Secret vs Phasm
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Secret
Securely send and receive encrypted messages that only the intended recipient can read. Protect your private conversations with end-to-end encryption and a password. Messages are not stored on your device after decryption.
- End-to-end message encryption
- Password protection for decryption
- Shake to clear messages
- Messages not stored on device
- Supports any language and emoji
- Multiple language localizations
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Send messages to your friends and colleagues – encrypted so that only they can read the message. Tap and type your message, and with one tap you can encrypt and then send your message, or copy it to the clipboard for pasting in to another application. Shake to clear your message. Secret – just between you and me... When someone who has Secret installed receives a Secret-encrypted message, they need only click on the message and they are taken straight to Secret where they can decrypt the message with a pre-arranged password. It's as simple as that! Secret uses DES symmetric encryption to keep your messages safe. You can use it anywhere you need to send a message that you don't want others to read. The decrypted message is not stored on your phone, so if someone intercepts or finds your phone, they can't read your messages without knowing the password. Secret works in any language, and even with emoji. Secret is also fully localised in English, French, Japanese, Italian, Greek, Spanish, Malay, Indonesian, German, Korean, and Simplified and Traditional Chinese. Secret – it's the easiest way to secure the messages you send and receive.
Phasm
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Hidden in plain sight. Phasm turns ordinary photos into secret messengers. Your photo looks exactly the same — but it carries encrypted messages and files that only someone with the right passphrase can reveal. TWO MODES FOR TWO NEEDS • Ghost Mode — Maximum stealth. Advanced adaptive algorithms make hidden data virtually undetectable, even by statistical analysis tools. Deep Cover auto-activates for non-JPEG photos with ~43% more capacity. Supports file attachments alongside your message. • Armor Mode — Maximum durability. Your hidden message survives recompression, re-encoding, and mild cropping. Fortress sub-mode auto-activates for short messages and handles aggressive compression from popular messaging apps. SERIOUS ENCRYPTION • AES-256-GCM-SIV authenticated encryption — always on, not optional. • Argon2id key derivation — resistant to brute-force and GPU attacks. • Post-quantum safe — 256-bit symmetric keys remain secure against quantum computers. • No backdoors. No key escrow. You hold the only key. PRIVACY BY DESIGN • All processing happens on your device. Nothing is uploaded. • No account. No sign-up. No tracking. No ads. • Open-source Rust cryptographic engine — auditable by anyone. • Built for journalists, researchers, activists, curious tinkerers — or just for fun. ONE PHOTO. MULTIPLE SECRETS. Shadow Messages let you hide several independent messages in a single photo — each locked with its own passphrase. Send the same picture to five friends; each one discovers a different message using their name as the key. Nobody knows the others exist. Under pressure to reveal your passphrase? Hand over the primary one. Your shadow messages stay invisible — no header, no marker, no proof they were ever there. MAGIC WAND — ONE TAP TO OPTIMIZE Tap the wand and your photo is silently tuned for better steganographic embedding. Imperceptible texture is added to smooth regions like skies, bokeh, and flat backgrounds — boosting capacity by 10–35% with no visible change. The photo looks identical. The math works better. SHARE YOUR WAY • Share via AirDrop, Messages, email, or any app that handles images. • phasm.link — generate a short link so recipients can decode instantly in the browser or via App Clip. No install needed. • For guaranteed delivery through messaging apps, use "send as file." BUILT FOR iPHONE AND iPAD • Native app optimized for iPhone and iPad. • Supports JPEG, PNG, GIF, WebP, and HEIC — auto-converted for embedding. • Real-time decode progress with integrity scoring. • 38 languages supported. HONEST ABOUT LIMITATIONS • Platforms that resize or re-encode photos may destroy hidden data. Use direct sharing or "send as file." • Capacity depends on image resolution — larger photos carry more data. • Steganography hides the existence of a message. Encryption protects its content. Phasm gives you both.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Phasm at Free against Secret's $0.99. Phasm also leads on iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). Secret's advantage is device support. On in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Phasm is free to download; Secret costs $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
| Parameter | Secret | Phasm |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 3.0 (1 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 54.5% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 1 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 10 months | — |
| Ads | No | — |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better | — |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 11 MB | 21 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | curmi.com | Christoph Gaffga |
In-app purchases
Secret
No in-app purchases
Phasm
No in-app purchases









