Tools

How strong
is your pattern?

Draw a pattern and watch the numbers climb. Every dot you add multiplies the possibilities.

Dots drawn 0
Combinations possible —
Time to guess —

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.

The numbers

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
The real question

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.

Good habits

Choosing a strong pattern.

Do
  • 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.
Avoid
  • 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.
Common questions

What people usually ask next.

Is it safe to draw my pattern here?
Yes. It is processed locally in your browser and is never sent to ArkWarden.
What does this tool measure?
It measures the number of possible patterns with the same length as the one you draw on a 5x5 grid. It also converts that number into a time estimate using ArkWarden's 10-attempt lockout rule.
What does the time to guess mean?
It shows how long it would take to try every pattern of that length inside ArkWarden on your iPhone, using the 10-attempt lockout rule.
Can someone try my ArkWarden pattern somewhere else?
No. Each attempt needs your iPhone and its Secure Enclave. ArkWarden also limits attempts on your iPhone to 10 before a 15-minute wait.
Why does ArkWarden require a minimum of 6 dots and 2 turns?
The 2-turn rule blocks the small set of patterns people choose most often: straight lines and simple single-corner shapes. At the 6-dot minimum, this rule removes only 4,976 of the 199,065,600 possible sequences, but those are exactly the patterns an attacker would try first.
How should I choose a strong pattern?
Use more than the 6-dot minimum, add real direction changes, and enable Stealth Pattern in Settings when drawing in public. See the pattern unlock page for the full picture of how pattern unlock works.
Can a pattern reuse the same dot twice?
Yes. ArkWarden only blocks repeating the dot you just touched. Using an earlier dot again later in the same pattern is allowed, and this tool counts it the same way.
What happens if I forget my pattern?
Use your recovery phrase. It lets you open your vault and set a new pattern. If you lose both your pattern and your recovery phrase, nobody can recover the vault, including us.
ArkWarden

Your pattern isn't just a shape.
It's a number.

Every file encrypted on your device. No account, no ads, no server.

Scan to download ArkWarden
Install on iPhone. No account, no email.
Point your camera at the code.
Download on the App Store
Read how pattern unlock works
PBKDF2, 600,000 iterations per unlock Secure Enclave: your key never leaves the chip Nothing you draw here ever leaves your browser