For your eyes only
Move private photos and videos out of your camera roll and into your vault.
Hand over your phone without a second thought
A private vault on your iPhone for photos, videos, files and notes. It opens with your own pattern, not your passcode.
Coming soon to the App Store- Free for one vault
- No account
- Encrypted on your phone
Some things are nobody’s business. Give them a place of their own.
Show one photo, not your whole camera roll. When a friend swipes or a child grabs your phone, what’s private stays locked behind your own pattern.
IDs, notes and files
Keep your passport, insurance cards, account numbers and PDFs ready to open at the doctor’s or the airport.
Set up in three steps. None of them asks who you are.
Connect at least 6 dots on a 5 by 5 grid, then draw the pattern again. Prefer typing? Use a passphrase.
These 12 words are your recovery phrase. The app asks for 3 of them, so you know your paper is right.
Import from Photos or Files, take photos in the app, or write a note.
Get a new iPhone. Your vault comes with you.
A new phone shouldn’t mean starting over.
Your 12 words get you back in
Type the 12 words you wrote down at setup, then choose a new pattern. There’s no email reset, because there’s no email.
30 days to undo a delete
Recently deleted keeps files for 30 days, free.
Lose both your pattern and your 12 words, and nobody can open your vault, not even us.
Nothing shows when you switch apps. Your vault locks the moment you leave.
A plain cover in the app switcher
Leave the app, even for a second, and a plain cover hides the screen.
A camera that skips Photos
Take photos and videos inside Underlock. Nothing goes to your camera roll.
We never receive your files. So there’s nothing for us to see.
- Encrypted on your phone before it’s saved.
- We never receive your files, your pattern or your keys.
- No account, no email, no analytics.
How we compare. Where another app does as well, we say so.
We compared Underlock with Apple’s Hidden album and the two vault apps with the most ratings on the US App Store.
| Feature | Underlock | iPhone Hidden album | Keepsafe | Private Photo Vault |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Its own lock, not your phone passcode | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| No account, no email | Yes | Yes | No | Account needed for backup |
| Nobody can reset your lock by email | Yes | No lock of its own | No | No |
| No analytics | Yes | Not stated | No | No |
| Free with no limit on files | Yes | Yes | Not stated | Not stated |
| Undo a delete for 30 days, free | Yes | Yes | Paid | Not stated |
What Underlock can’t do. Better you hear it from us.
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Spyware or a hacked phone can see an open vault.
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Someone can photograph your screen with another phone. Anything you share or export has left the vault.
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Forget both your pattern and your 12 words, and nobody can get your files back.
Questions people ask. Straight answers.
No. Your photos, videos, files and notes are encrypted on your phone before they’re saved. We never receive your files, your pattern or your keys. There’s no account, so we don’t have your name or email either, unless you write to us.
Your iPhone’s own backup can bring your vault to a new iPhone, where your recovery phrase opens the vault. With no backup at all, a lost phone means lost files.
Tap “Forgot your pattern?” on the pattern screen. Type the 12 words you wrote down at setup, then choose a new pattern. There’s no email reset, because there’s no email. If you lose both your pattern and your recovery phrase, nobody can open your vault, not even us.
It’s a good start, and it’s built in. But Apple says the Hidden album opens with Face ID, Touch ID or your iPhone passcode, so anyone who knows your passcode can open it. And unless you turn on Apple’s Advanced Data Protection, Apple holds the keys to your iCloud Photos. Underlock has its own pattern, separate from your passcode.
Yes, if they look. The name Underlock shows under the app’s icon on your Home Screen, and iOS lists the app in Settings and iPhone Storage. Without your pattern, though, they see the pattern screen and nothing else: no vault names, no list, no count.
Yes, for one vault, with no file limit. Free includes encryption on your phone, the recovery phrase and Recently deleted. Pro adds more vaults, a decoy pattern, more app icons, a way to see who tried to open your vault, and a Lock Screen camera.
Private photos stay private. And stay yours.
Free for one vault, with no file limit. No account, no email.
For iPhone with iOS 17 or later.
Coming soon to the App Store