The notion of privacy is ever-changing and it will mean something different to you and me, but, in the end, having a way to keep your data away from prying eyes will always be valued, so we wanted to look into the best apps to hide pictures and videos on Android and iPhone.
So, what are the best apps to hide pictures and videos on iPhones? Well, we checked out Apple’s store and searched through the list of apps available that provide such a feature and came up with quite a few names. We went the same way to find out which was the best app to hide pictures and videos on Android devices.
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The first thing we found was that there are a gazillion private photo vault apps, and many who touted they were the best secret folder app. Users, however, tell the final story on this.
While there are numerous guides out there on how to hide photos on iPhones without an app, such as one where in iOS 11 you can just try to “share” a picture and tap the “hide button,” an app can still help you do a little bit more. Similar guides on how to hide photos on Android without an app are also available, some featuring the “dot method” which involves going to the file manager and editing a folder’s name with a dot before the actual name, some featuring renaming a folder to “.nomedia” Either way, it’s rather complicated and it would be so much easier using a tool specifically designed for the task. If you want, there are also apps to hide text messages from phone bills, you can check out.
In order to rank the apps we found we checked out whether they were available for both iOS and Android. Those who were, received extra points. We also took into consideration the number of downloads each app had, as well as the number of people who bothered to leave a review. We offered points based on the percentage of 5-star reviews, but also took into consideration the percentage of 1-star reviews out of the total.
In the end, we tallied them all up and came up with the list of the 10 best apps to hide pictures and videos on Android and iPhone. We are starting off with last two apps which share the 9th place.
9. Video Locker – Hide Videos
Score: 37
Android
This particular app has no iOS version, so it gets fewer points from this point of view. It has between 10 and 50 million downloads, and over 160,000 reviews, many of them positive.
The app allows you to not only move your videos to a secret location on your devices, but also to encrypt them with 128 bit AES encryption. The app itself also won’t appear on your list of the most recent apps installed.
The tool further allows you to lock individual hidden video albums, and even comes with a fast bulk hide feature, allowing you to hide dozens of videos in a few seconds.
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9. Pic Lock
Score: 37
Android
We are continuing our list of best apps to hide pictures and videos on Android and iPhone. with Pic Lock which is yet another tool that allows you to hide both your photos and videos and it’s not available for iOS. With some 5 to 10 million downloads, and over 170,000 reviews, it’s clear that many appreciate this tool.
Among the features this photo vault for Android touts are hiding a locking multiple photos and videos in just a few steps, allowing access with an easy pass code, and the capacity to move photos and videos between folders. You may also delete and restore photos or videos instantly, or playback the videos you’ve hidden. The app hides itself from the recent apps list so if anyone’s snooping on your device, they won’t know about it.
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8. Vaulty
Score: 41
Android
With up to 10 million installs, Vaulty ranks 8th on our list of best apps to hide pictures and videos on Android and iPhone. It is one of the most popular apps of its kind, receiving over 344,000 reviews and a total score of 4.6 stars.
The tool is pretty easy to use, as you only need to open the app, tap the lock icon at the top, open an album and start browsing for the pics and videos you want to hide from prying eyes. Alternatively, you can easily “share” a pic or video while browsing through other apps and send them directly to Vaulty for hiding.
You can create multiple vaults and protect them with a PIN or password. If anyone tries to break into the app and check out your secrets, the app will snap a pic of anyone handling the phone.
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7. Safe Gallery Free
Up next on our list of best apps to hide pictures and videos on Android and iPhone is the first of many apps that are available for both Android and iOS. This one, in particular, has between 10 and 50 million installs on Android, as well as a score of 4.3 stars out of over 219,000 reviews.
Safe Gallery doesn’t just handle hiding your videos and pictures, but also any audios. You can lock them all away with the help of a PIN, password, pattern, or even your fingerprint if your phone supports this. In case of emergency, you can even delete all information from locked files.
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6. KYMS
One trick that many such apps use is to pose as a different type of app, most commonly as a calculator. KYMS, which is an app that’s available for both Android and iOS can do exactly this.
The app which ranks 6th on our list of best apps to hide pictures and videos on Android and iPhone, helps you hide and encrypt your photos, videos, and text files. You can import the media from device locations, directly from the camera, or your computer via WiFi. The files can be protected with the help of a PIN and password.
If you happen to be browsing your locked content and someone pops up that you don’t want looking at your files, you can put your hand on the screen or close the smart cover to log out immediately, although your device would need a proximity sensor for this feature to work.
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5. Private Photo Vault
Once considered to be one of the best iOS private photo apps, the tool was also adjusted to fit the Android ecosystem. The app can keep your videos and photos safe, protecting them with a password. You can not only protect the contents hidden within the app, but also the individual folders within, so there’s a double layer of protection applied.
If someone insists on checking out your files, you can even hand them a decoy password so they can check out a few selected pics, all while keeping the others protected.
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4. Hide it Pro
Available for both iOS and Android, Hide it Pro which ranks 4th on our list of best apps to hide pictures and videos on Android and iPhone, allows you more than just to hide photos and videos, taking things a step further and also hiding certain apps, messages and calls.
Disguised as an Audio manager in the app drawer, the app makes it appear as if you use it to urn the volume up and down. If you log press the app, however, the actual tool will launch, letting you hide anything you want in there.
One of the key features of the app is that it allows you to back up everything to the cloud. It also features a gallery with integrated slideshow, and an integrated video player with support for many popular third-party apps, such as VLC.
With somewhere between 10 and 50 million downloads on Android, and a score of 4.5 out of over 330,000 reviews, Hide It Pro is clearly one of the best such tools on the market.
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3. Gallery Vault
Available for both operating systems, Gallery Vault offers users the option of encrypting their photos, videos, and any other files they may not want others to see. The tool hides its app icon in order to protect the users’ privacy. If you import the files into the app, they’ll be completely hidden. It even works by moving the encrypted files to the SD card to save device space.
The app has between 10 and 50 million downloads on Android, as well as a score of 4.5 stars out of over 352,000 reviews.
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2. Vault
Next up is Vault, an app that can hide pretty much anything you want it to – photos, videos, SMS, or contacts, and backup everything straight to the cloud.
The creators of the app say that there are over 100 million users worldwide, which is supported by the fact that it is the most downloaded app on our list of best apps to hide pictures and videos on Android and iPhone.. On Android alone it has between 50 and 100 million installs, and then there’s also the iOS version. What’s more, out of over 900,000 reviews on the Play Store, the app gets a 4.5 score, with over 635,000 users offering it the full 5-stars.
The tool enables you to protect photos and videos with passwords, only allowing anyone to view them once the correct password has been provided. It can also hide texts you may not want others to read, as well as contacts and call logs. It can further be used to enhance your privacy by locking out access to social, photo, call logs, and telephone apps.
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1. KeepSafe Vault
Finally, at the top of our list, we have Secret Photo Vault, a tool that has up to 50 million installs on Android. What’s more impressive is the fact that it has over 1.6 million reviews, and a score of 4.6 stars. It even has over 27,000 reviews from iOS users, which aren’t always keep on grading apps.
The success of the app comes from the fact that it provides military-grade encryption, cloud sync, and many other features. For instance, if you turn your phone face-down it will automatically lock away your hidden files. The fact that the data is backed up to the cloud also makes it easier for you to recover the files in case your phone gets stolen. If anyone ever tries to check out your locked data, it snaps a picture of the intruder.
You may also create a decoy account with a separate PIN to only uncover part of your hidden files.
That being said, these have been the 10 best apps to hide pictures and videos on Android and iPhone.
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