Hidlet vs Keepsafe: Who Can Open Your Encrypted Photos?

Hidlet is an iPhone app

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Keepsafe has been on the App Store since 2012 and has more than 385,000 ratings. It’s one of the names people know when they look for a place to hide photos, and it does a lot well: encryption, cloud sync, shared albums and break-in tracking.

So if both Keepsafe and Hidlet encrypt your photos, the real question is who else can open them, and what you need to get back in. This page compares the two using only what Keepsafe’s own App Store listing, website, help center and privacy policy say.

Checked on 25 October 2026, against Keepsafe 13.34.0 on the US App Store.

The short version

Who holds the key

Keepsafe is clear that it encrypts. Its help center says files are “protected using the industry-standard 256-bit AES encryption”, and its site says AES-256 “on the device and in your private backup.” That’s a real point in its favor.

It’s just as clear about the limit. In its own words, Keepsafe “is not currently designed as a completely zero-knowledge app.” The same article says Keepsafe can technically view content in a few cases: when you ask for support, when the law requires it, or over terms-of-service concerns. Keepsafe doesn’t say how its keys are made or held.

Hidlet is designed so that we can’t open your vaults at all:

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

There’s no account, and we can’t open your vaults. More on that on the pattern lock page.

Accounts, backup and new phones

Keepsafe uses an account. Logging in on a new device uses an access code sent to your account email.

With backup turned on, your files go to “your own private Keepsafe cloud”, encrypted, and sync across devices signed in to the same account. On Basic, only 200 items sync and can be restored; Premium raises that to 10,000. Moving to a new phone means signing in to the same account with backup on.

Hidlet keeps both the backup and the key on your side:

• 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.

See encrypted backup and Move Your Photo Vault to a New iPhone for the details.

When you forget your code

Keepsafe’s answer is your email. If you forget your PIN, you reset it with an access code sent to your verified address. Keepsafe asks you to keep that email “correct, verified, and up-to-date”.

In Hidlet, the 9-word recovery phrase opens the vault and lets you set a new pattern, free, with no email or support ticket involved. The trade-off is real: lose both the pattern and the phrase, and nobody can open the vault, including us.

Decoys, ads and your data

Keepsafe Premium can track break-in attempts, and its Album Lock gives single albums their own PIN. Its listing and site don’t describe a decoy vault. Hidlet doesn’t alert you to break-in attempts or take intruder photos. Its decoy vault is built into how vaults work: every pattern opens its own vault, the app never lists them, and any vault can be the decoy in the free plan.

Keepsafe Basic is ad-supported; Premium is ad-free. Its privacy policy says “We process personal information for targeted advertising purposes”, and the App Store privacy label lists usage data as used to track you.

Hidlet has no ads, and it includes no analytics or tracking code. There’s no account, so nothing ties your vaults to your name.

Where Keepsafe is better

Keepsafe has real strengths:

• Automatic cloud sync across devices signed in to your account, and an Android app too.
• Easy sharing: shared albums you invite friends to, and Safe Send for time-limited sharing. In Hidlet, creating shared vaults needs Pro.
• More ways to unlock: PIN or pattern, with Face ID or fingerprint.
• Break-in tracking, on Premium.

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

The bottom line

Keepsafe is a polished, well-known vault that encrypts your photos and syncs them for you. The price of that convenience is an account tied to your email, ads on the free plan, and a company that says it can view content in some cases. If you want a vault that only your pattern or recovery phrase can open, with no account and no ads, Hidlet is built for exactly that.

Hidlet is available on the App Store.