York Vault vs LockMyPix: which photo vault should you use?

Side by side

Which one suits you

Pick LockMyPix if you want a vault with 6 years of history, a free private browser and a large help center, and you will pay Premium for the cloud backup, the Fake Vault and intruder selfies. Pick York Vault if you want a free backup of every item to your own cloud, a recovery key that never shows your code, and the cover code, erase code and wrong-code photo on the free plan.

Our full review of LockMyPix on its own: LockMyPix review: is LockMyPix safe, and is it worth paying for?

Who holds the keys

Here the two apps are closer than most. Both encrypt files on the phone.

LockMyPix says “every single photo, video or document” is encrypted with AES CTR 256. Its help center also says “LockMyPix does not know your password.” Its email recovery tells a different story. After you enter a code from your inbox, “Your password will be displayed”. So a copy of your password exists in a form the app can show back. One reviewer called email recovery “an extremely questionable decision.”

York Vault has no account. Each item gets its own random key and is sealed with AES-256-GCM on your phone, before it is stored or backed up. File names, dates and thumbnails are encrypted too. We run no server that holds your library, and we cannot reset a code or open a file. Read how the encryption works and what we can and cannot see.

Forgotten code

LockMyPix offers two ways back, and you must set one up first: a recovery email or an alternative password. Without either, its help center is clear: “There’s no backdoor.” With the email, the app sends a code and then shows your password on screen.

York Vault shows a 12-word recovery key at setup and asks you to type 3 of the words back. The key opens your library and restores a backup on a new phone. If you want a softer fallback, you can turn on a 72-hour reset through your Apple Account or Google account. During the wait, every device with York Vault shows a banner, and the right code cancels the reset.

Backup and new phones

LockMyPix keeps files on the phone. Its cloud backup goes to your own iCloud on iPhone, or your own Google Drive on Android, encrypted. The Get Premium page lists it as a Premium feature. On iPhone, the help center warns that an app’s files “are deleted by default when uninstalling”. So a free user who deletes the app loses the vault. A free backup file is the fallback: you make it in settings and move it by hand. It works between iPhone and Android. Our read of the app package also found a paywall on restore. A large backup file shows “Wow, your backup is really large”. Then the app asks you to buy Premium to finish the import.

York Vault backs up every item for free to your own iCloud, or to your own Google Drive on Android. The backup is encrypted before upload, so Apple and Google store only encrypted data. A restore check confirms that every file is back on the new phone. Phone-to-phone transfer works between iPhone and Android in both directions. See encrypted backup, iPhone to Android transfer and how to move to a new iPhone.

Decoy codes, break-in photos and disguise

LockMyPix sells the Fake Vault, Intruder Detection, Flip Lock and hiding the app as Premium. Our read of the app package shows what happens when Premium ends. The app asks you to reactivate Premium “to open your FakeVault again”. If someone makes you open the decoy at that moment, the message tells them a second vault exists. We found no erase code.

Its listing says LockMyPix “will look like another app i.e. a Calculator”. Its own help center says the disguised login page is Android only. On iPhone, Disguise Mode changes the icon, and all 30 alternate icons in the package carry the LockMyPix lock.

York Vault puts these on the free plan:

• A cover code that opens a separate library, and an erase code that also removes the keys to the rest. Neither ever shows a billing message.
• A wrong-code photo and a log of attempts.
• Codes on single albums.
• A working calculator front, 12 or more neutral icons, and a face-down exit or shake to lock.

Ads, tracking and price

LockMyPix’s free plan, Free Basic Protection, shows ads. Its privacy label lists Identifiers as data used to track you. The app package holds ad code from AppLovin, Google, Meta, Unity and Pangle. On the US App Store, Premium is sold as 10 purchases from $3.99 to $189.99 for lifetime (checked October 8, 2026). The package also holds 38 plan badges, such as “Today Only” and “Last Chance”. Its countdown offers give discounts from 25 to 92 percent.

York Vault shows no ads on any plan. It does measure its own ad campaigns, so its label lists identifiers and usage data for that. The measurement code never sees your files, names or codes. Ad measurement and privacy explains the limits.

York Vault has Free, Plus, Pro and Family plans. Viewing, export, Trash recovery and restore of your own items stay free on every plan. See pricing and what stays free.

What LockMyPix does better

LockMyPix has more than 6 years on the App Store and 2,567 US ratings at 4.7. On Google Play it lists more than 10 million installs. Its encryption claim is specific. Its help center has clear pages for backup, recovery and moving to a new phone. Its private browser works on the free plan with 2 tabs, and York Vault’s browser needs Plus. Since version 4.1.1 it also keeps Live Photos as Live Photos and shows HDR photos at full brightness. Reviewers praise its privacy and ease: “Easy to use and most importantly it’s safe.”

Switching from LockMyPix

Restore anything you need from LockMyPix’s Trash first, because Trash is not part of its backups. Update to version 4.1.1 or later, so Live Photos come back as Live Photos. Then unlock files folder by folder, which saves them to Photos, and check the count. On iPhone, do not delete LockMyPix until the counts match, because its files go with the app. The LockMyPix moving guide has every step. The LockMyPix alternative page covers what to look for, and our LockMyPix review covers the rest of the app.

Download York Vault on the App Store or Google Play.