On-device encryption, optional sync to the user's own Drive
Why: For a wallet full of IDs, 'we can't see your data' has to be architectural, not a policy promise. No server also means no breach surface — and no infrastructure bill for a solo studio.
A wallet that treats your documents like secrets
Bearacle·Mobile·UX/UI·Live
Every important document, encrypted and always in your pocket — a privacy-first wallet for IDs, cards, and registrations. Live on the App Store and Google Play.
View Live Project
Overview
Everyone's important documents live as photos in a camera roll — unencrypted, unsearchable, and shared as full-resolution screenshots.
A wallet that treats your documents like secrets
Pocket ID is a privacy-first digital wallet: IDs, bank cards, vehicle registrations, and personal documents — encrypted on-device, searchable in seconds, and styled as cards you can actually read. The brief I set myself: replace the camera-roll-full-of-document-photos habit with something that's faster to use AND dramatically safer, without a server ever touching the data.
Challenge
A document wallet lives or dies on trust and speed, and the two fight each other: every security layer adds friction to the moment that matters — pulling up your ID at a counter with people waiting behind you. The design challenge was making the secure path the fast path: biometrics instead of passwords, offline instead of cloud-dependent, structured cards instead of zoomed-in photos. And the whole thing had to survive Apple and Google review as a solo submission.
My role: Founder · Product Design · Engineering
Everything — product, design, and the build, from first sketch through both store reviews.
- Product strategy & scope
- UX/UI design — every screen
- Card designer & template system
- Security model — encryption, biometric lock
- Share & cross-device import flows
- Store submissions on both platforms
Deliverables
Strategy
- Product Strategy
- Privacy & Security Model
- Template System Architecture
- Store Launch (iOS + Android)
Design
- Mobile App Design (iOS · Android)
- Card Designer — colors, front & back
- Document Scanner Flow
- Share & Import Flows
- Settings & Security Surface
4.5Beta rating
100%Would recommend
iOS · AndroidPlatforms
LiveStatus
Impact
Live on the App Store and Google Play. 4.5 average rating from beta, 100% of testers would recommend it.
- Live on both the App Store and Google Play, designed, built, and submitted solo.
- Encrypted, offline-first storage with biometric lock, screenshot blocking, and expiry reminders.
- Built-in document scanner plus a template system that turns photos into structured, searchable cards.
- Cross-device migration via the .pocketid file format — no account, no server, no lock-in.
Process
How I approached it, step by step.
01
Cards, not photos
Documents are structured into typed templates — ID, bank card, vehicle registration, personal docs — with the fields that actually matter. A category picker drives the form, and the result renders as a legible, styled card with a front and a back, not a glare-ridden photo.
02
Private by architecture
Everything is encrypted on-device and works fully offline. Biometric lock, screenshot blocking, and recent-apps content hiding are one toggle each. Cloud sync exists — but it's optional and goes to the user's own Google account, never to a Bearacle server.
03
A designer for every card
People personalize what they carry. Custom colors, categories, and tags make each card recognizable at a glance — which is also a usability feature when you're scrolling a wallet in a hurry.
04
Sharing that matches the sensitivity
Three share modes with different privacy weights: a styled image for casual sends, plain text fields for forms, and a .pocketid file that travels through Gmail, Drive, or Files and imports losslessly on another device — cross-device migration without a server in the middle.
Decisions
Every design is a set of choices. These were the big ones.
05
Trade-offs I made
The options I weighed, and why I chose what I did.
Design
The shipped screens, and what changed.
06
Screens
A closer look at the final design.
Reflection
Pocket ID shipped Android-first on Google Play, then passed App Store review — after one rejection that, in fairness, asked a legitimate question about a permission and made the app better. Beta testers rated it 4.5 with 100% saying they'd recommend it. It's now the quiet daily-utility flagship of the Bearacle portfolio.
07
Key learnings
Lesson 01
Security features only get used when they cost one toggle. Every extra step halves adoption.
Lesson 02
Store review is a design review. The rejection that stung was pointing at a real ambiguity.
Lesson 03
Structured beats freeform: typed templates made search, expiry reminders, and sharing all possible.
08
Looking back
Pocket ID taught me that trust is a UX deliverable. The features that made testers say 'finally' weren't clever — they were the boring guarantees stated plainly: offline, encrypted, no account. If I revisit it, the next mile is expiry intelligence — the app already knows your documents' dates; it should be the one thing that never lets you show up at a border with an expired passport.