sigil. vs Hide it Pro

Short answer: choose Hide it Pro if you are on Android, or if you want an app that hides behind a convincing disguise, with cloud backup and a way to reset a lost password. Choose sigil. if you are on iPhone and want every vault encrypted with a key that only your sign unlocks, with no account and no server.

Hide it Pro started on Android, where it is known for passing itself off as a working utility; the iPhone app comes from the same developer. Its strength is hiding that a vault exists at all. sigil. focuses on what happens after someone finds it: the content is encrypted, and only your sign opens it.

sigil.

Hide it Pro

Price

Free · Pro €39.99 once or €19.99/yriOS IAPs: Cloud Storage $9.99, Password Reset $4.99; Android free with ads and IAPs

Lifetime option

€39.99 once, no subscription—

Free tier

100 photos and documents + 10 videos per vault, 1 vault + decoy vaultFree core app on iOS and Android

Account required

No account at all—

Encryption

256-bit encryption; key unlocked by your sign (Argon2id, bound to the secure chip)Android: built-in tool to encrypt selected files; iOS listing makes no encryption claim

Zero-knowledge

Yes — no server, we never see anything—

Multiple vaults

Up to 7 vaults with Pro, one sign each; the app never lists themMultiple albums behind one lock

Decoy vault

Free: a decoy pattern opens a decoy vault with harmless photos and erases nothingEscape unlock code makes the app look empty

Disguised icon

Neutral utility icons that don't say vault.Android: disguised as a working 'Audio Manager'; iOS: fake crash screen

Private camera

Photos never touch the Camera RollAdd photos directly from the camera

EXIF / location removal

Location/EXIF stripped on import and export—

Cloud sync

No — local-first, no cloud backup yetCloud backup; unlimited space by monthly subscription (iOS)

Unlock

Only the sign you draw — no Face ID or Touch ID, by designPIN, password, pattern, fingerprint (Android)

Break-in alerts

No intruder photos; optional self-destruct after too many wrong signs—

Platforms

iPhone onlyAndroid, iPhone, iPad

sigil. compared with Hide it Pro

Feature	sigil.	Hide it Pro
Price	Free · Pro €39.99 once or €19.99/yr	iOS IAPs: Cloud Storage $9.99, Password Reset $4.99; Android free with ads and IAPs
Lifetime option	€39.99 once, no subscription	—
Free tier	100 photos and documents + 10 videos per vault, 1 vault + decoy vault	Free core app on iOS and Android
Account required	No account at all	—
Encryption	256-bit encryption; key unlocked by your sign (Argon2id, bound to the secure chip)	Android: built-in tool to encrypt selected files; iOS listing makes no encryption claim
Zero-knowledge	Yes — no server, we never see anything	—
Multiple vaults	Up to 7 vaults with Pro, one sign each; the app never lists them	Multiple albums behind one lock
Decoy vault	Free: a decoy pattern opens a decoy vault with harmless photos and erases nothing	Escape unlock code makes the app look empty
Disguised icon	Neutral utility icons that don't say vault.	Android: disguised as a working 'Audio Manager'; iOS: fake crash screen
Private camera	Photos never touch the Camera Roll	Add photos directly from the camera
EXIF / location removal	Location/EXIF stripped on import and export	—
Cloud sync	No — local-first, no cloud backup yet	Cloud backup; unlimited space by monthly subscription (iOS)
Unlock	Only the sign you draw — no Face ID or Touch ID, by design	PIN, password, pattern, fingerprint (Android)
Break-in alerts	No intruder photos; optional self-destruct after too many wrong signs	—
Platforms	iPhone only	Android, iPhone, iPad

Security model

On encryption, the two Hide it Pro listings say different things: Android: built-in tool to encrypt selected files; iOS listing makes no encryption claim. So on Android you can choose to encrypt some files; on iPhone, the listing doesn't tell us how files are stored. Unlock options, per the developer: PIN, password, pattern, fingerprint (Android).

That makes Hide it Pro mostly a hiding tool. Disguise works well against a casual look. It helps less against someone who already knows the app is there, which is where encryption matters. See are calculator vault apps safe? for the general argument.

In sigil., everything in a vault is encrypted. You draw a sign on a 5×5 grid; the sign goes through Argon2id, is bound to the phone's secure chip, and unlocks the 256-bit key that decrypts that vault. A wrong sign unlocks nothing. More in pattern encryption.

sigil. has no Face ID, Touch ID or fingerprint unlock, by design: a finger or a face can be forced onto the phone, a sign can't.

Privacy

The Hide it Pro listings we checked don't say whether an account is required, and we could not find an App Store privacy label to quote, so we leave those cells empty in the table. Its cloud backup implies that, if you use it, copies of your files leave the phone: Cloud backup; unlimited space by monthly subscription (iOS).

sigil. has no account, no email and no server. Nothing leaves the phone unless you export it. The app sends no usage statistics. Nobody has the key, not even us.

Features

Disguise. This is Hide it Pro's signature: Android: disguised as a working 'Audio Manager'; iOS: fake crash screen. sigil. offers a free disguised icon: a neutral icon that doesn't say vault. It doesn't pretend to be another working app.

Decoy vault. Hide it Pro: Escape unlock code makes the app look empty. The sigil. decoy vault opens with its own decoy pattern and shows content you chose, while your other vaults stay hidden. It is free.

Multiple vaults. Hide it Pro: Multiple albums behind one lock. In sigil., each sign opens its own vault and the app never lists them, so opening one reveals nothing about the others (multiple hidden vaults).

Camera. Hide it Pro: Add photos directly from the camera. sigil.'s private camera writes straight into the encrypted vault; the photo never touches the Camera Roll.

Break-in alerts. sigil. doesn't take intruder photos. It has an optional self-destruct, free and off by default, that erases the vaults after too many wrong signs. We could not verify intruder photos in Hide it Pro's listings.

Metadata. sigil. strips EXIF and location on import and export (photo metadata viewer).

Price

Hide it Pro: iOS IAPs: Cloud Storage $9.99, Password Reset $4.99; Android free with ads and IAPs. Free version: Free core app on iOS and Android.

sigil. is free with every feature included (decoy vault, self-destruct, disguised icon): 100 photos and documents plus 10 videos per vault, one vault plus the decoy vault. Pro lifts the photo and video limits and gives you up to 7 vaults, each opened by its own pattern: €39.99 once, lifetime, no subscription, or €19.99 per year. No free trial and no monthly plan. Over the free limit nothing is locked; you just can't add more. See pricing.

Where Hide it Pro is better

• Android. Hide it Pro runs on Android, iPhone, iPad. sigil. is iPhone-only today, Android planned with no date.
• Disguise. On Android, its fake utility is more thorough than a neutral icon.
• Cloud backup. Hide it Pro offers one; sigil. has no cloud backup yet. Read how to securely back up private photos.
• Password reset. A lost password can be reset as a paid option. sigil. cannot reset anything; without the recovery phrase a forgotten sign means a lost vault.
• User base. 1.28M ratings on Google Play; 25K on the US App Store. sigil. is new.

How to switch from Hide it Pro to sigil.

On iPhone:

1. In Hide it Pro, select the items you want to move and export them to the Photos library.
2. Install sigil., draw your sign and write the recovery phrase on paper.
3. Import the items into a vault. Location and EXIF data are stripped on import.
4. Open a few items in sigil. to check them.
5. Delete the exported copies from Photos and empty Recently Deleted (how to delete Recently Deleted photos).
6. Once everything is in place, delete the items from Hide it Pro and any cloud backup you made with it.

If you use Hide it Pro on Android, sigil. isn't an option on that phone yet. Switching would mean moving to an iPhone; otherwise, stay where you are for now.

Verdict

Hide it Pro is very good at not looking like a vault, and it covers Android, cloud backup and password resets. Its listings say less about encryption, especially on iPhone. sigil. takes the opposite approach: a neutral icon, and encryption that holds even if someone knows the app is there. If you're on iPhone and what you store matters — documents, IDs, medical photos — sigil. is the stronger fit. If you need Android today, Hide it Pro is the one that runs there.