Encrypted on your device
Photos, videos, PDFs, filenames and thumbnails are sealed with AES-256-GCM before they reach disk.
Private photo vault for iPhone & iPad
Your photos,
locked on your device.
Vaultic encrypts photos, videos and PDFs with AES-256-GCM before anything is written to disk. Unlock with Face ID or a PIN. No account, and no Vaultic server that holds your files.
- AES-256-GCM on device
- Face ID or PIN
- No account
- Free to start
Why people trust Vaultic
Your PIN holds the key
The master key is wrapped by your PIN and kept in the iOS Keychain, marked for this device only.
No account, no vault server
Nothing to sign up for. We run no backend that stores your vault, and ship no analytics SDK of our own.
Features
A vault, not a second gallery.
While Vaultic is locked, your content stays encrypted.
AES-256-GCM encryption
Apple's CryptoKit does the work. Each file gets its own random nonce, and a wrong PIN simply fails the authentication tag.
Face ID, Touch ID or PIN
Auto-lock closes the vault when you leave the app. Ten wrong PIN entries erase the key for good.
Verified imports
Each import is written, read back and SHA-256 checked before Vaultic offers to delete your original. “Keep in both” is preselected.
Live Photos stay live
Still, motion and sound are stored as one encrypted item, and go back to Photos as a real Live Photo.
Albums, search, documents
Albums, favourites, filename search and a PDF reader in the same vault. Two albums free, unlimited with Pro.
Backup and device change
Pro backs up a passphrase-sealed archive to your own iCloud, or sends your vault to a new device over your local network.
How it works
Three steps. No account.
-
Set a PIN
Four or six digits, plus Face ID if you want it. Your PIN derives the key and never leaves the device — we cannot see or reset it.
-
Add your files
Import from Photos or Files, or send anything over with the share sheet. Each file is encrypted before it reaches disk.
-
Delete the originals
Vaultic hash-checks its encrypted copy first, then offers to remove the originals from your photo library.
Free vs Pro
The free version is a real vault.
Unlimited photos, videos and documents, full encryption and Face ID without paying anything. Pro adds backup, transfer and the power-user settings, and removes the ads.
| Free vs Pro | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Photos, videos and PDFs | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| AES-256-GCM encryption, Face ID or PIN | Included | Included |
| Verified imports, Vault Health, recovery key | Included | Included |
| Private browser and encrypted export | Included | Included |
| Albums | 2 | Unlimited + PIN per album |
| Document import size | 500 MB | 2 GB |
| Encrypted iCloud backup | — | Last 10 versions |
| Transfer to another device | — | Included |
| Custom auto-lock and panic gesture | — | Included |
| Ads | One banner | None |
Pro is a monthly or yearly subscription, or a one-time Lifetime purchase. Prices are shown in the App Store and billed by Apple. Restoring a backup is free forever, even after you cancel.
Security & network
The mechanism, in full.
The cryptography is Apple's own — CryptoKit and CommonCrypto. None of it asks you to trust us.
-
AES-256-GCM per file, each with its own random 96-bit nonce, stored as
nonce[12] || ciphertext || tag[16]. - PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256, 200,000 iterations derives the key that wraps your master key.
- The master key is never stored in the clear, and lives in memory only while the vault is open.
- Keychain, this device only — it never syncs to iCloud Keychain and cannot be restored onto another device.
- Ten wrong PINs delete the key. The counter survives relaunches.
- A privacy overlay hides the interface in the App Switcher.
# On-disk format for every encrypted blob
nonce[12] || ciphertext || tag[16]
# Master key derivation
salt ← SecRandomCopyBytes(16)
wrapping_key ← PBKDF2(PIN, salt, 200_000)
wrapped ← AES-GCM.seal(master_key, wrapping_key)
# Keychain storage
kSecAttrAccessible: WhenUnlockedThisDeviceOnly
kSecAttrSynchronizable: false
Every path out of the app
Vaultic is not an offline-only app, and we don't describe it as one. It reaches the network in five places — three when you ask, two on their own.
| Path | When | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
| Private browser | When you browse | The sites you visit, directly |
| Purchases & Pro status | Automatically, at launch | Apple and RevenueCat |
| Advertising | Free version only | Google Mobile Ads |
| Encrypted iCloud backup | Pro, if you enable it | Your own iCloud Drive |
| Device transfer | Pro, when you run it | A paired device, local network only |
Your vault is encrypted on the device before any of these can touch it. Nothing from your vault is attached to an ad request or sent to RevenueCat. A build-phase script fails the build if a general-purpose networking API or a known analytics SDK appears in the source.
What Vaultic does not claim
- The private browser is not anonymity. It keeps no cookies, cache or history, but the sites you visit, your provider and your network still see your traffic.
- An alternate icon does not hide the app. Vaultic still appears under its own name in Settings and Search.
- We cannot recover your vault. There is no account and no copy on our side — write your recovery phrase down.
Do I need an account?
No. No sign-up, no email, no password. You set a PIN on first launch and that is the whole setup.
The consequence matters: because there is no account, there is nothing for us to reset if you forget your PIN.
What if I forget my PIN?
If you set up the optional 24-word recovery phrase, tap Forgot PIN? on the lock screen and you can set a new one straight away.
Without that phrase there is no way back in. The vault is built so only the PIN holder can decrypt it, and that holds for us too.
Are my photos sent to iCloud automatically?
No. Vault files live in Application Support, which iCloud does not back up automatically, and the app's database opts out of CloudKit.
Pro adds an opt-in encrypted backup: the archive is sealed on your device and uploaded to your own iCloud Drive, so Apple only ever holds ciphertext.
Does the free version show ads?
Yes, one banner from Google Mobile Ads, on the Vault and Documents screens only, never over the lock screen. Pro and Lifetime remove it and never start the ad SDK at all.
Every ad request is bare: no keywords, no targeting and no identifier supplied by us. Your photos, documents, album names and browsing are never sent to Google.
Can I move my vault to a new device?
Yes, two ways, both Pro. Device transfer sends the encrypted vault over your local network after both devices confirm a six-digit code, or you restore an encrypted iCloud backup. Restoring is free forever, even if Pro has lapsed.
Which files can Vaultic store?
Photos, videos and PDF documents. Live Photos keep their motion and audio.
Vaultic has no notes feature and no decoy vault, and it does not sync your vault between devices.
Put your private photos somewhere private.
Free to download, and a complete vault before you pay anything.
Requires iPhone or iPad. Free with in-app purchases. The free version shows one banner ad; Vaultic Pro removes it.