Photok vs Privately

Photok is an Android vault for keeping private photos and videos away from ordinary view. Imported media can be organized into albums and exported, while files are encrypted locally with AES-256 and decrypted only in memory during use. Cloud upload is not required. Users can unlock with a fingerprint, share directly into the vault, hide the app icon, and delete originals after import. Encrypted backups can be created and restored. Photok is open source under the Apache 2.0 License and is developed by Leon Latsch and public volunteers. Downloads are listed for Google Play, F-Droid, and other alternatives. The maker describes the core app as identical across Google Play and FOSS variants, but telemetry defaults differ: enabled by default in Google Play and disabled by default in FOSS. The FOSS plan costs nothing; Photok Pro is an optional Google Play add-on with no listed price.

Privately is an iPhone vault for photos and videos, with media encrypted on the device. It splits files into 1 MB blocks protected by AES-256-GCM, while the user’s PIN wraps a master key stored in the iPhone Secure Enclave. Albums can have separate passwords, and their locked photos disappear from the timeline, search, and favorites; Face ID unlocking is optional. On-device Smart Search can find text in photos in 18 languages without sending the photos off the iPhone. Users can export a.privately backup and restore it on a new device with their PIN; the maker says backups can be kept in iCloud Drive or elsewhere. The maker says it has no accounts or servers holding photos, file names, or thumbnails. The Free plan costs nothing, with no sign-up required. Pro Yearly costs $39.99 a year and includes locked albums and encrypted backups. The yearly subscription has a 7-day free trial; the weekly subscription has no free trial. The app is only for iPhone and requires iOS 18.0 or later. The maker says forgotten PIN access or losing a device without a backup can mean permanent content loss.