PanicVault can store and sync your vaults using iCloud Drive, keeping them available across all your Apple devices without any additional setup. This page covers the requirements, how to create and open iCloud vaults, and how syncing and conflicts are handled.
Requirements
iCloud Drive sync requires that you are signed in to iCloud in your device’s system settings. PanicVault does not require any in-app sign-in – it uses your system iCloud account automatically. The Settings screen shows whether iCloud Drive is “Available” or “Not Available”.
Creating Vaults on iCloud Drive
When creating a new vault, choose iCloud Drive as the storage location. You can then pick a folder within your iCloud Drive using the folder picker, or use the Documents root. You can also create new folders directly from the picker.
The vault is created locally and then copied to iCloud Drive. After that, the operating system handles uploading and downloading changes in the background.
PanicVault never replaces a vault file that is already there. If the folder already has a file with your vault’s name – one created on another device, for example – the new vault is saved as “Personal 2.kdbx” (for a vault named “Personal”), and it keeps the name you gave it in PanicVault.
Opening Vaults from iCloud Drive
A vault in iCloud Drive is opened the same way as any other vault:
- Tap the “+” card on the home screen
- Choose Open Existing Vault
- Pick the .kdbx file and it is added to PanicVault
When you are signed in to iCloud, the file browser opens in your PanicVault folder in iCloud Drive, so a vault you created there is right in front of you. If your vault lives in a different iCloud Drive folder, navigate to it in the same browser – it is recognised as an iCloud vault either way.
You can also open a vault straight from the Files app or the Finder; see iCloud Drive and the Files App below.
If iCloud has moved a vault off the device to save space, PanicVault fetches it when you unlock and the lock screen says Downloading from iCloud… while it does. Should it take longer than a moment, it tells you the vault hasn’t finished downloading from iCloud – let the download finish in Files or the Finder, then unlock again.
How Sync Works
iCloud Drive vaults sync automatically using entry-level merging, the same intelligent system used for Google Drive. Changes from multiple devices are merged at the entry level so that edits from both sides are preserved.
- On unlock: The vault file is read once, through file coordination, so you never open a copy that iCloud was halfway through replacing with another device’s version. If iCloud has moved the vault off the device, it is fetched first and the lock screen says Downloading from iCloud… while you wait.
- On save: Before writing, PanicVault reads the vault file through file coordination. If iCloud has brought in another device’s version since the last sync, PanicVault merges it with your changes entry by entry and saves the result, so a save never overwrites a change it has not merged. This holds when you have just changed the master password too: the other device’s version, still under the old password, is merged, and the result is saved under the new one. The operating system then uploads the file in the background. If that version does not open with the password you unlocked with – it was changed on the other device – nothing is written and PanicVault says so; your changes stay on screen.
- On app activation: When PanicVault returns to the foreground, it checks all iCloud vaults for remote changes. If the unlocked vault has new remote changes, they are merged automatically.
- Background monitoring: PanicVault uses the system metadata query API to detect when iCloud Drive files change. Changes are debounced to avoid rapid repeated syncs, and the app ignores notifications caused by its own recent writes.
The entry-by-entry merge rules are the same ones documented under Google Drive Sync.
Handling Sync Conflicts
When the same entry was changed on this device and on another one since the last sync, PanicVault saves both versions straight away – yours, and the other device’s as a “(conflicted copy)” – then shows the conflict screen: Keep All Local, Keep All Remote, Keep Both, or entry by entry. Both versions are kept until you choose, so if you cancel, lock the vault, or PanicVault is closed before you answer, nothing is lost. This happens whether the conflict turns up when you save or when PanicVault syncs on its own (on unlock, when it comes back to the foreground, or when you tap the sync button). If the other device changes the same entries again while PanicVault is saving, PanicVault starts over with its latest version, so the conflict screen always compares yours with the latest one.
Sometimes both versions are kept without the conflict screen – delete the one you don’t want:
- the other device changed something else in the vault while PanicVault was saving both versions: a choice made from the earlier comparison would undo that change;
- you changed the vault again before the save had finished;
- the save was one PanicVault finished after you had locked the vault: both versions are in the file, and you see them the next time you unlock it;
- iCloud itself kept two copies of the vault file, because both devices saved it at the same moment: PanicVault merges them on its own. The one exception to keeping both versions: for an entry changed in both copies, PanicVault keeps the newer change (newer by each device’s own clock) and puts the other in the entry’s history – or, when the history can’t hold it, keeps it as a “(conflicted copy)”. Such a copy can also appear for an entry changed in only one of the two copies, when its history can’t hold the other version. An entry moved in one copy and edited in the other stays in the group it was moved to: PanicVault keeps the newer of the two versions and puts the other in the entry’s history. If it was moved to the Recycle Bin before the other copy’s edit, the edit brings it back out. A copy that can’t be opened – saved after the password was changed on another device, for example – stays unmerged until PanicVault can open it. PanicVault says so once each time you unlock the vault (Not merged: a copy of this vault from another device doesn’t open with this password) and tries it again at the next unlock.
Your choice is saved the same careful way, so a change another device made after both versions were saved is kept. If the vault changed before you chose – you edited it, or a sync brought in a change from another device – or another conflict came up while your choice waited its turn, the choice is not applied and PanicVault says Both versions kept: the vault changed before your choice – delete the version you don’t want. Using an entry meanwhile, such as copying its password, does not count as a change.
Sync Status Indicators
The vault card on the home screen shows the current sync state:
- A sync spinner when syncing is in progress
- An orange exclamation cloud if sync failed or is pending
- A blue merge icon if remote changes need merging
- The last synced time displayed below the vault name
iCloud Drive and the Files App
Vaults you create on iCloud Drive are stored in a PanicVault folder inside iCloud Drive, which appears alongside your other apps’ folders in the Files app on iPhone and iPad and under iCloud Drive in the Finder on Mac. You can browse it, and any subfolders you created from the folder picker, like any other iCloud Drive folder.
The folder can take a moment to show up: iCloud publishes it the first time the app syncs after being installed or updated, so it may not be there the instant the app finishes installing. On Mac, the Finder only lists the folder once it holds at least one file – create or copy a vault into it and it appears.
Vaults in that folder carry the PanicVault document icon, and you can open one straight from there: tap it in the Files app, or double-click it in the Finder, and PanicVault opens with that vault’s lock screen. See Opening a .kdbx File Directly for the other places this works.
Vaults Kept Elsewhere in iCloud Drive
You do not have to keep your vault in the PanicVault folder. If you open a .kdbx file that already lives somewhere in your iCloud Drive – with Open Existing Vault, or by tapping it in the Files app – PanicVault recognises it as an iCloud file and gives it the full iCloud treatment: coordinated reads and writes, automatic download before opening, conflict resolution, and entry-level merging across your devices. The vault card shows it as an iCloud Drive vault.
Files that are not synced by iCloud – vaults in “On My iPhone”, on an external drive, or in a third-party storage provider such as Dropbox – are still opened as local vaults. Their syncing stays with whatever manages them, but when it changes the file PanicVault merges those changes instead of overwriting them. See Vaults Synced by Another App.
One difference applies to an iCloud Drive vault kept outside the PanicVault folder: the system only reports live file-change notifications for the app’s own folder, so changes made on another device, or by KeePassXC on this Mac, are picked up when PanicVault comes back to the foreground, when the vault is opened or unlocked, when you tap the sync button, and when you save – rather than the instant they arrive. A save never overwrites them: it first merges any newer version iCloud has already brought onto this device.
