Vaultumi

iCloud Photos or a local encrypted vault: what each does and does not do

By Vaultumi. Published .

They solve different problems. iCloud Photos is about never losing a photo and seeing it everywhere. A local encrypted vault is about keeping a few photos away from everything, including your own library and account. Many people sensibly use both.

iCloud Photos or a local encrypted vault: what each does and does not do

Key takeaways

  • iCloud Photos is a sync and storage service. A local vault is a separate store on one device.
  • Syncing is a strength for convenience and a weakness for privacy: the photo, and anyone who can sign in as you, reach every device.
  • A local vault trades that reach for responsibility. You hold the recovery code and the backups, and no one can rescue you.
  • Using both is common: everyday photos in iCloud, a small set of sensitive ones in the vault.

What iCloud Photos is good at

iCloud Photos keeps your library in step across your iPhone, iPad, Mac and the web, and holds originals online so that a lost or broken phone does not take your pictures with it. It needs no thought once it is on, and it is the best answer to “I never want to lose a photo”.

That also defines its limits for private pictures:

  • Everything in the library syncs, including the Hidden album, which is only a visibility setting.
  • Deleting a photo on one device deletes it on the others, and it passes through Recently Deleted for about 30 days.
  • Access follows your Apple account. Anyone who gets into the account, or an unlocked device signed in to it, gets the library.
  • By default, Apple holds the keys for most iCloud data, which allows account recovery. An optional setting, Advanced Data Protection, extends end-to-end encryption to more categories, including photos. Some things stay outside it, such as shared albums and public links. With it on, Apple cannot recover that data if you lose access, so you need a recovery contact or key. Apple’s current documentation says exactly what it covers.

What a local encrypted vault is good at

A vault app keeps chosen photos in its own storage, behind its own lock, outside the Photos library. With Vaultumi each item is encrypted on your iPhone under its own key before it is stored, there is no account, no server and no analytics, and the app makes no network requests of its own (purchases go through Apple). Nothing from the vault appears in your Photos library, in shared albums or in iCloud Photos, although the encrypted files can be part of a normal iPhone backup, as below.

Honest limits go with that:

  • Nothing syncs. The vault does not appear on your Mac or iPad.
  • If the phone is lost and you have no backup, the vault is gone.
  • If you lose the PIN and the recovery code, no one can reset it, including the developer.
  • It has not been independently audited, and it cannot protect against a compromised phone or someone watching you unlock it.

Side by side

QuestioniCloud PhotosLocal encrypted vault
Main purposeSync and storageSeparation and privacy
Account neededYour Apple accountNone
Reaches other devicesYes, automaticallyNo, unless you restore a backup
Shown in the Photos gridYes (Hidden album aside)No
Rescue if you forget the lockApple account recoveryRecovery code or backup file only
If the phone is lostLibrary is onlineOnly if you made a backup

Using both without undoing the privacy

The vault only separates a photo if no other copy remains in the library. When you import:

  1. Check the photo opens in the vault.
  2. Delete the original from Photos. With iCloud Photos on, that removes it from your synced devices too.
  3. Empty Recently Deleted in Photos, which otherwise keeps the photo for about 30 days.
  4. Look at other devices and any shared albums for a copy you added earlier.

Importing a photo that is stored in iCloud makes iOS download the original first, using the network through Apple’s own services and not through Vaultumi. Vaultumi cannot securely erase copies kept elsewhere. The steps are laid out in the guide to moving photos in and out of a vault.

Backups: where the two differ most

iCloud Photos is a library you can recover from. A vault is as safe as the copies you make of it.

  • Your normal iPhone backup, to iCloud or a computer, includes the encrypted vault files, if you have those backups on. A holder of that backup has only ciphertext.
  • The device-bound key that your PIN needs is not in any backup. After a restore, the PIN does not work and you need the recovery code.
  • A Vaultumi backup file is portable and needs only its passphrase. Make one, and run the safety check that proves it opens.

The guide to backing up a photo vault walks through all three.

Which to choose

  • You want every photo safe and everywhere. iCloud Photos. Consider Advanced Data Protection and a strong Apple account password.
  • You want a few photos kept off every device and out of the library. A vault, plus a backup and a recovery code on paper.
  • You want both. Keep the library in iCloud and move the sensitive items to the vault, deleting the originals as above.
  • You distrust any cloud. Turn iCloud Photos off after making sure full-size originals are on the phone, keep a vault backup file on a drive you control, and accept that a lost phone costs you anything not backed up.

The photo vault app checklist helps you judge any vault before you trust it with something that matters.

Sources

Primary sources behind the statements about iOS and cryptography on this page. The linked pages are in English.

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