Shelf

Shelf is a private-space utility that can appear on the launcher as a habit

tracker, calendar, or calculator. Each decoy is a functional app with its own

name, icon, and colour scheme.

Five taps in the top-right corner open the credential prompt. Settings adds a

second, quieter gesture: a long or double tap on the decoy title, or the PIN

typed straight into the calculator. Access uses a PIN, a password, a 3×3 pattern, or a

knock code on four unmarked quarters. The knock pad shows a blank screen while

it is entered, so a watcher learns neither the length of the code nor how far

through it you are. Optional strong-biometric unlock always opens the real

space, with the credential as fallback. The entry gesture can also put up a

fake app-has-stopped dialog; a long press on its message carries on to the

credential.

Auto hide runs after screen off, immediately when Shelf leaves the foreground,

or never. It closes the private space and puts exposed folders back out of

sight. A timer can also put them back after a set time with the screen on. An optional quiet notification, under the disguise's own name, offers

the same emergency hide on demand.

Folders you add stay on the list whether or not they are hidden, and one control

hides or unhides all of them at once. A hidden folder can be opened without

unhiding it: photos, video, audio, PDFs, and text are decrypted as they are

read, with nothing written back to disk and no gallery picking them up.

An optional second credential opens a private space that looks and behaves like

the real one and contains nothing that matters, the one to give up if you are

ever made to hand one over. Shelf records that it was used and tells you on your

next real unlock, along with any wrong credentials someone else tried.

A separate emergency PIN destroys the encryption keys and journals as soon as it