How strong
is your pattern?
Draw a pattern and watch the numbers climb. Every dot you add multiplies the possibilities.
ArkWarden's minimum
ArkWarden requires a minimum of 6 dots with at least 2 turns. At 6 dots: 199,065,600 possible sequences on the grid. With the 10-attempt lockout, exhausting them on your iPhone would take about 568 years. The 2-turn rule removes a small set of weak shapes people choose most often.
What every pattern length actually gets you.
Every additional dot roughly multiplies the number of combinations by 24.
| Dots | Combinations | Time to guess |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | 345,600 | ~360 days |
| 5 | 8,294,400 | ~23.7 years |
| 6 ArkWarden minimum | 199,065,600 | ~568 years |
| 7 | 4,777,574,400 | ~13,600 years |
| 8 | 114,661,785,600 | ~327,000 years |
How safe is my data with ArkWarden?
Ten wrong guesses, and ArkWarden waits 15 minutes before it will accept another. Then ten more, then another wait, with no limit on how long that continues.
Nobody can skip past this by moving the work to a faster machine, because every single guess has to run on your iPhone. At the shortest pattern ArkWarden allows, that is still centuries of guessing.
And if you have simply forgotten your pattern, your recovery phrase opens the vault straight away.
Choosing a strong pattern.
- Use more than the 6-dot minimum. Two extra dots takes you from hundreds of years to hundreds of thousands.
- Enable Stealth Pattern in Settings when drawing your pattern in public. It hides the trail as you draw so nobody can read the shape over your shoulder.
- Choose a pattern with genuine direction changes, not just the minimum needed to pass.
- Defaulting to simple shapes like straight lines or a single corner turn.
- Reusing your device passcode's shape, or a pattern you use elsewhere.
- Drawing your pattern in view of others without Stealth Pattern enabled.
What people usually ask next.
Is it safe to draw my pattern here?
What does this tool measure?
What does the time to guess mean?
Can someone try my ArkWarden pattern somewhere else?
Why does ArkWarden require a minimum of 6 dots and 2 turns?
How should I choose a strong pattern?
Can a pattern reuse the same dot twice?
What happens if I forget my pattern?
Your pattern isn't just a shape.
It's a number.
Every file encrypted on your device. No account, no ads, no server.
Point your camera at the code.
