Support

Last updated 12 October 2026.

Email fishvault@pikeworks.co.uk. I read every one myself, so please say which phone you're on and which version of the app you have. The version is at the bottom of Settings, under About.

Common questions

Where is my log kept?

On your phone, with your photos, whether or not you sign in. A Pikeworks account is optional. Signed in, a private copy of your log is kept with it so you can get it back on a new phone, with where you fish sealed on your phone first. Friends only get the fish you choose to share, and never where you caught them.

Will I lose everything if I change phone?

Not if you back it up first. Settings, Back up everything, writes one file with every fish, session, spot and photo. Copy it across and use Restore from a backup. On iPhone the backup holds the log but not the photos. Purchases come back separately with Restore purchases. If you're signed in to your Pikeworks account, your log and photos are backed up with it too: sign in on the new phone and Fish Vault offers to bring them back, with your friends. The places in it are sealed, so they open only on a phone that has your key, as the privacy policy explains; on any other they show as locked. To be sure, save your places key from the backup card in Settings and keep it somewhere safe, such as a password manager. On a new phone, Enter or save your places key on the same card, paste it in and tap Unlock places.

Why is a fish in the wrong place, or on no spot?

A phone's position can be a few metres out, and indoors it can be much more. Open the fish, tap Edit, and use Adjust to move the pin. A fish lands in a named spot when it is inside that spot's circle; widen the circle from the spot's page if a water is bigger than it.

What is a session, and why keep the blank ones?

A session is a trip to the water, from setting up to packing away. Start one when you arrive and every fish you log goes into it. The blanks matter: fish per hour is worked out from the time you spent, so a water or a season only looks good if it really is.

How do I add fish I caught before I had the app?

From your photos, several at once. Tap the photos button beside your fish count, or Add old catches from photos in Settings, and choose the photos (press and hold the first, then tap the rest). Each photo brings the day, the time and the place it was taken, and photos taken a minute or two apart become one fish. Then you go through them: pick the species, add the size if you know it, and it's in. You can stop part way and carry on later. That is on Android: on an iPhone it takes one photo at a time for now, and you fill in the day and the place yourself.

Use the photos your phone took. A copy sent over WhatsApp or Facebook has usually lost its time and place, although its name often still carries the day, and then you can tap the part of the day you remember. A photo with no place in it asks you to pin it, or to use the same place as the last fish. It never takes where you are today. A photo you have already added is spotted and offered as a skip.

How do I log one fish from a photo I took earlier?

Start a new catch and add the photo with Gallery. The app reads when and where the photo was taken and fills both in, and says so with an Undo if that's not what you wanted.

What is the tackle box for?

Your rods, reels, lures and the rest, each with a photo if you like. It's in Settings, and on the catch form under Tackle, where Add a lure takes a picture of the lure a fish took and keeps it for next time. Pick the kit on each fish and every piece shows what it has caught; with Pro, Stats ranks the lure that catches most. Share your kit sends the list as a message, with shop links if you want them.

What does "about" mean next to a weight?

The weight was worked out from the length, using FishBase's figures for an average fish of that species and length. A well fed fish weighs more than the average, so treat it as a guide. Weigh it and the real figure replaces the estimate.

Why is there no weather on some fish?

Weather is filled in for a fish logged within about an hour and a half of it coming out, when the phone has signal, and only while the weather switch is on in Settings. A forecast service can say what the weather is now, not what it was last week.

Do I need an account?

No. Fish Vault works fully without one. A Pikeworks account is optional. Signed in, it keeps a private copy of your log so you can get it back on a new phone, and it's what friends use. It's one sign-in for every Vault app. To make one, open Settings, then Pikeworks account, and choose how to sign in, such as with your email address or with Apple. With an email address you get a code by email, or you can set a password, and the app offers a passkey so that next time it's your face or fingerprint.

How do I add a friend?

Sign in to your Pikeworks account, open Friends and choose a handle. Then send them your link, show them your QR code to scan, or type their handle. There's no directory and no search, so nobody can find you unless you hand them your handle, the link or the code. Friends are shared across the Vault apps, so someone you've added in another Vault is already here.

What do my friends see?

Only the fish you switch Tell friends on for as you save them: the species, the size, whether it went back and the day, with your note and the first photo if you switch those on too. Never where, and never the time of day. The switch starts off every time. The privacy policy has the whole list.

How do group sessions work?

Start a session at the water and ask friends along, or join one you've been asked to. Everyone in it sees each other's fish as they come out, but never where. Whoever has the camera can log a fish for its owner, with photos, and it reaches them to keep or turn down.

Why didn't a fish a friend logged for me come with its place?

Because no place is ever sent between phones. When you keep the fish, your phone adds where it was from your own session at that time, or asks you to pick one of your spots. Either way the place never goes to your friend.

I had friends in an earlier version of the app.

That was Vault Social, an older service, which was switched off on 10 October 2026. Friends now use your Pikeworks account, and nothing was moved across from the old one, so add your friends again with your new link. The old account was deleted on 19 October 2026, and there's nothing you need to do. The delete page has the detail.

Somebody is being a nuisance.

Block and Report sit on every post, comment, friend and friend request, and on group sessions and the fish friends log for you. Blocking works straight away, in every Vault, and they aren't told. I read every report myself and aim to do it within a day; the person you report is never told who reported them. If it's about a child, choose A child at risk, and it's hidden at once. If anyone is in danger right now, call 999. The community rules say what isn't allowed and how to ask for a second look.

Can I delete everything?

Uninstalling the app removes your log and photos, because all of it is on the phone. Your Pikeworks account, with everything friends holds about you, is separate: delete it in Settings, Pikeworks account, Delete account, or from the delete page without installing anything. Deleting the account doesn't touch your log.