AlterVaultvsHidden albumThe Hidden album vs a vault app
Apple's Hidden album is better than most people assume and weaker in exactly one way that matters. Here is the honest comparison, including when you do not need a vault app at all.
AlterVault vs the hidden album
AlterVaultHidden album
Getting in
Unlocks with
A code you chose
Device passcode
Needs a code your passcode will not open
✓
✕
Someone who watched you type
Is not
Is already in
No password reset
✓
✕
Where the photos are
Photos leave the Photos library
✓
✕
Stays on this device only
✓
✕
Unreadable in a device backup
✓
✕
Encrypted with a key only you have
✓
Only with ADP
Being asked to open it
Decoy library
Shake gesture
✕
Holds documents and PDFs
✓
✕
Cost
$19.99 once
Free
Why switch
The Hidden album is better than you think
Hidden photos leave the Library, albums, Memories and search. Since iOS 16 the album is locked behind Face ID, and the files sit inside the iPhone's own encryption.
Against a lost or stolen phone, that is enough.
The hole: it opens with your passcode
Face ID is not a separate secret. It falls back to the passcode that unlocks the phone.
So it stops anyone who does not know your passcode, and nobody who does. Hidden photos also sync to every device on your Apple ID.
What AlterVault adds
- A code your passcode does not open
- Derived from a code you choose with Argon2id. There is no reset, because the key does not exist anywhere your code has not produced it.
- Photos leave the library entirely
- Nothing syncs to the shared iPad and nothing lands in iCloud.
- A decoy to hand over
- Shake once and the vault becomes an ordinary gallery, so being asked has an answer other than refusing.
- Documents too
- PDFs and scans in the same encrypted store.
AlterVault runs on iOS 17 and later, and is on the App Store and Google Play.
Which one you need
- Someone knows your passcode
- A partner, a family member, anyone who has watched you unlock the phone. The Hidden album opens for all of them. A separate code does not.
- Devices share one Apple ID
- Hidden photos sync to every one of them. A vault app keeps them out of the photo library entirely, so nothing appears on the shared iPad.
- You might be asked to hand the phone over
- The Hidden album gives you refuse or comply. A decoy gallery gives you a third answer.
- You are storing documents
- Passport scans and PDFs have no home in the Hidden album. They end up in Files, unprotected.