Private Vault
Encrypt meeting titles, transcripts, notes, and AI chat on your device before storage.
Private Vault is required to use Observer. Meeting titles, transcripts, AI chat, and meeting notes are encrypted on your device before they are saved to your account.
What you get
- Stored meeting content is readable on your signed-in devices when Private Vault is enabled — not as plain text in our database
- You keep normal app sign-in (no re-login every launch)
- Once enabled on a device, Private Vault can stay unlocked across launches while you remain signed in
- After you sign out — or on a new device — you unlock again with your vault passphrase
- You can recover access with a recovery key if you forget your vault passphrase
- Starting a meeting requires Private Vault to be enabled on that device
What stays readable for the product to work
- Meeting times and durations
- Billing and plan usage
- Account email
- Instructions (needed for AI)
How to enable it
1. Open Observer → General.
2. Under Privacy, open Private Vault → Manage.
3. Choose a strong passphrase (12+ characters with upper, lower, number, and special character).
4. Copy and save the recovery key when it appears — it is shown once.
You will also be prompted when you try to start a meeting if Private Vault is not yet enabled.
Enabled vs Disabled
- Enabled: protection is on for this device — new meeting content is encrypted before save.
- Disabled: you must enable Private Vault before starting Observer on this device.
Using AI with Private Vault
Live answers, summaries, and note generation need readable text for a short time. Observer decrypts what is needed on your device, sends it to our API over a secure connection, processes it in memory only (no persistent title/notes writes), then your device stores results encrypted again.
Forgot passphrase
In Private Vault → Manage, use Recover with recovery key. Enter your recovery key and set a new passphrase.
Lost recovery key
If you still remember your passphrase, use Get a new recovery key in Advanced. Your old recovery key stops working immediately — save the new one.
If you lose both
If the passphrase and recovery key are both lost, previously encrypted meeting content cannot be recovered.
More detail: getobserver.app/security