sigil. vs Vaulty

Short answer: choose Vaulty if you use Android, want a free app with ads, and value automatic backup to your own Google Drive more than encryption. Choose sigil. if you are on iPhone and want your photos and documents actually encrypted on the phone, with no account and no server involved.

The two apps solve different problems. Vaulty hides files from the gallery. sigil. turns them into data that is unreadable without your sign. They also live on different platforms today: Vaulty on Android, sigil. on iPhone.

sigil.

Vaulty

Price

Free · Pro €39.99 once or €19.99/yrFree with ads; in-app purchases on Google Play

Lifetime option

€39.99 once, no subscription—

Free tier

100 photos and documents + 10 videos per vault, 1 vault + decoy vaultFree, including online backup to your Google Drive

Account required

No account at allNo Vaulty account; backup uses your Google account

Encryption

256-bit encryption; key unlocked by your sign (Argon2id, bound to the secure chip)Files are renamed and marked; Vaulty says "This isn't encryption"

Zero-knowledge

Yes — no server, we never see anythingFiles never sent to Vaulty's servers (vendor-stated)

Multiple vaults

Up to 7 vaults with Pro, one sign each; the app never lists themMultiple vaults, each with its own password

Decoy vault

Free: a decoy pattern opens a decoy vault with harmless photos and erases nothingDecoy vault with a separate PIN

Disguised icon

Neutral utility icons that don't say vault.Disguise as a working calculator or stocks app

Private camera

Photos never touch the Camera RollPrivate camera

EXIF / location removal

Location/EXIF stripped on import and export—

Cloud sync

No — local-first, no cloud backup yetFree automatic backup and sync via your Google Drive

Unlock

Only the sign you draw — no Face ID or Touch ID, by designPIN or text password; fingerprint or face on supported devices

Break-in alerts

No intruder photos; optional self-destruct after too many wrong signsMugshot: photo of whoever enters a wrong password

Platforms

iPhone onlyAndroid (iOS 'coming soon' per vendor)

sigil. compared with Vaulty

Feature	sigil.	Vaulty
Price	Free · Pro €39.99 once or €19.99/yr	Free with ads; in-app purchases on Google Play
Lifetime option	€39.99 once, no subscription	—
Free tier	100 photos and documents + 10 videos per vault, 1 vault + decoy vault	Free, including online backup to your Google Drive
Account required	No account at all	No Vaulty account; backup uses your Google account
Encryption	256-bit encryption; key unlocked by your sign (Argon2id, bound to the secure chip)	Files are renamed and marked; Vaulty says "This isn't encryption"
Zero-knowledge	Yes — no server, we never see anything	Files never sent to Vaulty's servers (vendor-stated)
Multiple vaults	Up to 7 vaults with Pro, one sign each; the app never lists them	Multiple vaults, each with its own password
Decoy vault	Free: a decoy pattern opens a decoy vault with harmless photos and erases nothing	Decoy vault with a separate PIN
Disguised icon	Neutral utility icons that don't say vault.	Disguise as a working calculator or stocks app
Private camera	Photos never touch the Camera Roll	Private camera
EXIF / location removal	Location/EXIF stripped on import and export	—
Cloud sync	No — local-first, no cloud backup yet	Free automatic backup and sync via your Google Drive
Unlock	Only the sign you draw — no Face ID or Touch ID, by design	PIN or text password; fingerprint or face on supported devices
Break-in alerts	No intruder photos; optional self-destruct after too many wrong signs	Mugshot: photo of whoever enters a wrong password
Platforms	iPhone only	Android (iOS 'coming soon' per vendor)

Security model

Vaulty is unusually candid about how it works. Its own help page describes the mechanism this way: Files are renamed and marked; Vaulty says "This isn't encryption". The files are hidden from the gallery and other apps, behind the app's lock: PIN or text password; fingerprint or face on supported devices. That keeps a casual browser out of your pictures. It does not protect the files from someone who connects the phone to a computer or uses a file manager that ignores the markers.

sigil. starts from the opposite assumption: the file itself has to be unreadable. You draw a sign on a 5×5 dot grid. That sign goes through Argon2id and is bound to the phone's secure chip, and only then does it unlock the 256-bit key that decrypts the vault. A wrong sign is not checked against a stored value; it simply unlocks nothing. The details are on the pattern encryption page, and pattern lock vs PIN vs password explains why a sign is a reasonable secret.

If you have used "hider" apps before, are calculator vault apps safe? covers the difference between hiding and encrypting in more depth.

Privacy

Vaulty does not ask you to create an account of its own: No Vaulty account; backup uses your Google account. On where your files go, the developer says: Files never sent to Vaulty's servers (vendor-stated). Backups, when you turn them on, sit in your Google Drive, under your Google account.

sigil. has no account and no server. Nothing about you or your vaults is sent anywhere, and there is no cloud copy. We do not know who you are or how many vaults you keep. Nobody has the key, not even us.

Features

Decoy vault. Vaulty offers a Decoy vault with a separate PIN. sigil. has a free decoy vault, opened by its own decoy pattern, while your other vaults stay hidden.

Multiple vaults. Vaulty: Multiple vaults, each with its own password. In sigil. each sign opens its own vault, and the app never shows a list, so nobody can tell how many exist (multiple hidden vaults).

Disguised icon. Vaulty can Disguise as a working calculator or stocks app. sigil. can show a neutral icon that doesn't say vault (disguised icon).

Camera. Vaulty lists a Private camera. sigil.'s private camera writes straight into the encrypted vault, so the photo never touches the Camera Roll.

Wrong attempts. Vaulty's approach: Mugshot: photo of whoever enters a wrong password. sigil. takes no intruder photos. Instead there is an optional self-destruct, off by default, that erases the vaults after too many wrong signs.

Unlock. Vaulty accepts biometrics on supported phones. sigil. has no Face ID or Touch ID, by design: a face or a finger can be pressed against a phone without your consent, a sign cannot.

Price

Vaulty on Google Play: Free with ads; in-app purchases on Google Play. Its free version: Free, including online backup to your Google Drive.

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 Vaulty is better

• Android. Vaulty runs on Android (iOS 'coming soon' per vendor). sigil. is iPhone-only today; Android is planned, with no date.
• Backup. Free automatic backup and sync via your Google Drive. sigil. has no cloud backup yet: lose the phone without your own copy and the vaults go with it. Read how to securely back up private photos.
• Cost. Vaulty's core features are free with ads, while sigil. asks for Pro once you outgrow the free tier.
• User base. Vaulty has been around for years, with 408K ratings on Google Play. sigil. is new.

How to switch from Vaulty to sigil.

This only applies if you are moving from Android to an iPhone, because sigil. does not run on Android yet.

1. In Vaulty, unhide the files you want to keep so they return to the regular gallery.
2. Copy them to the iPhone, for example with a cable to a computer. Avoid cloud services if you can.
3. On the iPhone, install sigil., draw a sign and write the 12-word recovery phrase on paper.
4. Import the files into your vault. sigil. strips location and EXIF data on import. Check that a few of them open.
5. Delete the copies from Photos, then empty Recently Deleted (how to delete Recently Deleted photos). Delete the copies on the computer and on the old phone too.

Verdict

Vaulty is a long-standing, free Android app that keeps files out of the gallery and backs them up to your Google Drive. It says openly that it does not encrypt them. sigil. encrypts everything on the phone, asks for no account, and adds a decoy vault and hidden vaults nobody can count, but it is iPhone-only and has no cloud backup yet. If you are on Android today, sigil. is not an option. If you are on iPhone, or moving to one, and want the files themselves protected, sigil. is the closer fit.

For other options, see the best private photo vault apps for iPhone.