Calculator# Hide Photos Videos review

Verdict: Calculator# does the disguise part well — it looks and behaves like a calculator — and it is inexpensive, with cloud backup to the services most people already use. But its App Store listing never says the files are encrypted, and lost passwords can be recovered by email. That makes it a good hiding place against a casual glance and a weak one against anyone determined.

Which app this is

Search "calculator vault" on the App Store and you will find dozens of near-identical apps. For this review we picked the most prominent one on the US store at the time of writing: Calculator# Hide Photos Videos, developed by NewSoftwares.net (the same company behind Folder Lock). It had far more ratings than the other calculator vaults we checked.

What it does well

The disguise. Looks and works like a calculator. To someone scrolling your Home Screen, it is just a calculator. There is also a "Disguise Mode": No decoy vault listed; 'Disguise Mode' shows a fake error message.

Backup. Backup to iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive. Many vault apps offer no backup at all; this one plugs into the cloud you probably already use.

Camera. Take photos and videos inside the app, so photos do not have to pass through the Camera Roll.

Platforms. iOS, iPadOS, macOS (Apple silicon), visionOS.

Price. On the US App Store: US App Store IAPs: Yearly Subscription $4.99, Premium Features Pack $4.99. That is cheap for the category.

Limitations

No documented encryption. The App Store listing does not describe how stored files are protected. We do not claim the files are unencrypted — we simply cannot find the vendor saying they are encrypted, and for a privacy app that is the first thing it should say. Our guide are calculator vault apps safe? explains why this matters.

Email recovery. Lost password recovery through your registered email. Convenient if you forget your code, but it means access is not bound only to something in your head. Anyone who controls your email may have a path in.

Backup copies. Backups go to third-party clouds. The listing does not say whether they are encrypted before upload, so treat them as potentially readable by anyone with access to that cloud account.

Ads and limits on free. Free with ads and limitations.

Disguise is not deniability. Once someone knows it is a vault — and calculator vaults are well known — the disguise has done its job and has nothing more to give. There are no hidden vaults that cannot be counted and nothing that keeps other vaults out of sight once it is open. Compare multiple hidden vaults.

Privacy model

A disguised front, a numeric code, an email-linked recovery path and optional cloud backup. This is a model built around not being noticed. It does not claim to make the contents unreadable to someone who gets past the front or gets hold of the files.

If you keep using Calculator#

• Secure the email account used for password recovery with a strong password and two-factor authentication, since it can restore access.
• Use a long code, not a short, guessable number.
• Check your cloud backups. Look at what Calculator# has uploaded to your cloud account and whether you want those copies to exist.
• Delete originals from Photos and empty Recently Deleted after importing — see how to delete Recently Deleted photos.
• Remove location data before importing, with our EXIF remover.

How we rated it

We score vaults on four things, in this order: whether the contents are protected by a secret only you hold, how much the app knows about you (account, server, cloud), how well it handles pressure (decoys, hidden vaults, duress), and value for money. Facts come from the app's US App Store listing, checked on October 30, 2026; anything the vendor does not state is left out rather than assumed. We make a competing app, sigil., so we try to be explicit about where our view could be biased and generous where a competitor is simply better.

Who it is for

• People who mainly want an app that does not look like a vault.
• People on a tight budget who want cloud backup.
• Low-stakes privacy: keeping photos away from a sibling or a curious friend.

Who should look elsewhere

• Anyone who needs the files encrypted with a key only they hold.
• Anyone who does not want access tied to an email account.
• Anyone who might be asked to open the app under pressure.

If you want a low profile but also documented encryption, sigil. offers a neutral utility icon on top of encrypted vaults. It doesn't pretend to be a calculator; the protection is the encryption. See Calculator# vs sigil., and for hiding any app, how to hide apps on iPhone.