Hidlet vs Encamera: Which Encrypted Photo Vault Fits You?

Hidlet is an iPhone app

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Encamera has been on the App Store since 2022, and it starts from the camera: take a photo or video in the app and it goes straight into an encrypted vault. Hidlet has a camera like that too. So if you’re weighing the two, the question isn’t whether your photos get encrypted. It’s how the keys work, what you can show if someone presses you, and how you get back in.

This comparison puts the two side by side, using only what Encamera’s own App Store listing, website, privacy policy and blog posts say. Where its pages disagree, we say so plainly.

Checked on 25 October 2026, against Encamera 2.10.0 on the US App Store.

The short version

How each one encrypts your photos

Encamera clearly encrypts your photos, and it doesn’t hold your keys. Its FAQ says it “does not hold or have access to your encryption keys”. The keys stay in the iOS Keychain.

Which cipher it uses is less clear, because its own pages name different ones:

• Its privacy policy says files are encrypted with “industry-standard encryption (AES-256)”.
• Its website FAQ names ChaCha20-Poly1305.
• A June 2026 blog post on its key phrase says the phrase goes through Argon2 to make a 256-bit key, used with XChaCha20-Poly1305.

AES-256 and ChaCha20-Poly1305 are both widely used ciphers. The mismatch just means the pages don’t agree on which one the app uses today. In Encamera’s favor, the part that handles files and encryption, EncameraCore, is published as open source, so the code itself can be read.

The other difference is the key. Encamera uses one key for the app, made from your 10-word key phrase. Hidlet gives each vault its own:

• Each vault has its own random key.
• Every photo and video is encrypted with AES-256 before it’s saved.
• Your pattern unlocks that vault’s key on the phone and is never stored anywhere.
• Guessing is slowed on purpose, and after three wrong guesses each one adds a growing wait.

That’s what lets one pattern open one vault and another pattern open a different one. More on the pattern lock page.

Unlocking, hiding and being pressed

Encamera gives you the usual choices: Face ID, a 4- or 6-digit PIN, or a password. You can also clear the passcode and use Face ID alone.

For keeping things out of sight, Encamera has hidden albums. Recent versions let you share into a hidden album by typing its name, and keep hidden albums out of the camera’s album picker. Its pages don’t mention a decoy vault, a fake PIN or a panic code.

Hidlet is built around that moment. Different patterns open different vaults, and the app never lists them. Keep a vault of ordinary photos and open that one if someone insists. That’s the decoy vault, and it’s on the free plan. Pro adds a duress pattern that removes this phone’s access to your other vaults, while the encrypted iCloud backup stays so they can be restored. Read how hidden vaults stay out of sight.

Hidlet has no Face ID and no PIN. You draw your pattern every time, and the app locks the moment you leave it.

Backup, new phones and forgotten codes

Encamera lets you choose, album by album, whether files stay on the phone or go to your own iCloud. iCloud storage is a Premium feature; the privacy policy says it uses Apple’s CloudKit in your iCloud account and the files are encrypted. The developer says your photos and videos never go to its servers.

Your key is backed up separately. In Settings, Backup Key Phrase shows the 10 words that recreate it, and you can also save the key to iCloud Keychain. On a new phone, you restore the key from the phrase or from iCloud Keychain, and the developer notes your images have to transfer over too. Without the phrase, the developer says, “there’s no back door”. It doesn’t say what happens if you forget only your PIN.

Hidlet works like this:

• Backup: each vault is encrypted on the phone, then saved to your own iCloud. Neither Apple nor we can open it. It’s free.
• New phone: install Hidlet and draw your pattern. This works when iCloud Keychain is on; if it’s off, your recovery phrase restores the vault instead.
• Forgot your pattern: enter the 9-word recovery phrase and set a new pattern, free.

Lose both the pattern and the phrase, and nobody can open the vault, including us. More in encrypted backup.

Ads and your data

Neither app shows ads or asks for an account. Encamera’s listing says “Ad-Free & No Data Tracking”, and you don’t need to sign up or give an email.

Encamera does collect some anonymous data. Its App Privacy label lists usage data for analytics, not linked to you. Its privacy policy says it runs anonymous usage analytics on a self-hosted Piwik server with a random user ID, and uses RevenueCat for subscriptions.

Hidlet includes no analytics or tracking code at all. There’s nothing to sign up for and nothing tying your vaults to your name.

Where Encamera is better

Encamera has real strengths:

• A longer track record: updates since 2022 and more than 140 ratings.
• More ways to unlock: Face ID, a PIN or a password, if you don’t want to learn a pattern.
• More devices: iPhone, iPad and Apple Vision today.
• Camera-first: photos, videos and Live Photos, plus a lock-screen widget for quick capture.
• Disguise: you can switch the app icon to a calculator, clock or other plain icon.
• Open code: its encryption core is published, so it can be checked.
• A one-time option: a lifetime purchase if you’d rather not subscribe.

Hidlet’s limits are worth knowing too. It runs on iPhone and iPad (sync between them needs Pro), it has no Face ID, disguise icons need Pro, and the free plan holds 3 vaults with up to 100 photos and 10 videos in each.

The bottom line

Encamera is a mature, camera-first vault that encrypts your photos, runs on more devices and gives you familiar ways to unlock. Its pages name different ciphers, it uses one key for the app, and it doesn’t mention a decoy vault. If you want a separate key for each vault, a decoy on the free plan and no analytics, Hidlet is built for that.

Hidlet is available on the App Store.