The four levels
What Easy, Just me, Two devices and Fort Knox each ask for, who they keep out, and how a thing’s level shapes everything else, from autofill to what a program can be given.
The short version is on What Vando is. This page goes further.
Who each level keeps out
| Level | Every time it opens, it needs | Someone with your phone and its PIN |
|---|---|---|
| Easy | Nothing more while your vault is open on that phone | opens it |
| Just me | Your phone’s unlock now: fingerprint, face or PIN | opens it |
| Two devices | Just me on one phone, then a yes on your other phone | can’t open it without your other phone |
| Fort Knox | Your fingerprint or face (not the PIN), then your security key | can’t open it without your key |
Signing in with your email opens nothing. A new phone gets your things only when one of your phones approves it, or from your recovery kit after 48 hours (a new phone).
Easy: while your vault is open
Your vault is open on a phone when you unlocked that phone recently and haven’t pressed Lock now. “Recently” is 10 minutes, unless you change it in Settings → App lock → Keep my vault open for: 10 minutes, 30 minutes or 1 hour. An iPhone allows at most 5 minutes, so it offers no choice. The phone itself keeps the time, and Lock now closes the vault at once.
The same window decides when Easy logins fill on the phone without a prompt, and when a login saved from your laptop is kept straight away (saving a login).
Just me: your phone, unlocked now
Your phone’s own unlock, at the moment you open the thing. The PIN counts, and adding a new fingerprint to the phone doesn’t end anything. That is the same trade-off as a banking app: someone who has your phone and its PIN gets in. New things start here unless their vault says otherwise.
Two devices: a yes from your other phone
For people who want more than Just me and have no security key. After your unlock, your other phone gets an ask and you approve there too. In this version, the second phone’s yes is checked by the app and Vando’s server: the server hands out the thing’s key only for an ask your other phone approved. Each edit of a Two devices thing gives it a new key, so a copy kept from before never opens the new version.
Things at Two devices can’t be given to a program yet. coming
Fort Knox: your fingerprint and your key
- Not the PIN. Someone who knows your PIN could add their own finger, so only a fingerprint or face counts, and adding a new fingerprint ends this phone’s Fort Knox access. The phone gets it back when another phone of yours approves it, or from your kit.
- Then your security key. Any of your keys works. A phone without a fingerprint or face reader can’t open Fort Knox things; another of your phones can.
- Keep a spare way back. Fort Knox needs a recovery kit or a second security key, so losing one key doesn’t lose these things. If every phone, every key and your kit are gone, Fort Knox things stay shut, for you too.
How the two steps feel on the phone: Fort Knox: your fingerprint and your key.
Where new things start
| How it got there | It starts at |
|---|---|
| You add it on the phone | its vault’s level (Just me unless you changed the vault); you can pick another |
| Imported from another app | the level the import screen shows, never Fort Knox (that needs your key); bank logins are offered a move to Fort Knox after |
| Saved from your laptop while your vault is open | Easy |
vando init from a project | suggested per folder by its name: dev Easy, staging Just me, prod Fort Knox; you choose before you save |
vando add from your computer | what you choose under How careful? |
Changing a level
- Tighter (say Just me to Fort Knox) needs your phone’s unlock, and protects the thing from then on. If it was ever opened at the weaker level, the app suggests changing the password on the site too: an old copy stays as safe as the old lock.
- Looser first opens the thing through its current lock. A Fort Knox thing needs your fingerprint and your key before it can become Just me: a lock guards its own weakening.
- Every device of yours is told of every change.
- Changing a thing’s level ends any access a program still had to it (access windows).
Levels and programs
When you give a secret to a program on your computer (one secret), its level sets the longest you can give it for:
| Level | Starts on | Longest |
|---|---|---|
| Easy | 8 hours | 7 days |
| Just me | 8 hours | 1 day |
| Fort Knox | Once | 8 hours, with a warning for anything longer than Once |
The steps are the thing’s own lock, every time you give: Fort Knox still needs your fingerprint and your key, once for the whole list on the screen.
Last verified
How approvals work
When your laptop or an AI wants something, it asks your phone. You see exactly what it wants, and you say yes or no. Nothing happens until you do.
Vaults and folders
How vaults, folders and tags sort your things, why where a thing lives never changes its lock, and what the Trash keeps.