How do you move photos into a vault and clear them from your camera roll?

Why cleanup is the risky part

Moving photos into a vault has two halves. Adding is safe, because nothing leaves Photos. Removing the originals is where photos get lost. In the 836 App Store reviews we studied, at least 7 users who lost photos had already deleted the originals, so the vault copy was the only copy. One Keepsafe user wrote: “when it does crash it doesn’t upload my photos to the app but it still deletes the photos from my albums.”

Users still want the cleanup. Another Keepsafe user wrote: “after importing the picture it asks if I want to delete the original. Yesplease!” York Vault’s answer is an order of steps: copy, check, then remove.

What York Vault does

This page covers iPhone and iPad, where the originals sit in Apple Photos. York Vault is also on Android.

• Add from Photos with Apple’s photo picker. The picker needs no access to your whole library, and it keeps the order you picked. One pick can hold 10,000 items.
• Add from Files, any file type and size. Folders keep their structure as albums inside albums.
• Add from any app through the share sheet, with no code needed. Shared items wait, encrypted, and appear in your library the next time you open it. The share sheet shows only “Saved”.
• Any file type. Types that iOS can preview open in the app. Others keep an icon and export unchanged.
• Adds that finish. Each item shows progress. Adds continue in the background and pick up after a lock or a crash.
• Remove from Photos, after a check. Explained below.
• A Recently Deleted guide. Explained below.
• Find what is still in Photos. A scan on your iPhone compares your library with Photos and lists the items that are still there, with one tap to remove them. It needs full access to Photos.
• Undo an add. Right after an add, Undo removes the new copies while the originals are still in Photos.
• Paste from the clipboard. Tap Paste, or press Command V on a keyboard. After the paste, York Vault offers to clear the clipboard.
• Drag and drop from Files, Photos and Safari, also in Split View.
• Scan documents and cards. The scanner saves a multi-page PDF straight into your library, with no plain copy on the iPhone. Card mode keeps the front and back together.
• Wi-Fi transfer with a computer. York Vault shows a web address and a 6-digit one-time code. The transfer stops when you leave that screen.
• Original quality. Items keep their format and quality, byte for byte, with their dates, place and original file name inside the encryption.

How adding and removing works

1. In York Vault, tap Add, then pick photos and videos.
2. York Vault encrypts each item and writes it to your library.
3. York Vault reads each copy back and compares it with the original.
4. York Vault asks: Remove from Photos or Keep in Photos. You can set this to ask each time, always remove, or never remove.
5. If you choose to remove, iOS shows its own confirmation once for the batch.
6. iOS moves the originals to Recently Deleted.

York Vault removes only the items whose copy passed the check. If 2 of 24 videos fail to copy, their originals stay in Photos, and York Vault tells you which 2.

To remove originals, York Vault needs full access to your Photos library. If you gave limited access, York Vault can remove only the photos you shared with it, and it says so.

Emptying Recently Deleted

Apple says: “When you delete photos and videos, they go to your Recently Deleted album for 30 days.” No app can empty that album. So after a removal, York Vault shows a short guide with a button that opens Photos. Apple’s steps are:

1. Open Photos, then tap Collections at the bottom.
2. Swipe up, then tap the Recently Deleted album under Utilities.
3. Tap View Album, then use Face ID or Touch ID to open the album.
4. Tap Select, then select the photos or videos to delete.
5. Tap the More button, then tap Delete or Delete All.
6. Tap Delete from All Devices or Delete Photos I Added to confirm.

Apple adds: “When you delete a photo or video from this album, you can’t get it back.” That is why York Vault checks its copy before you get this far. Our guide on Recently Deleted photos covers the album in more depth.

Two notes from Apple’s page. With iCloud Photos on, a delete on one device deletes the item on all your devices. In an iCloud Shared Photo Library, only the person who added a photo can delete it for good.

How other apps handle originals

App	Remove originals	Recently Deleted	Where we read it
Keepsafe	“Always Delete”, “Always Leave Originals” or “Ask to Delete or Leave Originals”	Not found	App text
Private Photo Vault	Asks “Would you like to delete them from the Photos app?”	Reminds you the photos “are still stored in the Recently Deleted album”	App text
NQ Vault	“Delete Files After Imported”	“Do not forget to clear “Recently Deleted” album of IOS system”	App text
LockMyPix	Removes originals automatically. Shows “Cannot Delete Originals” with limited access.	Not found	App text
Vaultaire	Not offered. Removing originals is up to you.	Not found	App package

Keepsafe also rejects 14 file types, such as Word, Excel and plain text, with “%@ files are not supported.” Reviews from 2025 and 2026 say its redesign removed adding from Files. We read each App Store package in September 2026 and checked the listings on 2026-10-02.

After the move

Every item you add backs up to your own iCloud, or Google Drive on Android, encrypted first. See encrypted backup. Live Photos keep their motion, and videos keep their quality. See Live Photos and video. To skip Photos for new pictures, use the York Vault camera. For all of Apple’s own options, read how to hide photos on iPhone.