A browser is not a VPN. Sites you visit and your network operator can still see your IP address. Tracking protection is list-based and not absolute: known ads, analytics, and social trackers from bundled lists are blocked on the device, but no blocker catches everything. Private Browser Incognito is rated 17+ for unrestricted web access and is intended for adults. The vault is optional Stealth Suite. Session erase does not clear it. A panic code can.
A download on iPhone often lands where everyone can see it. Photos, Files, and a backup that copies the library to another screen are convenient. They are also a gallery. If you wanted a file for one reason and not a tile in Camera Roll, the default path is the wrong machine.
Private Browser Incognito keeps browsing in memory with no history file. Downloads are a different job. When you save a file on purpose, it should not inherit the Camera Roll, and it should not inherit a cloud we do not run. Stealth Suite adds Private Downloads: an encrypted vault inside the app, AES-256, with no plain copy on disk, excluded from backups. This article is the architecture of that store, not a catalog of websites that might offer a file. If you are still choosing a private browser on structure, start with The Best Private Browser for iPhone: What Actually Matters.
What a vault is (and what Photos is)
Photos is a library. Other apps can request access. People who unlock the phone can open it. Memories, widgets, and sharing sheets treat the library as content to surface. A file that landed there is no longer only yours in the narrow sense. It is in the place iPhone uses for pictures.
A vault is a sealed store the browser owns. Files go into encrypted storage inside the app. They never appear in Photos or Files. You open them from this app, behind App Lock if you turned the lock on. That is the whole product claim. We do not run a drive in the sky. There are no accounts and no app server for browsing. The App Store privacy label is Data Not Collected.
The vault is not a disguise for the rest of the phone. Icon colors in Stealth Suite recolor the shield (Midnight, Ocean, Ember). There are no calculator or notes icons in the shipping app. The vault hides files from Photos. It does not hide the fact that Private Browser Incognito is installed.
Why that split matters is the subject of Why Downloads Should Not Land in Photos. The short version: a library is for pictures you might want to find later in the same place as everything else. A vault is for files you wanted out of that place on purpose.
AES-256, no plain copy, no cloud of ours
The cipher we name is AES-256. That is a standard. It is not a mood. We do not call it military grade. Encryption here means the bytes on disk are ciphertext. There is no plain copy sitting beside the sealed file for a file manager to preview. If you want the slower explanation of what that sentence does and does not buy you, read AES-256 in the Vault, Explained Without Hype.
The passcode is never stored. It becomes the key. Forgotten passcodes cannot be recovered. If you forget it, data sealed under it is permanently inaccessible, by you or by us. There is no reset email. Choose a code you can remember, or accept that the vault dies with the memory of the number.
Excluded from backups means the vault is not supposed to ride along when the phone copies itself elsewhere. There is no second copy on a server we operate, because we do not operate a browsing server. Lose the device and the files on it are gone with it. That is the honest half of “on this iPhone only.” The other half is in Vault Files and iCloud Backup.
Network the app makes is still the pages you open, search you send if you search, downloads you start, and StoreKit if you buy Stealth Suite. Block lists ship in the app. We do not fetch your files from a Private Browser cloud. There is no such cloud.
Erase leaves the vault. Panic can empty it.
One-tap erase is a session control. It closes every tab and destroys cookies, cache, and site data. There is a home-screen quick action so you do not have to open the app first. Stealth Suite adds an Auto-Erase timer if you want the session to die after you leave. Erase is permanent. Erased session data cannot be recovered.
Session erase does not clear the vault. That is deliberate. A browsing wipe is for residue from pages. A kept file is a decision you already made. Mixing those two into one trash can would punish people who saved something on purpose. If you expected erase to mean the whole app forgets every byte, this is the sentence to read twice. The session is free to destroy. The vault is a separate store. The longer contrast lives in Erase Everything in One Tap.
A panic code is the control that does take the vault. Entered at the lock screen, it silently wipes tabs, the entire vault, and the break-in log, then opens what looks like a fresh start. Self-destruct fires after too many wrong codes: saved tabs are destroyed, and optionally the vault with them. Both are irreversible. Do not configure a panic number you will type by accident.
The decoy passcode is a third scene, not a wipe. A second code opens a clean, empty browser. Real tabs stay hidden. The decoy does not display vault files. Details are in Decoy Passcode: A Second Browser That Shows Nothing. Use erase when the session should die. Use panic when the files should die too. Use the decoy when a person is holding the phone.
What we will not list
This is not a directory of sites that offer downloads. Pages change. Hotlink rules change. A list would go stale the week it shipped, and it would read like a promise we cannot keep. A download in this app is a file you start, sealed into the vault when Stealth Suite is unlocked for that job. Whether a given page actually offers a file is the page’s behavior, not a catalog we publish.
Video is the search that brings a lot of people here. The product answer is the same store: files, including video you save, go into the vault and not into Photos. We still will not name hosts. See Private Video Downloads That Never Hit Photos for that framing without a support matrix.
The vault is also not a password manager, not a VPN, not Tor, and not fingerprint spoofing. It does not hide your IP while you fetch the file. The site that served it still saw a request. Your network operator still saw a destination. Encryption on disk is about residue after the transfer, not invisibility during it.
Free browser, paid vault
The free core is the forgetful session: no history file, on-device blocking from bundled Disconnect lists, one-tap erase, App Lock with a six-digit passcode and Face ID, HTTPS-Only Mode. There are no ads in the app. Stealth Suite is optional Apple IAP: monthly $4.99, yearly $19.99 with a 7-day trial, or lifetime $49.99. The vault lives in that kit, with decoy, panic, break-in log, self-destruct, and icon colors.
If a subscription lapses, protections you already enabled keep working and the vault stays accessible. New downloads that require an active unlock follow the lapse policy in the terms. We do not hold existing files hostage. We also do not invent other prices.
| Control | Browsing session | Vault files |
|---|---|---|
| One-tap erase | Destroyed | Left intact |
| Panic code | Wiped | Wiped |
| Photos / Files | Not a history gallery | Never appears there |
| Backups | No history file to copy | Excluded from backups |
| Our servers | None for browsing | None. No cloud drive |
App Lock is free in the shipping default. It sits in front of the real session and, when you use Stealth Suite, in front of the vault as well. Face ID is convenience. The six-digit passcode is the key. A private browser without a vault is still a private browser: it just refuses to keep a diary of pages. A vault is for the files you decided were worth keeping after the page is gone. Keep those jobs apart and the product stays honest. Rated 17+: you are responsible for what you download and for using the app lawfully. Intruder Photo, if you enable it, can depict other people. Camera permission is asked when you turn that feature on, never at the lock screen.
Private Browser IncognitoFree on the App Store. No history, on-device blocking, one-tap erase.
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Frequently asked questions
Does one-tap erase delete vault downloads?
No. Session erase closes every tab and destroys cookies, cache, and site data. It does not clear the encrypted download vault. Files you chose to keep stay sealed on the device until you delete them, until a panic code wipes the vault, or until self-destruct is set to take the vault with the tabs.
Is the encrypted download vault free?
No. The vault is part of Stealth Suite, optional Apple IAP: monthly $4.99, yearly $19.99 with a 7-day trial, or lifetime $49.99. The free browser still has no history file, on-device blocking, one-tap erase, and App Lock. If a subscription lapses, protections you already enabled keep working and the vault stays accessible.
Do vault files appear in the Photos app?
No. Private Downloads land in an encrypted vault inside the app. They never appear in Photos or Files. That is the point of a separate store: the Camera Roll is a library other apps and people can browse. The vault is sealed on the device and opened from this browser.
Are vault files backed up to iCloud?
No. Vault files are excluded from backups. They stay on the device. There is no cloud copy on our servers, because there are no accounts and no app server for browsing. If you lose the phone or forget the passcode, there is nothing for us to restore.
Can a panic code wipe the vault?
Yes. A panic code entered at the lock screen silently wipes tabs, the entire vault, and the break-in log, then opens what looks like a fresh start. That is irreversible. Erased data cannot be recovered, by you or by us. Session erase is the opposite control: it destroys the browsing session and leaves the vault.