NullKey 
Start by leaving the vault alone
If you forget your photo vault password, first leave the vault and the app exactly as they are. Do not clear app storage and do not uninstall. Recovery depends on the app, so check its official account and support options, then the routes you may still hold: a saved recovery key, an unlock method that is still active on the phone, or a backup together with the secret that belongs to it.
Recovery depends on the app's design. Some apps can reset access through an account or support, and others hold no copy of your key. The useful question is which route your app offers and which secrets or backups you still hold.
Check what you still hold
Go through these checks before you try the unlock screen again and again. Take care with unlock attempts, because some apps limit or disable a method after repeated failures.
- Check the app's own guidance on attempt limits first. Verify each secret and its spelling before any attempt, and stop before you reach a limit.
- Find the recovery key you saved when you created the vault, and check that it is the copy you kept away from the phone.
- Identify any biometric, phone screen-lock or in-app pattern unlock you enabled, and try it only if you can do so without reaching an attempt limit.
- Find all your encrypted backup files, including older ones, and note which passphrase or recovery key was active when you made each.
- Write down when you last changed the passphrase, because changing it may not update older backups.
How NullKey handles this
NullKey has no account reset, and Alvento holds no copy of your vault, so Alvento cannot recover a forgotten passphrase or missing files. A saved recovery key can open an existing vault, and unlocking with it makes you set a new passphrase. Screen-lock and pattern unlock pause after an app update or seven days without typing the passphrase, so they may not help after a long gap. A restore goes into a separate, empty vault with the backup's secret, so keep your locked vault and its app data in place.
The honest limit: Alvento cannot recover either secret. If an unlock method you enabled still works, use it to open the vault and replace the recovery key. Otherwise, look for a backup and the secret that belongs to it.
Why encryption limits recovery
Encryption is designed so that stored files cannot be read without the right key. That protects them from someone who copies the files, but it also means the company that made the app often cannot open them either, because it never held the key. A reset link or a support ticket cannot rebuild a key the company never held.
Clearing app data or uninstalling can remove the local vault on many phones, and that copy may be the only one you have. A factory reset can work the same way. Keep the app and its data in place. Do not clear storage, uninstall or reset the phone unless you have restored a backup separately, checked its contents and accepted anything that is missing.
Set up a way back before you need it
The best time to prepare for a forgotten password is while you still remember it. Save the recovery key somewhere separate from the phone, make an encrypted backup, and keep the backup and its matching secret in separate places, away from the phone. Then run a test restore with a few sample photos into an empty test vault, so you know the process works.
Repeat the backup after important changes, and note which secret each older backup needs.
