app, or remove the hidden folder in your Google Drive settings.
Back up again after you add a lot of new files.

Make it a habit

Back up after a batch of new photos and videos, not only once.
Keep your 24-word recovery phrase on paper, separately from your phone. Without it, a backup cannot be opened.
Know the restore steps before you need them: install Seakret, choose that you have a backup, connect Google, then enter your recovery phrase.

Deleting or stopping a backup

You can delete backups in the app under Settings, Google Drive backup, or remove Seakret’s hidden data in your Google Drive settings (Manage apps, then Seakret, then Delete hidden app data). You can also withdraw Seakret’s access at myaccount.google.com/permissions. Our data deletion page lists every way to remove your data.