Comparison

App Lock vs Secure Folder

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

App Lock

Secure your sensitive applications and personal data with this privacy tool. Easily lock any app to prevent unauthorized access and keep your information out of sight from prying eyes. Enjoy enhanced device security and peace of mind.

Highlights
  • Lock any application
  • Hide sensitive apps
  • Block websites
  • Intuitive interface
  • Prevent unauthorized access
  • Enhance device privacy
Features
Read full description

App Lock is a privacy app designed to help keep your sensitive apps private and secure on your device. With App Lock, you can easily block any app you want, ensuring that you remain private and out of sight from prying eyes. The app features an intuitive and user-friendly interface that allows you to quickly and easily select the apps you want to lock. Once an app has been locked, nobody will be able to access your private data. App Lock is the perfect solution for anyone looking to ensure more privacy and security on your device. * In order to use App Lock you need to purchase the Lilucat Pro which is an annual service that costs 29.99$. Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase and auto-renews at the same price unless disabled in iTunes Account Settings at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your subscription can be managed in your iTunes Account Settings. Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when you purchase a subscription. Links Terms of Service: https://applock.lilucat.com/legal/terms Privacy: https://applock.lilucat.com/legal/privacy

About

Secure Folder

Securely store and protect your private photos, videos, files, and apps with a password-protected vault. Features include intruder selfies, encrypted file sharing, and cloud backup for peace of mind.

Highlights
  • Password protection (PIN, pattern, biometric)
  • Intruder selfie and break-in alerts
  • Encrypted file sharing
  • Cloud backup and restore
  • App lock
  • Fake PIN for decoy vault
Features
Read full description

Private Photo Vault is the perfect place to store all the photos, videos, files, private app and data you want to keep private. Secure Folder - Safe files is an app developed for the secure app that lets you protect any private folder on your smartphone quickly and easily. With Secure Folder upload, you can create a PIN or password to stand between your files and prying eyes. Secret Folder in which you can add the video from your library or record directly thru the app & the app is password protected, so no one will be able to access your videos/photos. View the videos/photos in easy-to-view albums and you can even group your video and later view them in a grid view or list view. With Secure folder, how to enhance the files security? - Add data to Secure folder upload (carpeta segura) - Private app effectively manage secrets data in secret folder - Confidential data encryption - Vault protect with intruder selfie - Password protection - PIN, pattern, or biometric - Apps lock - App Photo Video Gallery Lock - Hide Pictures & Videos - Vaulty - Secure folder with 2-step verification - Secure folders sync - Secure folders store - Cloud-based backup and restore Key Feature: Private Photo Vault - SafeFile Personalize Secure Folder Private App keep safe everything on your phone, including private information and potentially embarrassing photos & personal data, using a unique passcode. Manage secret folder Secure & private cloud - Large storage space for data in Keepsafe. Space Saver secret folder - Compresses photos and saves originals to the cloud drives. Secure Folder upload to store your private contacts, photos and more in a separate account. Allows you have two profiles on a device so you can manage your data more effectively. Pro security folder Secret folder fake Pin - Creates a decoy Keepsafe with a separate PIN code. Album Lock - Assign unique PIN codes to access particular albums. Break-In Alerts - secret folder takes photos of intruders and tracks break-in attempts. Secret folder, private photo vault is keep picture safe from unknown. Intruder Selfie & Alert Picture Safe Folder Lock capture selfie photos secretly when the password is entered incorrectly. Unknown tries to break into a private photo Vault at a time safety feature will send you an alert to protect your hide photos and videos. Encrypted File Sharing Security folder to quick offline file sharing is secured with WPA2 encryption, providing a more secure docs files transfer. Safe & secure files shared with encrypted security so that you can safely transfer videos or photos to your friends. Password recovery Don't worry about forgetting your password because you can set a security email in Vault so you can retrieve it by unique features of Secure Folder (carpeta segura). Cloud Backup - Safe files Secure Folder in trash recovery - Safe retrieves photos you’ve mistakenly deleted. Secure folder upload files in vault & keep safe data in secret folder By using cloud backup, users can take backup of their data (For ex., images, video, audio, notes, contacts). Hide the Secure Folder When you don't want anyone even to know the Secure Folder lock exists on your phone, you can hide Secure Folder App from your phone home screen & make your photos or videos data safe. Privacy Policy - https://privatephotovault.blogspot.com/2023/11/privacy-policy.html Terms & Coditions - https://privatephotovault.blogspot.com/2023/11/terms-conditions.html EULA - https://privatephotovault.blogspot.com/2023/11/end-user-license-agreement-eula-of.html

Screenshots

App Lock4 screens
Secure Folder4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: Secure Folder at free with in-app purchases against App Lock's subscription. App Lock's advantage is review sentiment (58% vs 31%) and ratings volume (5.2K vs 439). On price, rating, update cadence and ads 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. App Lock sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Secure Folder sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.5 for App Lock against 4.5 for Secure Folder. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: App Lock has 5.2K ratings behind it against 439, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 58% of App Lock's written reviews are positive against 31% of Secure Folder's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

App Lock ships an update fortnightly, Secure Folder every 2 weeks. Both last shipped on September 30, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
App Lock versus Secure Folder: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterApp LockSecure Folder
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (5.2K ratings)4.5 (439 ratings)
Positive reviews57.6% of reviews — better30.8% of reviews
Number of ratings5.2K — better439
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationSubscriptionFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.015.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size43 MB76 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperLilucatKhushal Vasani

Customer experience

App Lock

All ratings5,174 ratings
Positive87.7%
Neutral3.7%
Negative8.5%
Written reviews125 reviews
Positive57.6%
Neutral5.6%
Negative36.8%

Secure Folder

All ratings439 ratings
Positive89.1%
Neutral3.4%
Negative7.5%
Written reviews13 reviews
Positive30.8%
Neutral0.0%
Negative69.2%

User reviews

App Lock

From 5.2K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Helpful app
  • 🔒 Provides app security
  • 🔒 Locks apps with Face ID/Touch ID/PIN
  • 👍 Great for keeping private information secure
  • 👍 Useful for parents to restrict child access

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Home screen layout gets scrambled when app is turned off
  • 🐛 App Blocker resets widget stacks
  • 💰 Aggressive subscription push
  • 🔒 Locked apps only unlocked for a limited time
  • 🐛 Doesn't persist app blocking across phone restarts

Secure Folder

From 439 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🔒 Hides photos and passwords
  • 👍 Extremely useful app
  • 👍 App is perfect

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Videos not playing after update
  • 🐛 Photos don’t upload
  • 🐛 Lost all images and videos
  • 🐛 Videos not viewing in the app
  • 🐛 Ads are non-stop

Bugs and requests

App Lock

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Buttons at the bottom of the screen are inaccessible on some devices
  • Prompts are not legible with larger font settings
  • Locked apps can still be accessed by restarting the phone

Requested features

4 requests
  • Allow concealing the app locker
  • Add scheduling/time-based locking
  • Provide separate unlock code from phone passcode
  • Improve usability when Dynamic Island is in use

Secure Folder

Reported bugs

6 issues
  • Videos not playing after update
  • Videos show as black thumbnails with only duration
  • Photos do not upload
  • Lost all images and videos
  • Cannot view videos
Show 1 more
  • App crashes too much

Requested features

2 requests
  • Change photo orientation in the app
  • Change video orientation in the app

In-app purchases

6 purchases

App Lock

Subscriptions5
  • App Lock$4.991 Month
  • App Lock3 Days trial$7.997 Days
  • App Lock2 variants$9.991 Month
Show 2 more
  • App Lock$14.991 Year
  • App Locker for iPhone$29.991 Year
One-time1
  • App Lock$59.99
3 purchases

Secure Folder

Subscriptions3
  • Week$2.997 Days
  • Month$9.991 Month
  • Year$39.991 Year

Questions

Is App Lock free?
App Lock is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Secure Folder free?
Secure Folder is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, App Lock or Secure Folder?
App Lock and Secure Folder are both rated 4.5 out of 5 on the App Store, from 5.2K and 439 ratings respectively.
Do App Lock or Secure Folder have ads?
Both App Lock and Secure Folder show ads.
Which is updated more often, App Lock or Secure Folder?
App Lock ships an update fortnightly, and Secure Folder every 2 weeks. Most recently, App Lock was updated on September 30, 2026 and Secure Folder on September 30, 2026.

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