How to Hide Private Photos in an Encrypted Vault on iPhone (and What Happens If You Lose the Phone)

The problem

You hand your unlocked phone to a friend to show one picture, and they swipe a little too far. A relative borrows it, a colleague glances at the screen, and your whole camera roll is one tap away. Photos’ own Hidden album is hidden, not really private, and it sits in the same library.

Sensitive pictures deserve a separate, locked place.

What the vault does

• Photos and videos you add are encrypted (AES-GCM) and kept inside the app.
• You unlock with a PIN or Face ID.
• It locks automatically whenever the app leaves the foreground.
• The key is held in the iOS Keychain, only while the device is unlocked, and this device only.
• When you add items from your library, the app asks whether to delete the originals (“Delete Originals” or “Keep Both”). Deleted originals go to Recently Deleted for 30 days.

How to do it

1. Go to More tools → Secret Vault. (This is a Premium feature.)
2. Create a PIN and, if asked, enable Face ID.
3. Add photos and videos from your library.
4. Choose Delete Originals so they aren’t left in your camera roll.
5. Open Recently Deleted in Photos and remove them there too if you want them gone immediately. See that guide.

Read this before you rely on it

Everything is tied to this iPhone. The encrypted files live inside the app, and the key is in a this-device-only Keychain item. That’s good for security, and it has two consequences:

• Delete the app and the vault goes with it.
• A new phone won’t carry the vault over, even from a backup, because the key doesn’t transfer.

So before you delete the app or upgrade your phone, open the vault and use Restore to Library on anything you want to keep.

There’s no PIN recovery. Choose something you’ll remember, and set up Face ID as a second way in.

Videos need restoring to play. The viewer shows photos; for a video, restore it to the library.

Be realistic about what it protects

It stops casual browsing and someone borrowing your phone. It isn’t a substitute for a strong device passcode, and anything you restore to your library is a normal photo again.

FAQ

Is the vault free? No, the Secret Vault is part of Premium.

What happens if I delete the app or get a new phone? The vault and its key stay on this device, so they don’t move with you. Restore anything you want to keep to your Photos library first.

What if I forget the PIN? There’s no recovery option in the app, so choose a PIN you’ll remember. Face ID can also unlock it.

Can I play videos inside the vault? Photos open in the viewer; videos need to be restored to your library to play.

Does it lock by itself? Yes, whenever the app leaves the foreground.