PhotoGuard vs Valv

PhotoGuard is an Android photo vault for hiding private photos and videos. The vault can be secured with a PIN, pattern, password, or fingerprint, and individual albums can have their own passwords. The maker says hidden files are encrypted on the device rather than uploaded to a server. A secret camera saves photos directly into the vault with encryption applied as they are taken. For privacy, Fake Vault opens a decoy space with a separate PIN, and Quick Exit closes the vault when the home button is pressed. Break-In Alerts record the time of a failed unlock and take a photo. Trash Recovery temporarily holds deleted files for restoration, and the maker says the vault can be restored automatically after accidental uninstallation. Private Cloud provides automatic backup and sync with unlimited space across devices running PhotoGuard; the privacy policy identifies cloud storage as a premium feature. The free download is free and includes ads and in-app purchases.

Valv is a free Android gallery vault for storing photos, GIFs, videos, and text files in encrypted form on a device. Files can be arranged into folders, with notes or text attached, and separate vaults can use different passwords. Access supports a password or PIN; one vault can also be unlocked with fingerprint or face authentication. Valv uses ChaCha20 encryption and derives keys with PBKDF2 and HMAC-SHA512. PBKDF2 uses 50,000 iterations by default, and that count can be changed. Encrypted files remain on local storage, supporting backups and transfers between devices, but cloud backup is not available. The project README says the app requires no permissions, while Google Play declares no data collected and no data shared with third parties. Valv requires Android 9.0 or newer and is listed at free. It is distributed through Google Play, F-Droid, and a GitHub APK, under GPL-3.0-only.