Hidlet vs Vaultaire: Same Lock, Different Privacy Choices

Hidlet is an iPhone app

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If you’re choosing between Hidlet and Vaultaire, you’re choosing between two apps built on the same idea. Both turn a pattern you draw into the key that opens one vault. Both encrypt every file on your iPhone, and neither asks for an account. Different patterns open different vaults, and neither app ever lists them.

So the encryption won’t decide this for you. What will is everything around it: what each app sends about you, how backup and sharing work, which extras you get and how you pay. This page uses only what Vaultaire’s own App Store listing, website and privacy policy say, and Hidlet’s own listing and documentation.

Checked on 9 November 2026, against Vaultaire 1.1.2 and Hidlet on the US App Store.

The short version

The same lock on both

On security, the two are close to identical. Vaultaire’s pattern page describes a 5×5 grid, a path of at least 6 dots with at least one turn, and a key made from that path with PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA512 at 600,000 rounds. That key unlocks a random master key, which encrypts your files with AES-256-GCM. Each vault also gets a 9-word recovery phrase in case you forget the pattern.

Hidlet works the same way:

• You draw a pattern on a 5×5 grid, and the pattern is never stored.
• It becomes a key through PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA512 at 600,000 rounds.
• That key unlocks the vault’s own random key, and every file is encrypted with AES-256-GCM.
• Each vault has a 9-word recovery phrase.

Hidlet also makes you wait after wrong guesses: after three wrong patterns in a row, each new try waits longer, up to 15 minutes. Vaultaire’s pages don’t mention a wait either way. More on the pattern lock page.

Both apps treat a decoy the same way too. Any vault can be the harmless one you open when someone insists, and both offer a duress pattern with Pro that removes your other vaults from the phone while leaving the encrypted iCloud backup alone. See the decoy vault.

What each app sends about you

This is the biggest difference, and it’s easy to miss.

Vaultaire’s privacy policy says app analytics and crash reports are switched on by default. They go to PostHog and carry product events, performance data and errors. The policy says vault contents, patterns and recovery phrases are left out, though crash reports can include file names. While the setting is on, the app also checks with Apple whether you installed it from an ad. You can turn all of this off in Settings with “Share errors anonymously”. Its App Store privacy label lists contact info and user content as linked to you, and usage data and diagnostics as not linked. Its feedback form can store your email if you add one.

Hidlet has no analytics, crash-report or advertising code in the app. Its App Store privacy label says “Data Not Collected”. The app sends no usage or crash reports, so there’s no setting to look for.

Neither app sees your photos. The difference is whether the app reports on how it’s used.

Backup and sharing

Vaultaire turns encrypted iCloud backup on from the start, for free and Pro alike. Your vault is encrypted on the phone, and the backup goes to your private iCloud. That’s a good default: the most common way to lose a vault is changing phones without a backup.

Hidlet’s encrypted backup is also free and also encrypted on the phone before it reaches your iCloud, but it stays off until you turn it on, so nothing leaves the phone unless you choose. Once it’s on, Hidlet keeps a daily version of each vault, and you can pick the day to restore. Vaultaire’s backup keeps restorable versions too. On a new iPhone, install Hidlet and draw your pattern; this needs iCloud Keychain on, and your recovery phrase restores the vault if it’s off.

Sharing works much the same way, with one difference in where the files live. Vaultaire makes a separate encrypted share for each person, each opened with its own one-time phrase. You can set an end date, a limit on opens and rules on exporting and screenshots, and revoke each share. Its privacy policy notes that the shared copy sits in Apple’s public CloudKit database under a name made from the phrase, so someone who collects those records could try guessing phrases offline.

Hidlet’s shared vaults also give each person their own one-time phrase, end date, open limit and saving rules, and you can remove anyone on their own. The files stay in your own iCloud, shared through Apple’s iCloud sharing, encrypted on your phone first. In both apps, these limits are rules the app follows, not encryption.

Extras, plans and price

Hidlet adds a set of privacy tools Vaultaire’s listing and feature pages don’t mention:

• Burn after viewing: a photo, video or note deletes itself after one look, or after an hour, a day or a week, and it’s gone from backup versions too.
• Time capsule folders: a folder stays shut until a date you choose, and changing the clock doesn’t open it early.
• Wrong-pattern log: the times someone tried a wrong pattern.
• Dark camera and a photo details remover that strips location and device details before you share.
• Hidden from the app switcher, and the whole app shows an empty screen in screenshots and recordings. Vaultaire describes a best-effort shield on its pattern screen.

Most of these need Pro. Both apps have a camera that saves straight into the vault, notes and folders, and both offer a slideshow with Pro.

The plans line up closely. Vaultaire’s free plan holds 3 vaults with 100 photos and 10 videos in total. Hidlet’s holds 3 vaults with up to 100 photos and 10 videos in each. Pro costs the same on both on the US App Store: $1.99 a week, $19.99 a year or $39.99 once. Vaultaire’s yearly plan has a 7-day free trial, and Hidlet’s yearly plan has a free trial for new subscribers.

Where Vaultaire is better

Vaultaire has real advantages:

• A longer track record: it has been on the App Store longer, has 4.7 stars from 63 ratings on the US store, and gets frequent updates.
• Backup on from day one: fewer people lose their vault by forgetting to switch it on.
• More ways to pay: a $5.99 monthly plan, and family plans ($49.99 a year or $99.99 once) shared through Apple’s Family Sharing.
• Detailed security pages: most of its feature pages explain how the feature works and where its protection stops.

Hidlet’s limits are worth knowing too. It’s a newer app with few ratings so far, backup is off until you turn it on, and there’s no Face ID: it opens with your pattern only.

The bottom line

Hidlet and Vaultaire share the same lock: a 5×5 pattern, AES-256-GCM, a recovery phrase and no account. Vaultaire suits you if you want an app with a track record, backup on from the start and monthly or family plans. Hidlet suits you if you’d rather use an app that sends no analytics at all, and want extras like burn after viewing, time capsules and a log of wrong patterns.

Hidlet is available on the App Store.