Leave a Review Private Photo Vault
Great app, needs some work on specific features
Edited review -in response to developer response, review updated. Great info and thanks for the feedback, love the app!
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Previous review:
1) “face down” feature doesn’t work (has never worked for me).
2) Really want the metadata/date-time information for the photos. That’s super important but it somehow not available without exporting the photos from the app.
3) the inability to drag/reorder/rearrange photos in folders is a bummer. Would be great to add especially since the images often import out of order
4) the ability to move/synch photos from main albums into “decoy” album for use with decoy folder. For example, a transfer function to a folder named “decoy” on the main access profile. Then, when you enter the decoy profile, you have those photos synced. I do really like this app and it’s very well made. Has tons of fantastic features but for the paid version, it would be good to see some of the suggestions above. Especially since so many others have mentioned these before too. Love the app though and will continue to use it, but making some of the changes will bring it to a whole new level.Show lessaqua_albatross
5 stars over all, but there are some improvements I would like to speak on.
This app is a great way to store private photos and videos that are “for your eyes only.” I’ve been using this app for at least 5 years, purchased the full version.. amazing!
The only bug that I noticed (which was quite a while ago) was that if you are uploading a longer video or a medium sized album, it would either stop mid upload or at the end tell you that it couldn’t upload a few of the files and won’t give you the option to delete the photos that were uploaded successfully or show which photos/videos that weren’t.
It might have been addressed already, it’s been a while since I’ve added anymore media.
Also, from an accessibility standpoint the video playback used is the typical iPhone safari playback which is fine, but it has a tendency of blocking a quarter of the screen. ESPECIALLY if you are scrubbing at a high frame rate.
The solution to this if may, (and if possible) would be to use the same configuration as the playback in the FILES app on iPhone. Much like the photos app it shows the reel at the bottom of the screen and you use your finger to drag through the video. BUT if you tap the screen a moment before dragging the reel IT WILL REMOVE THE REEL AND BORDER while still allowing you to scrub through the video without any obstruction.
Just my two cents on how to improve an already AMAZING app 😊Show lessMagic Will
Great app but has a few issues. iCloud Storage
Everything about the app’s functionality and features are great! However, there are two big issues I have. 1.) I subscribed to the premium version to have to utilize the cloud storage. The description of the iCloud storage option is inaccurate. It states that you can can save space on your your device by synchronizing and uploading all the photos to the cloud so that when you preview the content on your device, it will download it from the cloud without using up the storage on your device. Which in sense, should be similar to IOS. However, when I preview the photos in the app. It downloads the photo to my device and does not remove it after previewing. Ultimately it does not save any space at all. If I wanted to remove the data from my device, I would have to wipe everything off by reinstalling the app. After doing that, I log in, and it will synchronize with the cloud until I open up the photo which then automatically downloads the photo to the device. 2.) I’m not sure if it was because of the update but when I reinstalled the app, I have a problem where I couldn’t connect to the server when I was logging back into my account. I had to remove my 1 year subscription and resubscribe to finally log back in. But doing so prompted a message saying that I would have to pay again after my 1 week free trial. My subscription didn’t expire until August 2022. Which means I did not use the whole year of the subscription.Show lessDespicableBeast
Developer Response
Hi, sorry about any issue. Regarding (1), the Space Saver issue, we are working on an update soon that should come out soon that should allow for permanently reducing space by keeping locally compressed copies of the image on your phone and leaving the full resolution in Cloud Vault. Regarding (2), we had a couple hours of server maintenance a couple of days ago where login wasn't working. Your old subscription should still work and be active if you paid for it. If you have any other questions, please reach out to us at privatephotovault.com/supportHolds your files hostage. Wont let you transfer to your computer
This app will take up so much of your phone’s storage, it’s insane. I got this app with the intention to back up my pics and vids and perhaps clear up some space in a convenient manner. Ive come to realize, it wouldve been much easier if I had just transferred those files to a computer directly without using this app. Now my pics and vids are stuck on this app because transferring all of them back to my phone not only takes forever, but fails almost every time. This app’s ability to transfer your files to a computer, via wireless or wired, simply does not work. Try it yourself at your own risk. Now i have 2000+ pictures and videos trapped in this app that i cannot get out. I cant transfer them back to my phone without constant complication and this app’s ability to export files to a computer is an absolute joke. I also wasted money subscribing to their cloud vault, which is a joke too. I can’t delete any files without them deleting it on the cloud vault as well, so that was no use regarding making space in my phone either. Also their cloud vault has no url or website, so that basically means the cloud vault ALSO doesnt have any convenient means of exporting files.
DO NOT USE THIS APP. They will literally hold your files hostage. They have convenient means of importing files but absolutely zero ability in exporting them. Just think on that.Show lessD_back_17
Developer Response
Hi, first of all, sorry about any problems you are experiencing. We try to provide as many export options as possible, Bulk Export to the Photos App, Emailing photos, USB transfer, WiFi transfer. It is possible that if your device is extremely low on free space, you may run into issues with the WiFi transfer and downloading albums from your phone to computer. In order for the WiFi transfer feature to prepare a Zip file for your computer to download, it will require at least the amount of free space of the files you want to download on your phone so it can generate the zip file. Otherwise, you can always download files one by one. You should be able to export all files back to your normal photos app, but once again, if you have no free space on your phone, the export will fail due to no storage space to save the items. We are also currently working on adding functionality with Cloud Vault that will reduce storage on your phone. That will be coming out in a future update. Once again, sorry you have had a bad experience in the app. If you have any other questions, please contact us at privatephotovault.com/supportAlmost perfect
I’ve been using this app for a long time and have loved its ease of use. There’s only a couple of things missing in my opinion.
1. Permanent folder thumbnail. Yes the last photo in the album is the photo you’ll see in the album thumbnail but it changes every time you add more pictures. If only one picture of your choosing could stay as the thumbnail permanently, that would be great.
2. Picture preview by press and hold when selecting multiple pictures. There are times when you want to select multiple pictures but you can’t tell what or who is in the picture because it’s so small. If you could just press and hold a picture for a second to blow it up that would be extremely helpful.
3. App icon. Keeping your pictures safe is great but an icon with a lock on it called photo vault draws attention to an unwanted person on your phone. If there were multiple inconspicuous app icons to choose from would help immensely.Show lessKoenig1
So reliable and works!
I’ve used this on and off over the past few years and I’ll tell you, it works! I’ve tried several apps in the past where when you click out of the app and open it up again, the pictures show for a second before going to the password. Which obviously defeats the purpose. THIS app, it works! You can click out and open in a second and it’s already at the passcode screen. Also, even though I technically use the ad version, I’ve only ever seen two in the whole time I’ve used the app. I love this because I’ll just upload the pictures I want from my library and have the option to delete the copies in the library as well. I usually do, because having this app is kinda the point. Privacy. Even though I never have anyone go on my phone, I still have photos I wouldn’t like just anyone seeing. There’s always that time where you show someone a picture on your phone and they grab it and start scrolling. You can also make albums for the different photos. I have the main album and a second one for certain photos I want separate. I definitely recommend!Show lessSarab2324
Developer Response
Your words are very encouraging for us, thank you for your kind review!Good app with a few issues
Been using this app for a number of years and it’s totally worth spending the $$ versus using the free one. For only $7 you really can’t go wrong. One of the issues I have is when I imported my family vacation pics they are completely disorganized. I tried several different ways but every time they NEVER import in order and this is VERY annoying as I have to rearrange them by manually. I like to organize the folders in groups as it makes it WAY easier to access, but I’d like to have an option to have folders within a folder. For example: my trip to Houston I have some pictures and video that I’d like to separate them so I’m not searching all over for them. Even within picture folder, it’d be nice to separate my time at the Houston space center with my time in the golf. It just lumps them all together. The last thing is I wish there an option for either a list view or an icon view...and it could reorganized by title or date. When your library gets large, it’s VERY difficult to find the folder you’re looking for because they are listed in the order they were created and NOT alphabetically or numerically. Other than that—great app.Show lessGeneral Samus
Just changed my review from 4 stars to 5 —> I’m pleased with Developer’s response.
The developer emphasizes in the app description that Private Photo Vault employees can’t view user’s photos and videos on the Cloud Vault Backup, but would that privacy also applies to photos and videos on users’ physical devices such as phone or ipad? The developer also mentions that user’s data such as user’s content (photos and videos) could also be collected, if I understand correctly of what it says on the app description. The two paragraphs above are conflicting to each other. Can you explain it please. It would be nice if the app allows user to change the private folder password. As of now, once I set my password for any particular folder, I can’t change the password of that folder. Other than that, I love everything else about the app. I have used it for several years now.Show lessnickname-pi
Best photo vault app
It's clear these guys are improving upon their apps with updates and such. The app itself works seamlessly. You get all the important things. The OPTION for a cloud backup/sync or my preference, everything hard stored locally. They encrypt everything and even have a dummy password capability leading to dummy account/images/video etc. You can edit in the app and transfer to a new phone like I'm going to be doing with the iPhone 13 soon. The ONLY thing this app lacks really, is the ability to change the app icon and name to truly hide what it is. The icon looks like a folder with a lock on it so if a curious eye scans your phone, it's definitely sus but for now, that's why the dummy account/pin helps.Show lesssizzo1220
LATEST UPDATE RUINED A GREAT APP!
This was once a wonderful app, with a VERY “private” look and feel to it. That was the original POINT, wasnt it? The update last month completely DESTROYED it, and now it’s near impossible to use without getting seriously aggravated! NOW, when you swipe through YOUR photos, EVERY THIRD IMAGE swiped will result in a full page ad! (And you have to be careful to NOT click on it!). And NOW when you open the app…yes, a video advertisement. A ploy to get me to pay for Premium service? It actually discourages me from using it as I always get ticked off when using it, and I no longer trust the jokers who made the app. Who really cares, because I am currently looking for ANOTHER app that is simple, secure, private, and with NO distracting, NONSTOP interruptions! ….an app that THIS one used to be like!
SO disappointing when a developer has the perfect solution for their users….and once they have you hooked, changes it to just another commercialized piece of aggravating junk on my devices that I have to replace... I’m so outta here!Show lessSDRanger
