Private photo vault

Most phones already let you hide a photo. Fewer let you lock one. The iPhone Hidden Album and Google Photos Locked Folder keep photos inside your library and out of the main grid, which is fine for stopping a casual scroll. They were never designed to stop someone who knows how to unlock your phone, and on iPhone the Hidden Album rides along with iCloud Photos to every device on your Apple ID.

TuckVault’s photo vault takes a different approach. Photos you choose are copied into the vault, encrypted on your device, and removed from the ordinary library once you delete the originals. From then on they exist only inside the vault and open only with the PIN or pattern you set.

How the photo vault works

1. Open the vault and set your lock. The first time, you choose a PIN or draw a pattern. Pick something that is not your phone passcode and that nobody else knows.
2. Tap Add and select photos. You can pick from your whole library, an album, or recent screenshots. Select as many as you like.
3. Import. Each photo is encrypted with AES encryption as it enters the vault and written only in encrypted form. Nothing is uploaded anywhere.
4. Delete the originals. TuckVault prompts you to remove the imported photos from your library. Then open Recently Deleted (iPhone) or Trash (Google Photos / Gallery) and delete them there too; that is where the readable copies linger for up to 30 days.
5. Lock. Close the app or tap Lock. The next person who opens TuckVault sees the lock screen and nothing else.

What a vault changes that a hidden album doesn’t

	Hidden Album / Locked Folder	TuckVault vault
Photos stay in your photo library	Yes	No — moved into the vault
Opens with your phone passcode	Usually	No — separate PIN or pattern
Appears in search, Memories, widgets	Mostly hidden	Never — not in the library
Syncs with iCloud Photos / Google Photos	iPhone: yes · Android: depends	No
Stored as plain image files	Yes	No — AES-encrypted
Holds videos and documents too	Videos only	Photos, videos, documents

The practical difference shows up in the moments that matter: a friend borrowing your phone, a child playing a game on it, a partner who knows your passcode, a repair technician who needs the phone unlocked. Read the Hidden Album comparison or the Locked Folder comparison for the full breakdown.

Good habits for a private photo library

• Import, then delete, then empty the bin. Three steps, every time. A vault with the originals still in the camera roll is a filing cabinet with the files left on the desk.
• Use a lock you will remember. The vault lock is deliberately separate from the phone’s, which means your phone’s reset flows cannot recover it. Write it down somewhere private if you need to.
• Check your cloud backup. If your photo library backs up to iCloud or Google Photos, the originals you just deleted may have already uploaded. Delete them from the cloud bin as well.
• Lock the app when you hand the phone over. The vault locks when you leave the app, but it only takes a second to confirm.

What about screenshots?

Screenshots are the photos people forget about: bank balances, boarding passes, chats, two-factor codes. They land in the camera roll like any other image, which means they sync, appear in search and show up in Recents. Treat them the same way: import the sensitive ones into the vault and delete the originals. Our guide on keeping screenshots private covers the workflow.