How to store passport and ID copies safely

Keep one encrypted scan of each passport and ID on your phone, one paper copy stored apart from the original, and nothing else: no photos in your camera roll, no copies in email, chats or Downloads. The scan helps you replace a lost document or read out its number at a counter; the paper copy helps when your phone is dead; and every extra copy is one more place it can leak. Here’s how to set that up in about 10 minutes.

Why keep copies at all

A copy of your passport or driver’s license doesn’t replace the original. It does help when:

Your passport is lost or stolen abroad, and the consulate asks for its number, issue date and a copy of the photo page.
A hotel, car rental or form asks for a document number and you don’t want to carry the original everywhere.
Your family needs to find your papers in an emergency. See where to keep important documents.

Where not to keep ID copies

Place	Why it’s a risk
Camera roll	Syncs to iCloud Photos, shows up in Memories and photo widgets, opens with your iPhone passcode
Email to yourself	Stored on the provider’s servers, usually readable by the provider, rarely deleted from every folder
Chat apps	Copies stay on both phones, in both backups, often in cloud media folders
Downloads and desktop folders	Plain files that anyone with your computer, or your cloud drive, can open
Unlocked notes	Readable by anyone who opens Notes on your unlocked phone; a scanned page in Notes can’t be locked (it’s a PDF)

That last point is a detail worth knowing: Apple says notes with PDF attachments can’t be locked, and a document scanned in Notes is saved as a PDF. More in how to scan documents on iPhone.

Step 1: Scan it properly

Passport: the photo page. Add the page with your signature if your country’s passport has one elsewhere.
Driver’s license or ID card: both sides, as one document.
Other papers: residence permits, visas, birth certificate, Social Security card if you must (many people prefer to keep that one on paper only).

Lay the document flat in even light. A scan reads better than a photo and makes a cleaner PDF.

In Bunker, tap + in a vault, choose Scan Document, capture the pages, and on Review Scan pick the Passport or ID type. The title fills in from the first line of text Bunker reads, which you can change to something like “Passport, Sarah”. The PDF is built in memory and encrypted straight into the vault, so no readable copy is ever written to your iPhone, and its text is read on the device so you can search for it later.

Step 2: Delete every other copy

This is the step people skip. Search for old copies:

Photos: search for “passport” or “license”. Photos can find text in images. Delete what you find, then open Collections → Recently Deleted and delete them there too.
Mail: search for “passport”, “ID”, “license” and the document number. Delete, then empty the trash.
Messages and other chats: open the conversation details, look under photos and documents.
Files: check Downloads, On My iPhone and iCloud Drive.

If you’ve sent a copy to someone, you can’t delete theirs. You can ask.

Step 3: Make sure the backup works

An encrypted copy you can’t restore is worse than none, because you’ll trust it. In Bunker, Encrypted Backup is on by default and free. It sends each vault to your own iCloud, encrypted on the device first, so only your Pattern or Recovery Phrase can open it. Check Vault Settings → Encrypted Backup for the last complete backup time, and write your Recovery Phrase on paper. See how to back up a photo vault for how to test a restore.

Step 4: One paper copy, kept apart

Print one copy of each and keep it apart from the original: at home in a file, and when you travel, in a different bag from your passport. If your phone and passport are stolen together, the paper copy is what gets you to the consulate.

Sending a copy safely

Sometimes a landlord, employer or bank asks for a copy. To keep the damage small if it leaks:

Mark it. Before sending, use Markup to write across the image who it’s for and the date, for example “For Olivia Bennett, rental application, Mar 14, 2031”. A marked copy is much harder to reuse.
Remove location. When you share from Bunker, “Remove location and camera details” is on by default.
Use an encrypted channel. iMessage is end-to-end encrypted; ordinary email usually isn’t. See how to send private photos securely.
Ask how long they keep it, and when they delete it.

A note on digital IDs

Apple Wallet supports a Digital ID created from a US passport, accepted at TSA checkpoints at participating US airports for domestic travel. It’s a good option for showing your ID in person. It isn’t a copy you can send, and it doesn’t replace your physical passport for international travel.

The limits of any phone storage

Someone with your unlocked phone and your vault’s Pattern sees what’s in that vault. Keep ID copies in a vault whose Pattern you never draw in public.
If you forget your Pattern and lose your Recovery Phrase, we can’t recover the vault for you. The paper copy is your fallback.
Screenshot blocking is best-effort. Anyone you show a scan to could photograph it.

When you don’t need an app

If you only want the document number handy, writing it on paper in your travel wallet works and can’t be hacked. If nobody else knows your iPhone passcode and you have Advanced Data Protection turned on, a PDF kept in the Files app is a reasonable middle ground. Use an encrypted vault when the copies would do real harm in the wrong hands, or when you keep papers for the whole family.

If you’re gathering documents so your family can find them one day, see what to put in an “if something happens to me” folder and Legacy Vaults.

Questions

Is it safe to keep a photo of my passport on my phone?

In the camera roll, not really: it syncs to iCloud Photos, can turn up in Memories, and opens for anyone with your iPhone passcode. Keep it in encrypted storage with its own key instead.

Should I email myself a copy of my passport?

It's better not to. Email is stored on servers in a form the provider can usually read, it's hard to delete everywhere, and a hacked email account exposes every copy in it.

Can I use a scan of my passport to travel?

No. A scan helps you replace a lost passport or prove details at a counter, but airlines and border officers need the original.

How do I send a copy of my ID to a landlord or employer?

Send it through an encrypted channel, write who it's for and the date across the image, and remove its location data. Ask them how they store it and when they delete it.