Are there any patent applications by Snap Inc. that mention client‑side encryption, vault features, or key derivation for user‑protected media?
Executive summary
Snap Inc. has filed and been granted patent documents that explicitly reference end‑to‑end or encryption of media and that touch on key management, and some filings describe encrypting media such that only specific trusted devices hold decryption keys (Snap Inc. patents and patent grants) [1] [2] [3]. The publicly available excerpts supplied do not, however, include a clear, named “vault” feature or an explicit, universally phrased client‑side key‑derivation scheme labeled as such; reporting and patent indexes show related cryptographic and key‑management inventions but leave gaps about a consumer‑facing “vault” term in the provided material [4] [5] [6].
1. Patents and grants that explicitly mention end‑to‑end or encrypted media
Snap holds and was assigned at least one U.S. patent grant described as related to end‑to‑end encryption (U.S. patent number 10,659,474, application 16/256,639) which is listed as assigned to Snap Inc. in patent reporting databases [1]. Independent engineering disclosures from Snap around account‑based E2EE for one‑to‑one snaps further corroborate that Snap has publicly discussed end‑to‑end protections for snaps in technical forums and conference materials [7].
2. Patent literature that addresses key management and device‑specific decryption
Patent documents in key‑management classifications include descriptions of encrypting encryption keys per recipient and transmitting encrypted keys to client devices, with at least some filings or classifications noting Snap Inc. as assignee in key management groups [3]. Separately, a Snap patent describing mobile payment apparatuses and systems explicitly contemplates encrypting images and having a “trusted computing device” be the only device holding a decryption key required to display the image on a secure display, which demonstrates Snap patent filings that pair media encryption with device‑specific decryption keys [2].
3. The term “vault” — absence in supplied excerpts and what that implies
The supplied patent listings and snippets from Justia, Google Patents, FreshPatents and other trackers show many Snap filings around privacy, facial‑recognition driven privacy rules, AR, and media handling but none of the provided excerpts use the consumer‑facing term “vault” or describe a named vault feature for user‑protected memories in the material presented here [4] [8] [5] [6]. That absence in these excerpts does not prove Snap has not used the word elsewhere in other filings, but within the provided sources the explicit label “vault” does not appear.
4. Evidence of client‑side key derivation or “non‑custodial” client generation
Some key‑management descriptions in the broader patent classification and related patent summaries imply non‑custodial or client‑side key generation concepts — for instance descriptions where a public‑private key pair representing user identity is created on a client machine and then encrypted by a platform (a concept shown in key‑management class examples) [3]. The supplied Snap‑specific items show device‑held decryption keys and account E2EE discussion [2] [7], but none of the cited Snap patent snippets in the provided material include a fully described client‑side key‑derivation algorithm (e.g., PBKDF2/Argon2 style derivation tied to a user passphrase) in the excerpts available here [3] [1] [2].
5. Why Snap would patent these ideas and the surrounding context
Patent activity tracked across Snap filings emphasizes privacy, camera and AR features, payments, and media handling — industry observers have catalogued Snap’s broad patenting strategy across these domains [9] [10]. Given product and regulatory incentives to protect user media and to differentiate features like secure payments or secure device displays, patents that touch encryption, key management, and device‑bound decryption are consistent with product and business incentives documented in patent summaries [9] [2].
6. Caveats, limits in the supplied reporting, and the bottom line
Within the set of supplied sources there is clear evidence Snap has patent documents and at least one granted patent addressing end‑to‑end encryption and filings that touch key management and device‑specific decryption keys [1] [3] [2], and Snap has publicly discussed account E2EE work [7]. The provided excerpts do not, however, contain a patent that explicitly uses the consumer label “vault” or a verbatim, detailed client‑side key‑derivation routine tied to a “user‑protected media vault,” so asserting the absence of any such filing beyond these sources would exceed the supplied evidence; further searches of full patent texts or USPTO records would be required to confirm whether a filing elsewhere uses the exact terms “vault” or details a specific key‑derivation function not visible in these snippets [4] [5] [6].