How Hushtrove compares.

Checked October 26, 2026

The biggest photo-vault apps on iPhone, Apple's own Hidden album and Google Photos' Locked Folder, next to Hushtrove. Every claim about another product comes from its App Store page or its own website, read on the date above, and is tagged with its source. "Not stated" means we didn't find it on those pages, not that the feature is missing.

What to look for

The App Privacy label. Every app declares to Apple what it collects. "Data Not Collected" is the only label that means nothing leaves your iPhone.
Whether you need an account. An account means an email address, a password and a server that knows you use a vault.
Who can read the backup. A backup is only private if it's encrypted before it leaves your phone, with a key the company never has.
What happens to your originals. Some vaults re-compress photos by default. The pixels you get back are not the ones you put in.

	Hushtrove	Keepsafe S1	Private Photo Vault S10	Vaultaire S16	Calculator# S22	Privault S24	SPV S26	Apple Photos, Hidden album S27	Google Photos, Locked Folder S30
App Privacy label (declared by the developer)	Data Not Collected.	Data Used to Track You: Usage Data. Data Not Linked to You: Usage Data. S1	Data Used to Track You: Usage Data. Data Linked to You: Purchases, User Content, Identifiers, Usage Data, Diagnostics. S10	Data Linked to You: Contact Info, User Content. Data Not Linked to You: Usage Data, Diagnostics. S16	Data Used to Track You: Contact Info. Data Not Linked to You: Contact Info, User Content. S22	Data Used to Track You: Usage Data. Data Linked to You: Usage Data. Data Not Linked to You: User Content, Usage Data. S24	Data Used to Track You: Identifiers, Usage Data, Diagnostics. Data Not Linked to You: the same. S26	For the whole Photos app: Data Linked to You: Contacts, User Content, Identifiers. Data Not Linked to You: Location, Usage Data, Diagnostics, Other Data. S28	For the whole app: Data Linked to You: Purchases, Financial Info, Location, Contact Info, Contacts, User Content, Search History, Identifiers, Usage Data, Diagnostics, Other Data. S31
Account or email needed	No. Nothing to sign up for.	Yes: name and email, then a verification email. S3	Not for local storage. Cloud Vault needs Premium and an account. S14 S15	"No account is required." S16	Email registration, used for password recovery. S22	Not stated; a passcode reset by email is mentioned. S24	Not stated.	No account for the album; iCloud Photos is optional. S27	A Google Account for backup and other devices. S30
Ads in the free version	No ads, ever.	"Keepsafe Basic is ad supported." S1	Free with ads. S10	"No ads or cross-app tracking." S16	"free with ads and limitations" S22	Ads, with a "Remove ADs" purchase. S24	Free with ads. S26	Part of iOS.	Part of Google Photos.
Encryption at rest, in their words	AES-256-GCM with a separate key per item. Your passcode is combined with a Secure Enclave secret, so the vault only opens on this iPhone.	"industry-standard 256-bit AES encryption" S2	"Files stored in the app use AES encryption." S14	"encrypts photos, videos, and documents with AES-256-GCM" S16	Not stated. S22 S23	No algorithm stated; "encrypted storage" behind a digit passcode. S24	Not stated; "PIN protection". S26	Not stated on the Hidden album page. S27	"standard encryption practices" S30
Face ID	Yes. A new face enrolled on the iPhone sends you back to the passcode.	PIN, fingerprint or Face ID. S4	Face ID and the vault PIN together. S14	Not stated; you unlock with a drawn pattern. S16	Calculator, PIN, password, pattern or Touch/Face ID. S22	Not stated.	Not stated.	Face ID or Touch ID; locked by default since iOS 16. S27	Face ID, Touch ID or the device passcode. S30
Backup, and who could read it	Optional, to your own iCloud. Encrypted on your iPhone before upload; we run no servers of our own and never hold a key.	Keepsafe's own cloud, "creates encrypted backups"; 200 items free, 10,000 with Premium. Not described as end-to-end. S2 S4	Cloud Vault on the developer's servers (Premium): "zero-knowledge encryption". S15	iCloud backup on by default, encrypted on the device first. S16	iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive or OneDrive; backup encryption not stated. S22	Not stated; transfer via the camera roll or a Wi-Fi server. S24	None: "does not keep your photos or data on any kind of server". Deleting the app deletes the data. S26	Through iCloud Photos; end-to-end encryption not stated on that page. S27	Optional backup to Google, counted against your storage; "standard encryption practices". S30 S32
Your originals	Kept as shot: full resolution, HEIC, RAW and Live Photo motion. Nothing is recompressed.*	Not stated. Space Saver (Premium) "Compresses photos and saves originals to the Cloud". S1	On-device handling not stated. Space Saver keeps originals in Cloud Vault. S11	The default "Optimized" setting converts to HEIC or HEVC; Original is opt-in. S21	Not stated.	Not stated.	Not stated.	Unchanged; items move to the Hidden album inside your library. S27	Backup in "Original quality" or "Storage saver". S33
Decoy or duress passcode	Decoy vault, plus an optional duress mode: the decoy passcode also erases the real vault on this iPhone. Pro.	Decoy Vault (Premium). S5	"Decoy Password". S10	Decoy vaults; a Pro duress vault. S16	Not stated; a disguise mode shows "a fake error message box". S22	A secondary passcode, and an "Erase-all Passcode". S24	Not stated.	Not stated.	Not stated.
Photo of an intruder	Intruder Selfie, kept inside the vault. Pro.	Intruder Alerts take a secret photo (Premium). S5	"Break-in Report: Photo + GPS". S10	Not stated.	"Hack Monitor" logs wrong attempts; a photo is not stated. S22	Not stated.	Not stated.	Not stated.	Not stated.
Blank in screenshots and recordings	Screenshot Shield, on by default: every screen in the app comes out black.	Not stated.	Not stated.	Not stated.	Not stated.	Not stated.	Not stated.	Not stated.	Not stated.
Add from any app's Share menu	Yes, even while the vault is locked. Pro.	Not stated.	Import and export from the Photos app; the share sheet is not stated. S10	Import from Photos, Files or drag and drop; the share sheet is not stated. S16	Not stated.	Sharing and importing from the system Photos app (version 10.2 notes). S24	Not stated.	Not applicable.	Not stated.
Notes and documents	Secure Notes (Pro), PDFs and documents, a built-in scanner.	Photos, videos and documents; notes not stated. S4	Not stated; files by Wi-Fi transfer. S12	Notes and documents. S16	Secure Notes and password-protected documents. S22	Files and audio notes. S24	Not stated for notes; passwords, contacts and a browser. S26	Photos and videos only.	Not stated.
Disguised app icon	Calculator, weather or utilities icon. Pro.	"Secret Door" is Android only. S5	A custom icon, "including more discreet options". S12	Pro: calculator, printer or other utility icons. S17	Disguised as a calculator. S22	Not stated.	"Hidden Calculator" in the subtitle; details not stated. S26	Not applicable.	Not applicable.
Panic gesture	Flip the iPhone face down to lock. Pro.	"Facedown lock" (Premium). S7	"Face Down Lock". S10	Not stated.	A panic switch to another app. S22	Not stated.	Not stated.	Not stated.	Not stated.
Free tier and paid plans (US)	Free for 100 photos and 10 videos, no time limit. Pro as a one-time purchase or a subscription; prices in the app.	Basic free with ads, 200 items. Premium $9.99 a month or $23.99 a year; a Lifetime plan is offered. S1 S6	Free with ads. Upgrade $39.99; Premium purchases $6.99 to $39.99. S10	Free: 3 vaults, 100 photos, 10 videos. Pro $1.99 a week, $5.99 a month, $19.99 a year or $39.99 once; Family $49.99 a year or $99.99. S16	Free with ads and limits. Yearly $4.99; features pack $4.99. S22	Free with ads. Pro $3.49 a month, $24.99 a year or $45.99 once. S24	Free with ads. Premium from $2.99, weekly to yearly. S26	Free, part of iOS. S27	Free up to 15 GB; storage plans from $1.99 a month. S31

* When "Remove All Metadata" is on (the default), a Live Photo's still image is saved again at full quality so that it keeps the identifier that pairs it with its motion. Everything else is stored byte for byte.

Reading the table

Privacy labels are declared by each developer to Apple and are not verified by Apple. They change with updates. Apple's and Google's labels cover their whole Photos apps, not just the hidden area.
Prices are from the US App Store and vary by country. Several apps list purchases without saying what period they cover; we only mapped what their descriptions state.
Which apps. We picked the vault apps with the most US App Store ratings on the day, the calculator-style vault with the most ratings, and the two built-in options most people already have.
Where sources disagree. Keepsafe's App Store text describes its encryption with a marketing phrase while its support site names the algorithm (256-bit AES), so the table uses the support site. Private Photo Vault's security page says "AES encryption" and its FAQ says AES-256; the table quotes the security page. Vaultaire's lifetime price is $39.99 on the App Store and its site; a third-party listing says $29, and the App Store governs.
What we didn't check. We read what the products say about themselves. We did not test them, and we don't claim they lack a feature they simply don't mention.

Sources

All read on October 26, 2026.

Keepsafe, US App Store page. apps.apple.com/us/app/id510873505
Keepsafe help, "How does Keepsafe protect my data?" support.getkeepsafe.com/hc/en-us/articles/360035454311
Keepsafe help, "Keepsafe Login: How to Access the Photo Vault". support.getkeepsafe.com/hc/en-us/articles/360039059152
Keepsafe help, "What is Keepsafe?" support.getkeepsafe.com/hc/en-us/articles/360024137472
Keepsafe help, "What does Keepsafe Premium include?" support.getkeepsafe.com/hc/en-us/articles/209134106
Keepsafe help, "Keepsafe Subscriptions". support.getkeepsafe.com/hc/en-us/articles/360039059532
Keepsafe products page. getkeepsafe.com/products
Keepsafe about page. app.getkeepsafe.com/about.html
Apple iTunes Search and Lookup API, US storefront (used to pick the apps by rating count). itunes.apple.com/lookup?id=510873505,417571834,6758529311,1165276801,1186436980,1449239240,962194608,1584215428&country=us
Private Photo Vault, US App Store page. apps.apple.com/us/app/id417571834
privatephotovault.com, home page.
privatephotovault.com/features/
privatephotovault.com/faq/
privatephotovault.com/security/
privatephotovault.com/cloud-vault-encrypted-backups/
Vaultaire, US App Store page. apps.apple.com/us/app/id6758529311
vaultaire.app, home page.
vaultaire.app/privacy/ (dated September 24, 2026)
vaultaire.app/guides/best-one-time-payment-ios-photo-vault/
vaultaire.app/compare/vaultaire-vs-apple-hidden-album/
vaultaire.app/guides/photo-vault-app/
Calculator# Hide Photos Videos, US App Store page. apps.apple.com/us/app/id1165276801
NewSoftwares, Calculator# product page. newsoftwares.net/ns-vault/
Privault, US App Store page. apps.apple.com/us/app/id1186436980
Privault privacy policy. binspir.github.io/prvt/pp.html
SPV - Secret Photo Vault, US App Store page. apps.apple.com/us/app/id1449239240
Apple Support, "Hide photos with the Hidden album". support.apple.com/en-us/104987
Apple Photos, US App Store page. apps.apple.com/us/app/id1584215428
Apple Newsroom, "iOS 16 is available today" (September 12, 2022).
Google Photos Help, "Locked Folder" for iPhone and iPad. support.google.com/photos/answer/10694388
Google Photos, US App Store page. apps.apple.com/us/app/id962194608
Google blog, Locked Folder cloud backup (August 29, 2023). blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/photos/locked-folder-cloud-backup/
Google Photos Help, backup quality. support.google.com/photos/answer/6220791

Keepsafe, Private Photo Vault, Vaultaire, Calculator#, Privault, SPV, Apple, iPhone, Face ID, iCloud, Google and Google Photos are trademarks of their owners, named here only to identify their products. Spotted a mistake? Email [email protected] and we'll correct it.