Mask My File — Help & FAQ

What Mask My File does

Share safely without losing the context people actually need. Mask My File finds private details before you send a file, permanently hides only what you choose, then reopens and verifies the new copy before showing Private Ready.

What's included

What You Can Do

• Images and PDFs: full-width preview, up to 5× zoom, fluid drag, and precise manual selections.
• Visual files: permanent solid redaction or removal only. Face and barcode detection simply mark regions for your review.
• Text, JSON, XML, HTML, CSV, TSV, and RTF: search every match, then apply a full mask, a partial mask, a placeholder, a pseudonym, or removal.
• Remove metadata where the format supports it. Work page by page in PDFs, or protect up to 100 files at once with individual previews, cross-file search, and per-file manual selections.
• Stay organized with Private Session, project workspaces, and Placeholder Vault.

Use It When It Matters

• Before you send a rental application, a medical record, a pay stub with a Social Security number, or a customer file to a coworker, keep the useful context while permanently hiding the details they do not need.

Private By Design

• Everything is processed on your device. There is no account, advertising, tracking, analytics, or content upload. Apple Vision and the embedded Tesseract OCR engine run locally. Face detection creates regions only: it does not identify a person, build a template, share face data, or retain it. Apple handles purchases with StoreKit. Mask My File does not use a VPN, NetworkExtension, proxy, tunnel, DNS filter, or network routing. Originals are never overwritten; temporary workspace files, Private Session data, and projects stay on the device until you delete them.
• One purchase unlocks unlimited verified outputs and batch processing for good. No subscriptions. Restore your purchase anytime through the App Store.

At a glance

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to create an account?

No. The listing states there is no account, sign-up or login — you can start using the app straight after installing it.

Is this a subscription?

No. The listing describes a one-time purchase rather than a recurring subscription. You can always confirm what you are being charged for on the App Store product page before you buy, and review anything active under Settings → your name → Subscriptions.

Where do my exported files go?

Exports go through the iOS share sheet, so the destination is whatever you pick — Files (On My iPhone or iCloud Drive), Mail, Messages, or another app. If you can't find a file afterwards, open the Files app and check Recents.

I paid but the app still shows the locked version

One-time purchases are tied to the Apple Account that bought them. Sign in with that same account (Settings → your name → Media & Purchases), then use the app's restore option if it offers one, or reinstall the app from the App Store's Purchased list. Purchases made with a different Apple Account, including a family member's, will not appear.

I switched to a new iPhone — do I have to pay again?

No. Sign in to the new device with the same Apple Account and re-download the app; the purchase belongs to the account, not the handset.

How do I request a refund?

Refunds for anything bought on the App Store are handled by Apple, not by the developer. Go to reportaproblem.apple.com, sign in, find the purchase and choose "Request a refund". We can't issue, speed up or overturn an App Store refund decision, but do tell us what went wrong so we can fix it.

How do I delete the app and everything it stored?

Touch and hold the app icon → Remove App → Delete App. Deleting an iOS app removes its sandbox — the documents and settings it kept on the device go with it, so export anything you want to keep first. What the app stores and where is described in our privacy policy.

How do I make sure I'm on the latest version?

Open the App Store, tap your profile picture, and pull down to refresh the pending-updates list. If the app appears there, tap Update. Turning on Settings → App Store → App Updates keeps it automatic.

Which devices and iOS version does Mask My File need?

See the App Store product page — the Information section there is always the authoritative, up-to-date answer for compatibility, size and languages.

Troubleshooting

The app won't open, or closes straight away

Force quit it first: swipe up from the bottom of the screen and pause, then swipe the app's card away. Reopen it. If it still closes, restart the device — that clears the majority of one-off launch failures.

It feels slow, or freezes on a big job

Check free storage in Settings → General → iPhone Storage. iOS gets unpredictable below roughly 1 GB free, and anything that writes files (exports, scans, image processing) is the first thing to suffer. Also close other apps that are working in the background.

Something looks broken after an update

Update iOS itself (Settings → General → Software Update), then update the app. A mismatch between an old iOS and a new build is a common cause of layout or feature glitches.

Last resort: reinstall

Export anything you want to keep, delete the app, then reinstall it from the App Store's Purchased list. Paid unlocks belong to your Apple Account and survive a reinstall; data stored only on the device does not.

Still stuck? Email us

Write to hourstag.app@gmail.com. To get a useful answer on the first reply, include: your device model (Settings → General → About), your iOS version, the app version, and what you tapped right before the problem appeared. Screenshots or a screen recording help a lot.