Guides
Plain-language writing about iPhone photo privacy and the encryption behind it. Where your photos actually live, what the built-in features do and do not cover, what the numbers on a feature list mean, and where our own design stops working.
Every claim traces to a source, nothing is called unbreakable, and the limits of each protection are in the text rather than a footnote.
How to
How to Hide Photos on iPhone
Four approaches, step by step, with an honest account of what each one protects against.
How to
How to Lock the Photos App on iPhone
Face ID in front of the whole Photos app, what it hides, and what it leaves open.
iPhone privacy
The iPhone Hidden Album: What It Actually Hides
Who can open it, whether it syncs, and the places a photo remains that hiding does not reach.
iPhone privacy
The Hidden Album vs a Photo Vault App
Side by side: what opens each, iCloud, recovery, and which risk each one actually deals with.
Comparison
The Best Photo Vault Apps for iPhone
Six of the most-rated vault apps, ranked on what each one publishes, with every source linked.
Photo vaults
Apps to Hide Photos on iPhone: The Four Kinds
Built-in tools, PIN screens, cloud lockers and encryption on the phone, and how to tell which you are looking at.
Photo vaults
Are Photo Vault Apps Safe?
What safe has to mean, the signs you can check, and the risks that apply to every vault, including ours.
Photo vaults
What a Photo Vault App Is, and How It Works
A plain definition, the one difference that matters, and what happens to a photo inside an encrypted vault.
Photo vaults
Photo Vaults That Work Offline, With No Account
No server, no sign-up, the Airplane Mode test, and the honest cost in sync and recovery.
How to
How to Hide Videos on iPhone
The Hidden album for video, why locked notes cannot hold it, and what a vault app has to get right.
How to
How to Password-Protect Photos and Folders on iPhone
What iOS offers instead of album passwords, the one built-in route with a separate password, and when you need an app.
Photo vaults
Forgot Your Photo Vault Password?
How to tell whether your vault app can reset a password, and why encrypted ones cannot.
Photo vaults
Deleting a Vault App, or Moving It to a New iPhone
What deletion removes, what to export first, and what a device transfer carries across.
How to
Calculator Vault Apps: How the Disguise Works
What an alternate icon changes, what it does not cover, and why the disguise is not the protection.
Obscura Photo Vault
Plausible Deniability in a Photo Vault
What we actually claim, how decoy vaults are built, and the known points where it stops.
Encryption
AES-256-GCM and 600,000 PBKDF2 Rounds, Explained
What the tamper check adds, why the round count matters, and what none of it covers.