Is there a photo vault app for Mac?

Why a Mac app

Many people sort photos and documents on a large screen. Scans of passports, contracts and medical letters often start on a Mac. Without a Mac app, those files pass through a downloads folder or a cloud drive on the way to a vault. Copies stay behind.

York Vault has a native Mac app. It is part of Plus and Pro, and you get it from the Mac App Store. See pricing for what each plan includes.

Get the Mac app

Apple’s steps for any Mac App Store app work here:

1. Open the App Store app on your Mac.
2. Search for York Vault.
3. Click the price or the Get button.
4. Open York Vault and follow the setup.

The same design as on your phone

The Mac app uses the same parts as York Vault on iPhone and Android:

• The same code types: PIN, pattern or passcode. See lock options.
• The cover code and erase code, with the same rules.
• The same encrypted backup design. See encrypted backup.

Your library does not sit in a folder that you can browse in Finder. York Vault keeps it in its own encrypted storage. A person who browses Finder sees no photos and no file names.

What iCloud sees from your Mac

The Mac app encrypts each item before upload, as the phone app does. Record names are random, and the list of items is encrypted too. So iCloud sees no file names, file types, dates or album names from your Mac. We hold no key. See what we can and cannot see.

The cover library on a Mac

Each library has its own code on the Mac too. Your cover code opens your cover library, and nothing in it shows that other libraries exist. So a person who makes you open York Vault on your Mac sees only your cover library.

One library with sync

With Plus or Pro, your Mac shares one library with your iPhone and iPad through your own iCloud. A library that also includes an Android phone or tablet syncs through York Cloud, which needs Pro. Large deletes on one device ask for a check on the others. See sync across devices for the rules.

Your devices	How the Mac syncs	Plan
Mac with iPhone or iPad	Through your own iCloud	Plus or Pro
Mac in a library that includes an Android device	Through York Cloud	Pro

How the Mac Hidden album compares

Photos on Mac has a Hidden album. Apple says: “In iOS 16, iPadOS 16.1, and macOS Ventura and later, your Hidden album is locked by default and requires authentication to unlock in Photos.” On a Mac, you “use Touch ID or your login password to unlock your Hidden album.”

So the Hidden album opens with the same password as the Mac. A family member who shares the Mac login can open it. York Vault uses its own code, which has no link to the Mac login. Read what the Hidden album does for the iPhone side.

	Hidden album on Mac	York Vault for Mac
Opens with	Touch ID or the Mac login password	Your own York Vault code
Second code for a cover library	No	Yes
Code separate from the Mac login	No	Yes

Other vault apps on Mac

Private Photo Vault’s App Store listing names Mac support. It “requires macOS 13.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later”. We checked the listing on 2026-10-03.

No Mac at hand

On a Windows PC, a Chromebook or a work computer, use the web app in Pro. It opens your library in a browser for one session, after you scan a QR code with your phone. Nothing stays in the browser after you close the tab.