Disclosure. We make Paperlock, and it appears in the table below. We are not affiliated with Dropbox, Apple, Google, Proton, Bitwarden or 1Password. For several of the reasons people used Dropbox Vault, another product on this page is the better answer, and we say which.
Dropbox Vault was discontinued in March 2025
If you're looking for Dropbox Vault, it's gone: Dropbox discontinued it in March 2025, and from March 4 it was no longer available. In the notice Dropbox staff quote on its community forum, an existing vault "will automatically turn into a standard Dropbox folder, that doesn't require a PIN to access. The files in your folder will remain the same." So your files are still in your Dropbox, just without the extra lock.
Vault was a folder inside Dropbox that opened only with a PIN, and you could share it with trusted contacts, the people who could reach your important papers if you couldn't. A locked folder and an emergency plan in one place: that combination is what made it unusual, and most alternatives give you one or the other. Here is where to keep important documents now.
What Dropbox describes for teams
For teams, Dropbox now describes encrypted team folders: end-to-end encrypted, so only folder members hold the key, "excluding anyone else, including Dropbox." Its help center lists them on the Business Plus, Advanced and Enterprise plans, and only team admins can create them. If your vault was really a work folder, ask your admin about this first. If it held your passport and your will, read on.
Six alternatives compared
| Where files live | End-to-end encryption | Trusted contact / emergency access | Desktop access | Finds a document by what it says | Cost model | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dropbox Vault (discontinued 2025) | Dropbox | n/a | Had trusted contacts | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Google Drive | Google's servers | Client-side encryption only on certain Workspace editions | Inactive Account Manager, after a period of inactivity | Yes | Search box | Free storage, then paid |
| iCloud Drive + Advanced Data Protection | Apple's servers, keys on your devices | Yes, with ADP turned on | Legacy Contact, after death | Yes, Mac and iCloud.com | Search box | Free storage, then paid |
| Proton Drive | Proton's servers | Yes, encrypted on your device before upload | Account emergency access, paid plans | Yes, Windows and macOS apps | Search box | Free plan, then paid |
| Bitwarden or 1Password | The password manager's servers | Yes, the vault model | Bitwarden: emergency access, Premium; 1Password: not compared here | Yes | Item names and notes | Subscription or premium tier |
| A locked note (Apple Notes) | Your iPhone and iCloud | Follows your iCloud settings | No | Yes, on a Mac | Search box | Free |
| Paperlock | Encrypted on your iPhone; optional encrypted copy in your own iCloud (Plus) | Stored encrypted on the phone; pages are read on our servers over an encrypted connection and not kept | No. No sharing between users | No. iPhone only | Yes: reads each document and answers plain-English questions | Free for 25 documents and 5 questions a month; Plus $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year |
If you want the locked folder: Proton Drive or iCloud with ADP
Proton Drive is the closest thing to "Vault, but stricter." Proton says it encrypts your files and their names on your device before upload, so no one but you and the people you choose can read them. It runs on Windows, macOS, iOS, Android and the web, there's a free plan to try it on, and shared links can carry a password and an expiry date. If you liked Vault because it worked on your laptop and your phone, start here.
iCloud Drive with Advanced Data Protection suits anyone already living on Apple devices. ADP is an optional setting that extends end-to-end encryption to iCloud Drive, Photos, Notes and backups. The price of that protection is responsibility: before turning it on, Apple has you set up a recovery contact or a recovery key, because Apple can't recover your data for you. Do that step carefully, and write the recovery key down somewhere that's in your emergency binder.
Google Drive is a fine place for ordinary files, but for personal accounts it has no direct equivalent of a PIN-locked folder. Google's end-to-end option, client-side encryption, is listed for certain Workspace editions, not personal accounts.
If you want the trusted contact: emergency access
This is the part of Vault people miss most, and it's where password managers shine. Bitwarden's emergency access lets a Premium user name trusted contacts who can request access; you approve it, or it's granted after a wait time you set. A contact with view access can see items in your individual vault, including attachments, so a scan of your passport stored there comes along. 1Password can store documents too, with a file-storage allowance per person that covers the papers that matter.
Proton offers emergency access across the whole account on its paid plans: up to five contacts, a waiting period you choose, and both of you need a Proton address. Apple's Legacy Contact and Google's Inactive Account Manager are the built-in versions, with different triggers: Apple's works after death, with an access key and a death certificate; Google's after your account has been inactive for a period you set, for up to ten people.
If the password manager versus vault question is where you're stuck, our password manager vs document vault page goes through it.
If you just want it locked on your phone: a note or a vault app
A locked note in Apple Notes is free and already installed. You can lock it with your iPhone passcode or a separate password, and open it with Face ID. Apple's limits matter here, though: a note containing PDFs, audio, video or iWork files can't be locked, so it works better for details than for a stack of scanned paperwork.
Paperlock is our app, and it's built for a different job than Vault was. It keeps documents encrypted on your iPhone, locks with Face ID, and blurs IDs and medical papers until you confirm again. Its real difference is that it reads what you save: what the document is, who it's from, the dates, the amounts and when it expires. Then you can ask "when does my passport expire?" and get the answer with the passport attached. No folders, no naming. How it works has the details.
Now the honest part. Paperlock has no sharing between users and no trusted contact. If your reason for Vault was "my partner can get to the insurance policy if something happens to me," Paperlock does not solve that, and one of the emergency-access options above does. It also has no desktop or web version, and question-answering needs internet. Many people pair the two: a reading vault on the phone for daily use, and an emergency-access plan for the bad day. Our emergency binder app comparison and the private document vault apps for iPhone roundup cover both sides.
Which one to pick
- Locked folder on every device: Proton Drive.
- All-Apple household: iCloud Drive with Advanced Data Protection, plus a Legacy Contact.
- A person who can get in during an emergency: Bitwarden's or Proton's emergency access.
- Your Dropbox is a work account: ask your admin about encrypted team folders.
- Documents on your iPhone you need to find by what they say: Paperlock, alongside one of the emergency options above.
Whichever you choose, move your old Vault files on purpose. They're sitting in a regular Dropbox folder now. And keep a second copy somewhere separate; our guide to backing up important documents covers the simple version.