What is a photo vault?

“Photo vault” covers apps that range from a lock screen on a folder to real encryption with a tested backup. The word on the icon tells you little. This guide explains what a photo vault does, how it works inside an iPhone, the main types, and what goes wrong. It draws on our read of 8 vault apps and 836 App Store reviews of 7 of them.

What does a photo vault do?

At its core, a photo vault does three things:

• Copies photos, videos and often files out of your photo library and into its own storage.
• Locks them behind a code, often with Face ID on top.
• Shows them only after the code, in its own viewer.

Most vault apps add more. Common extras are a decoy code that opens a second, harmless vault, a disguised icon, a photo of whoever types a wrong code, a face-down switch that closes the app, and a backup.

People use them for privacy at home more than for anything else. In our review study, 42 reviews praised privacy from parents, partners, siblings or kids who use the same phone. 9 reviews described storing IDs, licences, insurance cards and passports. 18 praised the decoy vault.

How do photo vault apps work?

The parts below are the same in every vault app. What differs is how well each part is built.

1. You set a code. A PIN, a passcode or a pattern. Many apps add Face ID. The code is separate from your iPhone passcode, which is the main reason to use a vault at all.

2. You add photos. The app copies them from your library, from its own camera, or from the share sheet in another app.

3. The app stores the copies in its own space. On iPhone, every third-party app runs in a sandbox. Apple says each app has its own home directory, and sandboxing is designed to stop apps from reading information stored by other apps. So another app on your phone cannot browse the vault’s files.

4. A good vault encrypts each file. The sandbox keeps other apps out. It does not stop someone who opens the app, or who reaches the files another way. Encryption makes the files unreadable without a key tied to your code. Not every vault does this. In our read of the apps, we found no evidence of file encryption in SPV or Calculator Lock. Calculator Lock’s own listing prints a master reset code. That only works if the files do not depend on your code.

5. You delete the originals. The vault holds a copy. Until you delete the original in Photos, and then empty Recently Deleted, the photo is still in your library. Our Recently Deleted guide shows this step.

6. The app backs up, or it does not. This is the part that decides whether you keep your photos. The options differ a lot.

Backup type	Example apps	What happens if you lose the phone
Company cloud with an account	Keepsafe, Private Photo Vault	Restore by signing in, if the backup finished and your plan covers it
Your own iCloud	Vaultaire, LockMyPix (paid)	Restore with your code or recovery phrase
Google Drive	SPV (paid, up to 1,000 photos)	Restore by signing in to Google
None	Privault, SPV on the free plan	Photos are gone

The main types of photo vault

Type	How it hides	Examples	Watch for
Lock screen vault	Its own icon, then a code	Private Photo Vault, Keepsafe, LockMyPix	The icon and name say what it is
Calculator vault	A working calculator, the code plus “=” opens it	Calculator Lock	The name under the icon still shows
Key-based vault	The code is the encryption key	Vaultaire	Lose the code and the recovery phrase, lose the files

Calculator vaults deserve a note. iOS does not let an app change the name under its icon. LockMyPix states this in its own text: “The app title cannot be changed due to iOS guidelines”. So a calculator icon can still sit above a name that gives the app away. 7 Calculator Lock reviews in our study complain about exactly that. Our calculator disguise page covers the topic in more depth.

Photo vault or Hidden album?

Question	Hidden album in Photos	Photo vault app
What opens it	Face ID or your iPhone passcode	The app’s own code
Where the photos are	In your normal library and iCloud Photos	In the app’s own storage
Backup	iCloud Photos, if on	Depends on the app
Cost	Free	Free plan, then paid
Extras	None	Decoy code, disguise, wrong-code photos, in many apps
Main risk	Anyone with your passcode	Loss if the app’s backup fails

The Hidden album is the safer place against loss. A vault app is the safer place against a person who knows your passcode. Our Hidden album guide covers the built-in option.

What can go wrong with a photo vault?

Our review study counted themes across 836 App Store reviews of 7 vault apps. The top problems:

• Lost photos: 136 reviews. Users named an app update (35), a new phone (28) and a reinstall (26) as triggers. Keepsafe has 111 of these, in a sample of 495 reviews.
• A vault that will not open: 132 reviews. Crashes, freezes or an update screen that never ends.
• Support that did not help: 96 reviews.
• Your own files behind a paywall: 63 reviews. A trial ends and the vault locks, or trash recovery costs money.
• Locked out: 26 reviews. A forgotten code with no way back, or a code that stopped working after an update.

These counts lean toward unhappy users, because people write reviews when something breaks. They still show where vaults fail: backup, updates and recovery. Our guide to whether photo vault apps are safe turns them into a checklist. Our moving guide covers the new phone case.

If you are a parent

Some parents search for vault apps to understand what a child might use. Two built-in facts help. Apple says children under 13 in a Family Sharing group cannot lock or hide apps. Children aged 13 to 17 can, but a parent in the group can still see that the app was downloaded and how long it is used, and can restrict it with Screen Time. Ages vary by country or region.

What York Vault does

York Vault is a photo vault for iPhone, iPad and Android, on the App Store and Google Play. Plus adds a Mac app, and Pro adds a web app. It encrypts each item on your phone with its own key. On the Free plan, it backs up every item, encrypted, to your own iCloud, or your own Google Drive on Android. See encrypted backup. It opens with a PIN, passcode or pattern of your choice, and gives you a 12-word recovery key. Viewing, export and restore of your own items stay free on every plan. Download York Vault on the App Store or Google Play. To compare other apps, read the best photo vault apps for iPhone.