How Temporary Vaults Work
A guide to LockNKey's temporary vault feature — automatic expiration, secure time-limited conversations, and use cases.
What Are Temporary Vaults?
Temporary vaults are encrypted conversations that automatically expire after a set time period. Once the time runs out, the vault and all its messages become permanently inaccessible.
This feature is perfect for sensitive discussions that shouldn't be stored long-term.
How Expiration Works
When you create a temporary vault, you choose an expiration time:
- 1 Hour — For quick, sensitive discussions
- 2 Hours — Short meetings or sharing
- 4 Hours — Half-day conversations
- 8 Hours — Full workday duration
- 24 Hours — Day-long discussions
After the expiration time passes:
- The vault becomes inaccessible
- Messages can no longer be decrypted
- The vault appears as "expired" in searches
- No data is recoverable
The Technical Side
Vault expiration works through key management:
- Key Expiry: The vault's wrapped encryption key is marked with an expiration timestamp
- Access Check: When someone tries to open a vault, the system checks if it's expired
- Decryption Blocked: Expired vaults cannot be decrypted, even with the correct key
- Data Persistence: The encrypted data may remain on servers briefly but is permanently inaccessible
Use Cases
1. Sensitive Business Discussions Discuss confidential matters that should leave no digital trace after the meeting.
2. Temporary File Sharing Share files that should only be accessible for a limited time.
3. Event Coordination Coordinate events with vaults that auto-cleanup after the event ends.
4. One-Time Secrets Share passwords, API keys, or other secrets that should only be accessed once.
5. Privacy-Sensitive Conversations Have discussions you don't want stored permanently on any server.
Permanent vs Temporary
| Feature | Temporary Vault | Permanent Vault |
|---|---|---|
| Expiration | Yes (1-24 hours) | No |
| Use case | Short-term needs | Ongoing conversations |
| Data retention | Auto-deleted | Retained until manually deleted |
| Recovery | Available during validity | Always available |
Best Practices
- Choose the right duration — Don't set 24 hours for a 5-minute conversation
- Communicate the timeline — Let vault members know when the vault expires
- Download important data — Save anything you need before expiration
- Use recovery questions — In case you need to extend or access the vault later
Privacy by Design
Temporary vaults embody the principle of data minimization — only keep data as long as needed. By automatically cleaning up conversations, LockNKey reduces the risk of data breaches and unauthorized access to old conversations.
Your conversations should last as long as you need them, and no longer.