Ephemeral Trace vs OutVault

Photos that delete themselves. Ephemeral Trace is a private camera for photos and videos that only need to exist for a while. Choose an expiry before you shoot. Each capture counts down, then deletes itself when time runs out. No cloud. No account. No tracking. FOR PHOTOS THAT HAD ONE JOB A receipt you need until tonight. A whiteboard after the meeting. A parking spot. A document you are sending once. A serial number. The Wi-Fi password at a rental. Take the photo. Use it. Let it go. SET THE TIMER BEFORE YOU SHOOT Choose 30 seconds, 5 minutes, 1 hour, or 24 hours. Pro adds custom timers up to one year and Keep Forever when a photo really should stay. TIME, MADE VISIBLE Every capture has a live countdown and a decay ring that empties as time runs out. Short timers burn hot. Long ones run cool. If a capture expires while you are looking at it, it flares once and dissolves. PRIVATE BY DESIGN • No accounts • No analytics or tracking • No advertising identifiers • No cloud storage or servers • No crash reporting • Photo Library access is Add Only. The app can save a photo when you ask, but it cannot read your existing library. Your media stays on your iPhone. ENCRYPTED, THEN GONE Captures live in the app's private storage, protected by iOS Data Protection. When a timer ends, the file and its encryption key are removed together. Captures are excluded from iCloud and iTunes backups, so a capture does not outlive its timer inside a backup. There is no trash, Recently Deleted folder, or undo path. A LIBRARY THAT EMPTIES ITSELF See what is still alive at a glance. Long-press any item to extend its timer, change its expiry, move it, share it, save it to Photos, or delete it early. FOLDERS WITHOUT THE PILE-UP Organize captures into folders with identity colors and custom covers. Choose a default folder and shoot straight into it. The free version includes up to two folders. ONE-TIME PRO Pro unlocks: • Keep Forever • Custom timer presets up to one year • Unlimited folders • Biometric gallery lock with Face ID, Touch ID, or Optic ID • All future Pro features One purchase. No subscription. Ever. Free includes unlimited photo and video capture, all four standard timers, automatic deletion, decay rings and countdowns, long-press actions, up to two folders, gallery filters, statistics, and export to Photos. Available in English, German, Spanish, French, Japanese, Portuguese, and Ukrainian. Your privacy is not a feature. It is the foundation.

Your camera. Your rules. Zero compromise. OutVault is a professional-grade private camera that routes every photo and video directly into an encrypted, Face ID-protected vault on your device -- completely bypassing iOS Photos. The moment you press the shutter, your media is gone from the camera pipeline and locked inside your sandbox. Nothing ever touches your Camera Roll. WHY OUTVAULT? Every other camera app eventually routes through iOS Photos. OutVault doesn't. It never calls a single Photos library API. Your media lives exclusively in a sandboxed vault, protected by NSFileProtectionComplete -- the same encryption tier iOS uses for health records and banking data. PRIVATE BY DESIGN * Captures photos and videos directly into the app sandbox * iOS Photos library is never touched -- not even for a millisecond * Face ID / Passcode lock on every launch and after backgrounding * NSFileProtectionComplete encryption -- files inaccessible while locked * No account, no sign-in, no third-party cloud * Disguise OutVault's Home Screen icon as Calculator, Notes, Weather, or Calendar * Share only when you choose -- via the standard iOS share sheet * Bring existing media in -- import from your Photos library or Files, or share directly from any app via the iOS share sheet CLEAN, FOCUSED GALLERY * Full-resolution photo and video capture with a custom camera UI * Thumbnail grid with smooth fade-in previews * Swipeable full-screen detail view with pinch-to-zoom and smooth zoom transitions * Long-press context menu for quick share or delete * Drag or tap to select multiple photos or videos, then delete them in bulk * Instant thumbnail generation -- no waiting OUTVAULT PREMIUM * Edit capture date, add a note and author to any photo or video * Strip EXIF metadata automatically before sharing * Auto-delete photos and videos on a schedule you set * Decoy Vault -- a second PIN opens a separate, harmless-looking gallery while your real vault stays completely hidden * Burn a tamper-evident timestamp into your photos, so the date and time become part of the image itself * One-time lifetime purchase -- no subscription, ever WHO IS OUTVAULT FOR? Built for professionals who understand that the safest file is one that never ends up where it shouldn't: - Journalists documenting sensitive sources or scenes - Attorneys photographing privileged case evidence - Healthcare professionals capturing patient-related visuals - Privacy-conscious users tired of Photos syncing everything to iCloud SECURITY DETAILS * Storage path: Application Support/assets/ (outside Photos.app reach) * File protection: NSFileProtectionComplete on every asset * Authentication: LocalAuthentication (Face ID / Passcode) * Sharing: Standard UIActivityViewController -- you control what leaves No ads. No tracking of your media. No surprises.