Short answer
Private Photo Vault is not the unencrypted app it was in 2014. Researchers found AES by 2019, and the company now documents AES on the phone plus a zero-knowledge Cloud Vault. The open question is the local key: the last public research, from 2019 to 2021, found it in the iOS Keychain rather than derived from your PIN, and a recovery email can still recover your passcode. If you want a key only your code can produce and one payment, AlterVault does that at $24.99 once. If you want a cloud copy from an open-source provider, use Ente.
On this page
AlterVault vs Private Photo Vault
Private Photo Vault facts from its own site and US App Store listing, and from published research where marked. AlterVault facts from the app source.
AlterVault
Private Photo VaultUS list prices, checked November 2026. The Firebase leak reported in 2025 was a different app, Photo Vault by Brain Craft.
Three apps with nearly the same name
Most confusion about this app starts here, and it leads to wrong claims in both directions.
- Private Photo Vault - Pic Safe
- This page's subject. Published by Legendary Software Labs, with the bundle name com.enchantedcloud.photovault that researchers cite. Around a million App Store ratings at 4.8, updated this month, and it now runs on Android too.
- SV - Private Photo Vault PRO
- The same developer's separate listing, also free to download with in-app purchases. The company's FAQ says the Pro version was renamed SV and given a new icon.
- Photo Vault by Brain Craft
- An unrelated app from a developer based in Bangladesh, with about 72,000 downloads. This is the app in the 2025 Firebase leak that exposed file names, emails, plaintext passwords and notes. Private Photo Vault was not involved.
Sources: App Store: Private Photo Vault - Pic Safe (US), App Store: SV - Private Photo Vault PRO, Private Photo Vault: FAQ, The Dead Pixels Society on the Cybernews Photo Vault report (2025)
What the research found, in order
This is the history, and the direction is improvement. Every entry describes a past version.
- 2014: no added protection
- Jonathan Zdziarski recovered the app's data from a locked iPhone in about five minutes. It stored files with no protection beyond what iOS gives any file, while calling them "100% private".
- 2015: plaintext passcode
- IOActive found photos unencrypted and the passcode in plaintext in a preferences file, and bypassed the lock screen on a jailbroken iPhone 4S.
- 2019: AES arrives, with a catch
- Researcher forensicmike1 found real AES through the RNCryptor library. The master key was in the iOS Keychain and never changed, even when the PIN did. The PIN itself was in the Keychain in plaintext, limited to four digits. With a file-system extraction, the photos could be decrypted.
- 2020: PIN brute force
- An update to the same research reported a way to brute-force the PIN without Keychain access. The author withheld the details.
- 2021: stronger, not closed
- In version 11.9, the author found an encrypted database, a separate key per media item, and PINs of 4 to 8 digits. Brute-forcing was still possible but took longer. A US Defense Department advisory the same year also recorded the key in the iOS Keychain.
Sources: Jonathan Zdziarski: Private Photo Vault, Not So Private (2014), IOActive: Breaking into and Reverse Engineering iOS Photo Vaults (2015), forensicmike1: iOS photo vault app still pwnable in 2019, updated 2021, US Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center: Photo Vault technical advisory
What the company says today
- AES on the phone
- Its security page says files in the app use AES, and its FAQ says AES-256. Local storage needs no account and is offline by default.
- A zero-knowledge cloud
- Optional Cloud Vault adds AES-256 on your device before upload, with the key from a separate password processed with Argon2id. That password is never sent to its servers and cannot be recovered. This is a strong design.
- A passcode separate from the phone's
- Your vault code can differ from your phone's. On supported Apple devices you can require Face ID and the PIN together.
- An honest disclaimer
- The security page says it is "product documentation, not an independent security audit". That is fair, and it applies to AlterVault's documentation as well.
Sources: Private Photo Vault: How your private photos are protected, Private Photo Vault: FAQ
Where that leaves the local vault
Cloud Vault is the part with a clear design. The local vault, which is what most people actually use, is less clear. The company says it is encrypted but does not say how its key is made, and the last public research found that key in the iOS Keychain. That research is five years old, so it may have changed.
One piece of evidence is current. The company's FAQ says you can recover a forgotten app or album password through a recovery email, after eight wrong entries for the app. A passcode that can come back that way is not a secret only you hold, so whatever protects the local files does not rest on your memory alone. That is our inference from the published recovery flow, not a test of the current build.
In plain terms: the PIN screen and the file encryption look like two separate things here. That is fine against someone who picks up your phone. It matters more against forensic tools with a full extraction.
Sources: Private Photo Vault: FAQ, forensicmike1: iOS photo vault app still pwnable in 2019, updated 2021
Why people look for an alternative
- Pricing you cannot read
- The US listing shows purchases named Premium or Upgrade from $6.99 to $39.99, with no billing period beside them. You find out what you are buying at checkout.
- Cloud backup tied to the subscription
- If Premium expires and you switch to Basic, the company says photos in the app stay accessible but "your Cloud Backup will be deleted". Check before you let it lapse.
- Device backup problems
- Its FAQ says some customers have had problems restoring vault data through iCloud device backups, and recommends Cloud Vault or a computer backup instead.
- A code you type in front of someone
- The decoy password works, but someone watching sees you enter a different code. Its security page also says the decoy is "not a guarantee that another vault's existence cannot be discovered", which is honest.
- Tracking and ads
- The App Store label declares usage data used to track you, and lists user content such as photos or videos, identifiers and purchases as linked to you. Advertising data is used for third-party ads.
Sources: App Pricing Lab: Private Photo Vault in-app purchases, Private Photo Vault: FAQ, Private Photo Vault: How your private photos are protected, App Store: Private Photo Vault - Pic Safe (US)
Six alternatives
We make the first one, so weigh it accordingly. We have not lab-tested the others. These facts come from vendor pages and store listings, linked below.
- AlterVault: a key only your code produces
Android and iPhone. Files sealed with XChaCha20-Poly1305, key from your code through Argon2id, no account and no cloud. $24.99 once or $4.99 a month, with 10 items free. A shake opens a decoy gallery. It has no break-in report, no cloud, and its source is not published.
- Ente Photos: encrypted cloud, open source
Android, iPhone, web and desktop. End-to-end encrypted, open source and self-hostable, with a password-protected Hidden folder. 10 GB free, then from $2.49 a month. If you like Cloud Vault and want code you can inspect, this is the closest match.
- Vaultaire: iPhone only
iOS 17 or later. AES-256-GCM with PBKDF2, separate vaults by pattern and a Duress Mode. 100 photos free, then $19.99 a year or $39.99 once. Encrypted iCloud backup is on by default.
- LockMyPix: on-device, with a fake vault
Android and iPhone. Its listing describes AES in CTR mode, with a fake vault behind a separate code. Subscription only, with a yearly plan at $29.99, and the label declares identifiers used for tracking.
- Photok: free and open source
Android 9 and later. Apache 2.0, AES-256 on the device, no ads. Google Play builds have telemetry on by default and F-Droid builds do not. Best if you want to read the code and can handle your own backups.
- The one already on your phone
Google Photos Locked Folder on Android, Secure Folder on Samsung, the Hidden album on iPhone. All free, and all fine for keeping photos out of your gallery. Locked Folder and the Hidden album open with your phone's own lock.
Sources: Ente: Pricing, F-Droid: Ente Photos, Vaultaire, App Store: LockMyPix Secret Photo Vault (US), GitHub: Photok, Google Photos Help: Locked Folder
What AlterVault changes
Welcome back!
Enter your PIN
- The code is the key
- Your code goes through Argon2id to unlock the key, and neither the code nor the phrase is stored. There is no email route back in, so nothing can recover it for you and nothing can recover it for anyone else.
- Every file sealed separately
- XChaCha20-Poly1305 in 32 KiB chunks, thumbnails included, with the chunk index bound into the authentication so chunks cannot be reordered. The index holding file names and dates is sealed too.
- A shake instead of a second password
- A decoy password is something a person can watch you type. A shake fires from a phone you are already holding.
- $24.99 once
- Free up to 10 items, so you can test the move before paying. No cloud to pay for, so there is nothing to rent.
What you give up: Private Photo Vault has a break-in report, location lock, Face ID plus PIN and an optional zero-knowledge cloud, and AlterVault has none of those. Forgetting your code means using your recovery phrase, and losing both means losing the vault. The app sends anonymous usage events and checks purchases online. Photos, file names and your code never touch the network.
Migrating without losing photos
Deleting the app removes what is stored in it, so the old app comes off last.
- Pause cloud photo sync
Exported files land in your gallery unencrypted. If iCloud Photos or Google Photos is syncing, they upload. Turn it off until you have cleaned up.
- Bring Space Saver originals back
If you use Space Saver, the full originals sit in Cloud Vault. Download them to the app first, while Premium is active, because the cloud backup is deleted if you switch to Basic.
- Export in batches
Use the app's export to Photos or your gallery, one album at a time, so a failure is easy to spot. Count what arrives.
- Check the resolution
Open several photos and videos at random. Compression on the way in or out is where quality loss hides.
- Import and verify
Bring them into the new vault with the system picker and count again, album by album.
- Clear the plain copies
Delete the exported files from your gallery, then from Recently Deleted. Turn cloud sync back on only after that.
- Remove the old app last
Cancel in the App Store or Google Play first, since deleting the app does not cancel a subscription. Then delete it.
Sources: Private Photo Vault: FAQ
Questions
Is Private Photo Vault safe?
Against someone who picks up your phone, yes. It documents AES encryption on the device and a zero-knowledge Cloud Vault. Against forensic tools, it is less clear: the last public research, from 2021, found the key in the iOS Keychain and PIN brute force still possible. No independent test of the current build is public.
Does Private Photo Vault encrypt photos?
Yes. The early versions did not, but researchers found AES by 2019, and the company now says files in the app use AES and that Cloud Vault adds AES-256 on your device. The open question is how the local key is produced, not whether encryption exists.
Was Private Photo Vault hacked or breached?
We found no public report of a breach of Private Photo Vault. The 2025 Firebase leak reported by Cybernews was a different app, Photo Vault by Brain Craft. Private Photo Vault's documented issues are research findings about past versions, not a breach.
Can Private Photo Vault employees see my photos?
The company says no. With Cloud Vault off, files stay on your device. With it on, files are encrypted on your device with a key from your Cloud Vault password, which is never sent to its servers. Its App Store label does list user content as linked to you, likely because of the cloud service.
I forgot my Private Photo Vault password. What can I do?
If you set a recovery email, enter the app password wrong eight times and accept the recovery prompt, or five times for an album password. Without one, the company says it cannot recover those passwords. A forgotten Cloud Vault password can never be recovered. Do not uninstall to reset, since files stored only in the app can be lost.
How do I move Private Photo Vault to a new phone?
The company recommends Cloud Vault, which is Premium: finish the backup, then sign in on the new phone. On iPhone, a computer backup through Finder, Apple Devices or iTunes also works. It warns that some customers had problems with iCloud device backups, so verify before removing anything from the old phone.
How do I get my photos out of Private Photo Vault?
Pause cloud photo sync, download any Space Saver originals, then export to Photos or your gallery in batches. Count what arrives and open a few to confirm full resolution. Import into the new vault, clear the plain copies, and delete the old app last.
Is a decoy password the same as a decoy gallery?
Nearly. Both open a second, harmless set of photos. The difference is how you trigger it. A decoy password means typing a different code in front of the person asking, which they may notice. A shake gesture fires from a phone you are already holding, with no screen interaction.