Guides / How photo vault apps work
How do photo vault apps work?
Short answerA photo vault app moves pictures out of Photos and keeps them inside itself, behind its own lock. The good ones also scramble (encrypt) each picture. Some only put a screen in front of ordinary files, and that is much weaker. The difference isn't visible from outside, so you have to ask.
What happens when you add a picture
- The app copies the picture in. It's now stored in the app's own space on your iPhone, which iPhone keeps separate from other apps.
- The original usually goes. The app asks iPhone to remove it from Photos. Until that happens, the original is still there.
- A lock stands in front. A code, a pattern, or Face ID.
- The picture is shown again when you unlock the app.
Hiding versus protecting
Two apps can look the same and be built very differently.
- Hiding: the file is left as it is, and a lock screen stops you opening the app. Think of a locked door on a room with no walls on one side.
- Protecting: the picture itself is encrypted, so the file is unreadable without the key. The lock opens something that is actually locked. See the difference between kinds of encryption.
Why some vault apps aren't safe
- Only a screen. If the files aren't encrypted, anyone who gets at them another way can read them. One way is a backup, because app data is included in iPhone's iCloud backups.
- The key sits beside the lock. Encrypting with a key stored in the open, or one that doesn't depend on your code, isn't much of a lock.
- Readable leftovers. Small previews, search lists or temporary copies that stay unencrypted can show what's inside. Here's why previews matter.
- Copies in the cloud held by the company in a form it can read.
- A weak or short code, with no waits after wrong tries.
- A recovery that skips your code. If "forgot code" is solved by an email link or a support request, someone has another way in. Ask how.
- You're locked out by the business. A subscription ending, or the app being removed, can leave you without your pictures.
- A disguise, not a lock. A calculator icon changes how an app looks, not what protects the pictures.
What to look for
- Real encryption, named, such as AES-256, done on your phone.
- A key that depends on your code, not one stored in the clear.
- Previews, names and notes covered too, not just the full picture.
- Waits after wrong tries, so a code can't be guessed quickly.
- An honest answer about "I forgot my code" and about backups.
- A clear privacy policy that says what's collected.
- Plain talk about limits, not only claims. "Unbreakable" is a warning sign.
- An outside check, if there is one. If there isn't, the app should say so.
How FirstHour's Vault does this
FirstHour's Vault encrypts each picture, video, file and note on your iPhone, and its previews too, with AES-256-GCM. It has its own pattern or PIN, with waits after wrong tries, and it's left out of iCloud and computer backups. FirstHour checks the locked copy opens and matches before iPhone asks to remove the original. See the Vault.
- There's no outside audit yet.
- Temporary unlocked copies exist for some files.
- Without a backup you save yourself, losing the iPhone loses the Vault.
- Face ID can't open it, and other limits are listed here.
Questions
Is the Hidden album a vault?
No. It's a convenience that opens with your iPhone passcode. Here's the comparison.
Can I test whether a vault app is encrypted?
Not easily from outside. That's why the questions above matter more than how it looks.
Sources
- What does iCloud back up?, Apple Support
- App security overview, Apple Platform Security