Keepsafe vs Hushkeeper

Everything we say about Keepsafe below comes from its App Store listing and help center as of October 2026. Listings change, so check the current page before deciding.

At a glance

Encryption: what can you verify?

Keepsafe's listing says files are protected with military-grade encryption and that they are stored in an encrypted format. It does not say which algorithm is used, how the key is derived from your PIN, or who could decrypt the Private Cloud copy. That doesn't mean the encryption is weak — only that the listing doesn't give you enough to judge.

Hushkeeper publishes the whole chain on its security section: your pattern plus a device secret go through PBKDF2 with 600,000 iterations, the result unlocks a random 256-bit master key, and files, thumbnails, names and folders are sealed with AES-256-GCM. The pattern is never stored. We also list what the app can't protect you from.

Ads and tracking

This is the clearest difference. Keepsafe's free version shows ads, and its App Store privacy label declares usage data that is used to track you and advertising data used for third-party advertising. For many people that's a fair trade for a free app. For a vault that holds your most private photos, it may not be.

Hushkeeper has no ads, no tracking and no account in any tier, free included.

Backups

Keepsafe offers its own Private Cloud. Hushkeeper doesn't run servers for your files at all: backups go to your private iCloud, and only ciphertext is uploaded. To restore on a new iPhone you need your recovery phrase — which also means that if you lose both the pattern and the phrase, nobody can recover the files, including us.

When Keepsafe is the better choice

• You want an app with a long track record and a very large user base.
• You prefer a backup service run by the app maker over your own iCloud.
• You need a language Hushkeeper doesn't support yet.

When Hushkeeper is the better choice

• You want no ads and no tracking, even on the free plan.
• You want to know exactly how your files are encrypted.
• You want several vaults that don't reveal each other, a duress pattern and sharing with expiry dates and open limits.
• You want deleted files to be recoverable: daily encrypted backup versions are kept for 30 days.

Sources

• App Store: Secret Photo Vault: Keepsafe (rating, prices, privacy label, description)
• Keepsafe Help Center: What is Keepsafe?