Frequently Asked Questions
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What is QuickVars?
QuickVars is an encrypted local vault for small personal facts you'd otherwise dig for in Photos, Notes, or old emails — a VIN, an EIN, a passport number, an insurance policy. You save each one as a name and a value, and retrieve it later by typing, searching, or asking out loud, all gated behind Face ID.
How is this different from just using Notes or Photos?
Notes and Photos aren't encrypted at rest the way QuickVars is, and they're not built to be asked a question — you have to remember which note or screenshot has the thing you need. QuickVars is built around one motion: ask, and Face ID hands back exactly the fact you asked for.
Why Face ID instead of a password?
Face ID fetching your encryption key from the Keychain is the entire authentication mechanism — there's no separate password to set, forget, or have stolen in a data breach elsewhere. If your device doesn't support Face ID or you disable it, QuickVars falls back to your device passcode.
Does Siri ever hear or speak my saved values?
Never spoken, and never returned to Siri as text by the default "find" command — that command opens the app and Face ID reveals the value on screen. A second, separate "check" command does show the value as a one-time inline Siri result after its own Face ID prompt, which you have to opt into using by name; it's a deliberate, disclosed exception, not the default behavior. See the Privacy Policy for the full detail.
What is Emergency Info, and is it safe?
Emergency Info is an opt-in, per-item exception to Face ID: things like blood type or an emergency contact can be marked visible from the Lock Screen with no authentication, for the moment someone other than you needs them. It uses a separate, deliberately weaker-gated encryption key that never touches the rest of your vault, and is off by default for every item.
Do I need an account or does QuickVars use the cloud?
No account, no cloud, no server of any kind. Everything QuickVars stores lives only on your device, encrypted with a key that never leaves the Keychain.
What happens if I lose my phone or it's reset?
Your encryption key is tied to that specific device's Keychain and never restores to a new device, even from an iCloud or iTunes backup — so QuickVars starts empty on a new phone. This is deliberate: it means a lost phone's backup can't be restored into readable data on another device.
What's the difference between free and Pro?
Free includes everything — Face ID, search, voice, Siri, Emergency Info, the Watch app, widgets — up to 3 saved QuickVars. Pro is a one-time $39.99 purchase that removes the item limit entirely; there's no subscription. See Pricing.
Does the Apple Watch app store anything?
No. The Watch app never holds an encryption key or a decrypted value — every question it asks is a live round-trip to your already-unlocked iPhone, which does the actual matching and decrypting.