Install My Signal Vault on your phone

There is no app store download. The site installs itself as an app, which means it updates the moment we do and takes a few hundred kilobytes rather than a few hundred megabytes.

iPhone and iPad

Safari is the simplest route. On iOS and iPadOS 16.4 or later, Chrome and Edge can add it too, from their own Share menu.

1. Open the site in Safari.
2. Tap the Share button, the square with the arrow. On iOS 26, tap the three dots beside the address bar first, then Share. On older versions it sits in the toolbar at the bottom of the screen, or at the top on iPad.
3. Scroll down and tap Add to Home Screen. If you do not see it, tap View More or Edit Actions at the bottom of the list.
4. On iOS 26, leave Open as Web App switched on. Turned off, you get a plain bookmark that opens in Safari, and push reminders will not work.
5. Tap Add. The icon, named Signal Vault, appears with your other apps.

The installed app keeps its own sign in, separate from Safari, so you will be asked to sign in once the first time you open it.

Android

1. Open the site in Chrome.
2. Tap the three dot menu in the top right.
3. Tap Add to home screen. Some versions call it Install app.
4. If Chrome asks whether to install or create a shortcut, choose Install, then confirm. The app appears on your home screen and in your app drawer.

Chrome may also offer to install it in a bar at the bottom of the screen once you have used the site for a little while. Other Android browsers, such as Samsung Internet and Edge, have a similar option in their menus. Long press the icon for shortcuts straight to your vaults or files.

Desktop

Chrome and Edge show an install icon at the right hand end of the address bar. If you do not see it, look in the browser menu for the install option: in Chrome it is under Cast, save and share, in Edge under Apps. It gives you a standalone window with no browser chrome, which is convenient if you keep it pinned.

Turn on push reminders

Open the installed app, go to Notifications and tap Turn on for this device. Your device asks for permission; allow it. Tap Send a test to check it arrives. Do this on each phone or computer you want reminders on.

Push follows the same switches as email: with Check in reminders on, a push arrives alongside each email at 75 and 90 percent of the check in window, and with Vault deliveries on you get one when a vault is delivered. A push is much harder to miss than an email in a busy inbox.

On iPhone and iPad, push needs iOS or iPadOS 16.4 or later and only works in the version opened from the home screen icon, not in a Safari tab. If turning it on in a browser tab tells you to add the site to your Home Screen first, that is the reason.

Checking in from the home screen

Open the app and press Check in on the vault, or the check in button in the top bar to reset every armed vault at once. That is the whole ritual. Most people who keep a vault running for years do it this way, because the friction of opening a browser and signing in is exactly the friction that causes a missed deadline.