Vaultie
Vaultie: Private Photo Vault

A private vault on your phone.

Encrypted before it’s saved. Only you can open it.

Keep photos, videos, documents and notes in a vault that lives only on your phone. There’s no account and no cloud, nothing is uploaded, and nobody at Workaholic Developers can look inside.

How it protects you What goes in

Coming soon to iPhone and Android

Each digit you type turns the dial one notch. The right PIN opens the door.
What goes in

The things you’d rather keep to yourself

Bring them in from your gallery, your files or other apps, or capture them straight into the vault. Once they’re inside, they’re encrypted, and so are their names, dates and thumbnails.

  • Photos

    Imported in their original quality and format, HEIC and RAW included. On iPhone, Live Photos keep their motion.

  • Videos

    Play them inside the vault with smooth scrubbing, or record new ones, with sound, in the private camera.

  • Documents

    PDFs, scans, ID copies and any other file. PDFs, images and text files open right inside Vaultie.

  • Notes

    Secure notes with headings, lists and checklists. Pin the important ones, colour-tag them and search them all.

Organised your way

  • Albums
  • Smart albums
  • Favourites
  • Search by name, album or month
  • Slideshows
  • Pinch to resize the grid
  • Trash that waits 30 days
How it protects you

Locked on your phone, before anything is saved

Vaultie doesn’t just hide your files. It encrypts them with standard, well-studied cryptography, so they can only be read with your PIN, on your phone. Here’s how, in plain words.

  1. Every file gets its own key

    Before a photo, video, document or note is written to storage, Vaultie encrypts it with AES-256-GCM under a fresh random key. File names, dates, thumbnails and albums are encrypted too.

    If an encrypted file is ever changed, cut short or swapped, Vaultie notices and tells you instead of showing it.

  2. The keys need your PIN and this phone

    Those file keys are locked by your vault key, which opens only with your PIN (or passphrase) together with a secret held by this phone’s secure hardware. That secret never leaves the phone, so a copy of Vaultie’s files is useless anywhere else.

    The Secure Enclave on iPhone, the Android Keystore on Android. Your PIN is stretched with Argon2id.

  3. Only you hold the way back in

    Your recovery key is made on your phone and shown once, when you set up. There’s no account, no cloud copy and no master key. Nobody else can open your vault, including us.

    Use it if you ever forget your PIN. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe, away from your phone.

Your recovery key

When you set up, Vaultie shows a 32-character key once and asks you to type part of it back, so you know it’s saved.

  • K7Q2
  • 9XBM
  • 4HCV
  • R8TD
  • 2NWE
  • 6FJA
  • P3YZ
  • 5GSK

Without your PIN and this key, nobody can open your vault, including us.

Example only. Yours is made on your phone and never shown to anyone else.

What that means for you

  • No account, no cloud, no network. Vaultie makes no network requests at all. The Android app doesn’t even have the Internet permission.
  • Your phone’s passcode isn’t enough. Someone who knows it still needs your Vaultie PIN.
  • Face ID, Touch ID or fingerprint, if you like. Your phone releases the unlock key only to the faces or fingers enrolled when you turned it on. Add a new one and Vaultie asks for your PIN first.
  • Guessing gets slow. After 4 wrong tries, each new try has to wait, from 30 seconds up to an hour.
  • No home-made ciphers. Apple CryptoKit and Android’s built-in cryptography do the heavy lifting.

What no app can promise

Vaultie can’t protect a phone that’s jailbroken, rooted or running malware, or a PIN someone watched you type. iPhone doesn’t let apps block screenshots, so Vaultie hides its contents in the app switcher and while the screen is being recorded or mirrored; on Android, screenshots are blocked. A decoy PIN protects you from a look over your shoulder, not from a forensic lab.

Extra protection

For the moments that call for more

All of it is optional, and each feature explains itself before you switch it on.

  • Decoy PIN

    A second PIN opens a separate, believable vault with its own photos, notes and albums. Your real vault stays out of sight behind it.

  • Break-in alerts

    After the number of wrong tries you choose, the front camera takes one photo. Next time you unlock, you’ll see something like “3 wrong attempts · 10:42 pm”. The photo is encrypted and stays on your phone.

  • Quick lock

    Lay your phone face-down and the vault locks at once. It also locks when you leave the app, straight away or after 15 seconds, 1 minute or 5 minutes.

  • Encrypted backups

    Save your vault as one .vaultie file, locked with a backup password, wherever you like: Files, iCloud Drive, Google Drive or a computer. Vaultie never uploads it.

  • Hidden in the app switcher

    On iPhone the vault is covered in the app switcher and while the screen is recorded or mirrored. On Android, screenshots and the recent-apps preview are blocked.

  • Calm icons, no disguise

    Choose Night, Porcelain, Verdigris or Graphite for your home screen. Vaultie never pretends to be a calculator or another app: there’s no disguised icon.

Every day

Private from the moment you capture it

Some things never need to touch your gallery at all.

Private camera

Take photos and videos, with sound, that go straight into the vault and never appear in your gallery. Flash, front and back cameras and zoom are all there.

Save to Vaultie from any app

Share photos, videos, PDFs, files, text or links to Vaultie from other apps. On iPhone they’re encrypted right away, even while the vault is locked, and appear the next time you unlock. On Android, Vaultie opens and asks you to unlock first.

Widgets that keep quiet

Home-screen and lock-screen widgets for the private camera, a quick note and Lock now, plus Control Center controls on iOS 18 and a Quick Settings tile on Android. They never show a photo, a note or a file name.

An example. The item count is optional, and it disappears when you use a decoy PIN.

Price

Free during launch. No ads, no tracking.

Every feature, including the decoy PIN, break-in alerts and encrypted backups, is free while Vaultie launches. There are no ads, and nothing in the app tracks you.

Coming soon to iPhone and Android

For iPhone with iOS 15 or later and Android phones with Android 8 or later, in English and Hindi (हिन्दी).

FAQ

Straight answers

I forgot my PIN. What now?

Tap Forgot PIN? on the lock screen and enter your recovery key, then choose a new PIN. Everything in your vault stays exactly as it was. Step by step.

What if I lose both my PIN and my recovery key?

Then your vault can’t be opened. Not by you, not by us, not by anyone. There is no back door and no master key; that’s what makes the encryption real.

If you made an encrypted backup and still know its backup password, you can delete Vaultie, install it again, set it up and import that backup. Otherwise the only way forward is to start again with an empty vault. So when Vaultie shows you your recovery key, write it down and keep it somewhere safe, away from your phone.

How do I move to a new phone?

Make an encrypted backup: in Vaultie’s settings, export a .vaultie file with a backup password and save it somewhere your new phone can reach, such as iCloud Drive, Google Drive or a computer. On the new phone, set up Vaultie and import the file with the same password.

Your vault isn’t part of iCloud or Google device backups, on purpose: those copies couldn’t be opened without your old phone’s secure hardware. Step by step.

Is it really encrypted?

Yes. Every photo, video, document and note is encrypted with AES-256-GCM on your phone before it’s saved, each under its own random key, and so are names, dates, thumbnails and albums. Opening the vault takes your PIN together with a secret held by your phone’s secure hardware.

Vaultie uses standard algorithms through Apple CryptoKit and Android’s built-in cryptography, and checks every encrypted file for tampering when it opens it. Inside the app, “How Vaultie protects your files” shows which hardware protects the key on your phone.

What can Workaholic Developers see?

Nothing. Vaultie has no account and no servers, no analytics, no ads and no crash reporting, and the app makes no network requests (the Android app doesn’t even have the Internet permission). We never receive your files, your PIN, your recovery key or anything about how you use the app. That also means we can’t open your vault or reset your PIN for you. Privacy policy.

Does Vaultie hide its icon?

No. Vaultie is honest about what it is: there’s no disguised icon and no fake calculator. You can pick a calmer icon (Night, Porcelain, Verdigris or Graphite), and the vault stays locked and encrypted whatever it looks like.

Why can I take screenshots of Vaultie on iPhone?

iOS doesn’t let any app block screenshots. Vaultie covers the vault in the app switcher and while the screen is being recorded or mirrored. On Android, screenshots and the recent-apps preview are blocked.

Is Vaultie free?

Yes. Every feature is free during launch, with no ads. If paid options ever come later, the price will be shown in the App Store or Google Play before you pay.

More help, from backups to widgets, is on the support page.