Feature
Can you have more than one hidden album, each with its own code?
Apple Photos moves every hidden photo into one Hidden album. York Vault keeps separate libraries instead, and each one opens with its own code. Free includes your main library and one cover library. Plus and Pro add more, up to 8 in total, each with its own key and backup. A person who inspects the phone cannot tell how many exist.
Libraries, not albums
Apple Photos has one place for hidden photos. Apple says: “When you hide photos and videos, they move to the Hidden album”. There is no second Hidden album with its own lock.
York Vault works on a different level. A library is everything behind one code. Inside each library you can make as many albums as you want. You can also put a code on a single album. See album codes. This page is about separate libraries.
How many libraries you get
| Plan | Libraries |
|---|---|
| Free | Your main library and one cover library |
| Plus and Pro | Up to 8 libraries in total |
On Plus and Pro, each library past the cover library is an extra library. Each library has its own code, its own key and its own backup. No code, key or setting links one library to another.
If your plan ends, every library you already made keeps its code and keeps opening. See pricing for the plans.
How you open each one
You open York Vault, and you type a code. The code decides which library opens. York Vault has no menu that lists libraries and no switch between them.
You set every code from inside your main library. York Vault checks that no two codes are equal and that no code is the start of another. If a new code clashes, the message says only “Choose a different code”. It never names the other code, because that would show that another library exists.
Face ID, Touch ID or a fingerprint opens only your main library. Every other library needs its code.
The web app on Pro shows only the library that was open on the phone that paired it. Cover libraries and extra libraries never appear on the web.
Nobody can count them
Some vault apps hide the list of vaults on screen but not on disk. Vaultaire, for example, says on its own feature page: “the on-disk layout exposes the vault count to an examiner with app-container access.”
York Vault stores every library in one shared store:
- All libraries share one store of encrypted blocks that look the same.
- The store has a fixed number of key slots: 8.
- Empty slots hold random data.
- No Keychain item or setting marks a cover code or an erase code.
So a phone with 1 library and a phone with 4 have the same layout. A test compares two containers of the same size, one with 1 library and one with 4. The test passes only if they show no difference in structure.
What a wrong code does
A code that matches no library shows a wrong-code message. There is no setting to change that. The try counts toward the wait after wrong codes, and wrong-code photos work as normal.
Some apps open a new, empty library for any unknown code. We do not. A person who types a random code and sees a library open learns that the app has more than one way in. A wrong-code message tells them nothing.
How this fits with cover and erase codes
On the Free plan, the cover library is your second library. An erase code opens the cover library and erases this phone’s keys to the other libraries. Read cover and erase codes for how they work. To limit where your main library opens, see the location lock.
To compare these options with Apple’s tools, read can you make a secret photo album on iPhone.
Questions people ask
Can you create a second hidden album on iPhone?
Not in Apple Photos. Apple says hidden photos move to the Hidden album, and its support page describes no second one. In York Vault, each library opens with its own code. Inside each library, you can make as many albums as you like.
How many libraries can I have in York Vault?
The Free plan has your main library and one cover library. Plus and Pro raise that to up to 8 libraries in total. Each one has its own code, its own key and its own backup. See the pricing page for the plans.
Can someone tell how many libraries I have?
Not from the app and not from the files. York Vault shows no list of libraries anywhere. On disk, every phone holds the same fixed set of key slots, and empty slots hold random data. One library and four look the same.
What happens if someone types a random code?
York Vault shows a wrong-code message, and the try counts toward the wait after wrong codes. A code that matches no library never opens anything. An app that opens an empty library for any code shows that it has more than one way in.
Does Face ID open every library?
No. Face ID, Touch ID or a fingerprint opens only your main library. Every other library opens only with its own code. So a fast way in never shows a library that you did not ask for.
Sources
- Hide photos with the Hidden album (Apple Support) · checked Oct 3, 2026
- Plausible deniability (Vaultaire feature page) · checked Oct 3, 2026
