Google Photos Locked Folder compared with Vaultopaz
Google Photos Locked Folder suits people who already use Google Photos and want sensitive photos out of the grid, opened with the phone's screen lock and backed up to their Google Account if they choose. Vaultopaz suits people who want a lock of its own instead of the screen lock, separate vaults for separate patterns, and no account.
The short version
Google Photos Locked Folder is a section of the Google Photos app that keeps chosen photos and videos out of your grid and opens with the phone’s own screen lock. Vaultopaz is a separate app where every pattern opens its own encrypted vault, without an account. The main difference is who can open it: anyone who knows your screen lock, or someone who knows that vault’s pattern.
Side by side
| Topic | Google Photos Locked Folder | Vaultopaz |
|---|---|---|
| Where files are stored | A section inside the Google Photos app. Items that are not backed up stay only on that device. | Encrypted in its own private storage on the phone. No cloud and no servers. |
| How you unlock | With the phone’s screen lock. Google says you cannot set a separate Locked Folder password. | A pattern on a 5 by 5 grid, separate from the screen lock. Each pattern opens its own vault. |
| Encryption | Google says Locked Folder is covered by Google Photos’ standard encryption practices. Google’s help page gives no algorithm or key details. | AES-256-GCM, with keys wrapped by the phone’s hardware keystore. |
| Backup | Optional. Back up Locked Folder is a separate setting that needs regular backup turned on first. Backed-up items count toward the Google Account storage. | A file you export yourself, sealed with a password or your recovery phrase. |
| Account | Backup works through a Google Account. Google’s help page does not say whether you need one to use it on the phone only. | None. No sign-up, no internet permission and no analytics. |
| If you lose access | Items that are not backed up are lost if you uninstall Google Photos, clear its app data, factory reset the phone, or lose or damage the phone. | Nine recovery words reopen the vault on the same phone. Without an exported backup file, a lost, broken or reset phone takes the files with it. |
| Moving to a new phone | Items that are not backed up are not carried over in a cable or cloud transfer. Backed-up items open on other devices signed in to the same Google Account. | Through an encrypted backup file. The recovery phrase alone does not move a vault. |
| Which phones | Android 6 or newer. Not available on fully managed work devices or for certain account types. | Android 10 or newer, with a hardware-backed keystore. |
Where Google Photos Locked Folder is the better choice
- Nothing new to install. If you already use Google Photos, Locked Folder is a section of that app. You set it up under Collections, then Locked.
- No extra code to remember. It opens with the screen lock you already use every day.
- Backup to your Google Account, if you want it. With Back up Locked Folder turned on, items can be opened on other devices signed in to the same account.
- Kept out of the rest of Google Photos. Items in Locked Folder do not show in the Photos grid, search, albums or memories, and other apps that can read your photos cannot reach them.
- Straight from the camera on a Pixel. On a Pixel 4 or newer, the camera can save a new photo directly into Locked Folder.
- Older phones. Locked Folder works on Android 6 or newer.
Where Vaultopaz is different
- A lock of its own. Each vault opens with its own pattern on a 5 by 5 grid, not with the phone’s screen lock. The unlock screen never lists vaults, and a pattern that opens nothing gets the same quiet refusal as a mistyped one.
- Any file, plus notes. Vaultopaz imports any file through the Android file picker, and it adds encrypted notes, nested folders, name search and sorting.
- Encryption on the device. Files, notes and metadata are encrypted with AES-256-GCM, with keys derived through Argon2id and wrapped by the phone’s hardware keystore.
- No account and no cloud. Vaultopaz has no sign-up, no servers, no internet permission and no analytics.
- A backup file you control. The encrypted backup is one portable file, sealed with a password or your recovery phrase, that opens on another phone without this phone’s hardware key.
- Camera into the vault. A photo taken inside Vaultopaz is encrypted at once and never reaches the gallery.
- Auto-lock and screenshot block. The vault locks immediately or 30 seconds, 2 or 5 minutes after you leave, and content screens refuse screenshots and screen recording.
Vaultopaz opens images, videos, text files and notes in its viewer; PDFs and other documents are stored and can be exported, but they do not open inside the vault. It has not had an independent security review yet.
Moving from Google Photos Locked Folder to Vaultopaz
There is no automatic transfer. Google says other apps cannot reach items in Locked Folder, so first move the photos you want to bring over out of Locked Folder in Google Photos. Then import them in Vaultopaz through the Android system file picker. Vaultopaz does not delete the originals, so once everything has arrived in the vault, you decide what to remove from Google Photos.
To see how a pattern and a vault belong together, read one pattern, one vault, and for the lock timer see auto-lock and screenshot block. Samsung owners can also read how Vaultopaz compares with Samsung Secure Folder.
Good to know: the limits
- The app has not had an independent security review yet.
- The viewer opens images, videos, text files and notes. Videos play with the phone's own decoder straight from the encrypted file, so a format the phone cannot decode shows a message instead; PDFs and other documents are stored and exportable but not shown inside the vault.
- Losing both the pattern and the recovery phrase means the files are gone. There is no account and no reset.
- The recovery phrase works only on the same phone. Moving to another device needs an encrypted backup file.
- Android 10 or newer.
- The phone must have a hardware-backed keystore (TEE or StrongBox). Without it the app refuses to create a vault.
Frequently asked questions
Can I give Google Photos Locked Folder its own password?
No. Google says you cannot set a separate Locked Folder password. It opens with the phone's screen lock, so anyone who knows that lock can open it.
Are photos in Locked Folder backed up?
Only if you turn on Back up Locked Folder in the Photos settings, which needs regular backup to be on first. Backed-up items count toward your Google Account storage and can be opened on other devices signed in to that account. Items that are not backed up stay only on the phone.
What happens to Locked Folder when I switch phones?
Google says items that are not backed up are not carried over in a cable or cloud transfer to a new phone. Backed-up items can be opened on the new phone once it is signed in to the same Google Account.
Does Vaultopaz use my phone's screen lock?
No. Every vault in Vaultopaz opens with its own pattern on a 5 by 5 grid, separate from the screen lock of the phone.