Savings Vaults¶
Vaults are ZecVault's signature feature. A vault is a named savings goal — you give it a purpose, set a ZEC target and a deadline, and deposit toward it over time. The app tracks your progress, shows a contribution streak, and makes you wait 24 hours before breaking it early.
The core idea¶
Vaults don't lock your ZEC on-chain. Your funds always remain in your Zcash wallet — the vault is an accounting layer on top of your regular balance.
When you deposit into a vault, the app:
- Records the deposit in the vault's contribution list
- Subtracts that amount from your displayed spendable balance — you won't accidentally spend it
- Optionally broadcasts a Zcash transaction to the vault's receive address with an encrypted labelling memo
The soft-lock is enforced by the app, not a smart contract. The 24-hour cooldown before breaking a vault is by design — it's a tool for self-accountability, not cryptographic enforcement.
Creating a vault¶
Navigate to the Vaults screen and tap New vault. You'll set:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | What you're saving for (e.g., "Bali Trip 2026") |
| Category | Visual theme — see categories below |
| Target amount | ZEC goal (e.g., 5 ZEC) |
| Deadline | Optional date target |
Categories¶
| Category | Label |
|---|---|
trip |
Experiences |
ring |
Wedding |
house |
Home Upgrade |
car |
EV Fund |
emer |
Safety Buffer |
gift |
Family Moments |
edu |
Skills & Courses |
tech |
Creator + AI Gear |
custom |
(your own label) |
Categories are cosmetic. They change the icon and color of the vault card — not its behavior.
Depositing into a vault¶
There are two ways to deposit:
Manual deposit (local-only)¶
Tap Add deposit on a vault card and enter an amount. The app records it locally and adjusts your displayed balance immediately — no Zcash transaction is created.
Use this for round-up bookkeeping or when you want to batch deposits.
On-chain deposit (recommended)¶
Send ZEC to the vault's dedicated receive address with a ZV1 memo included. The memo is embedded inside the shielded transaction:
This creates an on-chain, encrypted record that survives device restores. After syncing on any device, the app scans incoming transactions for ZV1 memos and automatically credits the matching vault.
Vault lifecycle¶
| State | What it means |
|---|---|
| active | Accepting deposits, progress growing |
| breaking | You've initiated an early exit; 24-hour countdown running |
| complete | Target reached; vault moves to archive |
| archived | Closed and read-only (completed or broken) |
You can cancel a break request at any time before the 24 hours expire — the vault returns to active status.
Balance accounting¶
The app maintains a virtual spendable balance:
Displayed spendable = total chain balance − sum of all active vault balances
Vault funds don't appear in your sendable balance, preventing accidental spending. When a vault completes or is broken, the amount returns to your displayed spendable balance.
Streak tracking¶
The vault card shows a streak counter: the number of consecutive calendar days you've made at least one deposit. The streak:
- Increments the day after your last deposit
- Resets if a full day passes without any deposit
- Is tracked locally per device — not tied to on-chain data
Streaks are a motivation tool. Building a daily savings habit is the point.
What happens after restore?¶
Vault goals are stored in localStorage on each device. After restoring from seed on a new device:
- The on-chain balance is fully recovered after sync
- ZV1 memo deposits are re-linked to vaults automatically via transaction history reconciliation
- Local-only deposits (manual bookkeeping entries) are not recoverable — they have no on-chain record
For this reason, on-chain vault deposits (with ZV1 memos) are recommended for any deposit you'd want to survive a device change.
Privacy of vault memos
ZV1 memos are encrypted inside shielded Zcash notes. Nobody observing the blockchain can read them — only you (with your viewing key) can see that this transaction was a vault deposit and which vault it went to.