Comparison

Argus vs Hatch Vault

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

Head to head
About

Argus

Detect hidden cameras and trackers in any room using multiple scanning methods. It offers Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, lens, infrared, and magnet detection to ensure privacy in various locations like hotels and rentals. The app prioritizes user privacy with no account required and local data storage.

Highlights
  • Wi-Fi scanner for network devices
  • Bluetooth tracker locator
  • Lens camera finder mode
  • Infrared mode for night-vision cameras
  • Magnet check for hidden electronics
  • Privacy-focused with no account needed
Features
Read full description

Argus checks any room for hidden cameras and trackers with four scanners on your iPhone: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth with a tracker locator, a camera finder with Lens and Infrared modes, and a magnet check. The Lens camera finder is free with no scan limit and no account, and so is finding a tracker. Hotel rooms, Airbnbs and holiday rentals, changing rooms, gym lockers, rental cars. No app finds every camera, and no single method does: one in a smoke detector may sit on the room's Wi-Fi, or record to a memory card and touch no network. That is why Argus checks four ways. WI-FI SCANNER Finds the devices on the network you joined and flags those answering on camera ports: RTSP video streams, ONVIF, Hikvision, Dahua, XMEye, V380, Ezviz, Tapo, Reolink. Printers, routers and TVs that name themselves are set aside. Free: the device count, camera alerts and identified devices by name. Argus Pro shows which device it is: address, open ports and what its service says about itself, often the firmware. Blind spot: hotel guest Wi-Fi often keeps devices apart; Argus says so instead of calling the room clean. BLUETOOTH AND FIND IT Lists nearby Bluetooth devices and recognises item trackers: Tile, Samsung SmartTag, Chipolo, Pebblebee, Google Find My Device tags. Find it walks you to one: a ring fills as you get closer, ticks quicken, an optional beep helps. Free: the count, possible trackers and finding them. Argus Pro: every device by name and signal, and Find it for any of them. Blind spot: a paired, silent device doesn't advertise, and iPhone may hide Apple's Find My tags from apps (iOS warns about those itself). CAMERA FINDER: LENS AND INFRARED Lens mode, free: lights off, torch on, sweep slowly. A lens returns a tight bright glint; a red, green or blue filter makes it stand out. Infrared mode, Argus Pro: night-vision cameras light a room with infrared your eyes can't see, and an iPhone camera often can. Argus looks for that light and beeps when it spots one. Blind spot: both need a dark room, and a shiny point or ordinary light can trigger them. A flag means look closer. MAGNET CHECK, ARGUS PRO Hold the phone close to a smoke detector, clock or charger: the dial jumps at the metal and magnets of hidden electronics, with a buzz and a beep. Screws and pipes move it too, so compare with a similar object you trust. A FIVE-MINUTE SWEEP Scan the Wi-Fi. Run Bluetooth from the bed and follow any tracker with Find it. Lights off: sweep everything facing the bed in Lens, then Infrared. Pass the magnet over whatever stood out. Two checks pointing at one object: inspect it. PRIVACY No account, no ads. What a scan finds stays on your iPhone. Camera frames and sensor readings are never recorded; only Wi-Fi and Bluetooth scans are saved, on your phone. Subscriptions run through Apple and RevenueCat; crash reports and usage analytics are not linked to you. No tracking. In 13 languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Arabic, Turkish, Korean, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Hindi, German. FREE AND ARGUS PRO Free: the Lens camera finder; Wi-Fi and Bluetooth scans with their counts, camera and tracker alerts; identified Wi-Fi devices; finding a tracker. Argus Pro: which Wi-Fi device it is and its details; every Bluetooth device by name; Find it for any device; Infrared mode; the magnet check. Requires iOS 16 or later. Hotel sweep guide: https://tatrom.github.io/ Argus Pro is a weekly or yearly auto-renewable subscription. The price is shown in the app before you subscribe. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. It renews automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period, and your account is charged for renewal within 24 hours before the period ends. Manage or cancel it in your Apple Account settings. Terms of Use: https://tatrom.github.io/privacy-terms/terms-of-use.html Privacy Policy: https://tatrom.github.io/privacy-terms/privacy-policy.html

About

Hatch Vault

Features
Read full description

Hatch is a private, encrypted vault for photos, videos, documents, notes and passwords. It looks like a calculator, opens with a secret code and has a decoy. No account needed, no analytics: nothing leaves your phone unless you choose to send it. HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT On the outside, Hatch is a working calculator. Type your PIN, press = and the vault opens. Pick an alternate icon, scramble the keypad so no one learns your code from where you tap, and lay the phone face down to lock and blur the vault. REAL ENCRYPTION Every file is encrypted on the device with XChaCha20-Poly1305. Your PIN, password or pattern is stretched with Argon2id and never stored; where supported, unlocking also needs this phone. Videos play straight from the encrypted file, with no decrypted copy written to storage. A DECOY, AND A DURESS CODE A second PIN opens a second, believable vault. A third, the duress PIN, destroys the real keys and opens the decoy as cover. Both are off by default. CATCH INTRUDERS Wrong PINs are logged, with an optional front-camera photo of whoever typed them. Repeated failures bring an escalating lockout and, if you choose, self-destruct. CAPTURE AND IMPORT Shoot photos and video straight into the vault, never touching your photo library. Scan documents to PDF. Copy or move from Photos or Files, paste from the clipboard, or share in from any app: shares are encrypted the moment they arrive. Import WhatsApp chats, zip files and authenticator codes. A GALLERY THAT FEELS LIKE YOUR PHONE'S Timeline, albums, tags, favourites, slideshow and On this day. Search finds the words in a photo and what it shows, recognised on the phone. Crop or pixelate a copy and keep the original. Items can expire or be view-once. MORE THAN PHOTOS Encrypted notes with history, a journal, and a wallet for passwords, cards and two-factor codes. It reads passport and ID details from a photo. Lock single folders even while the vault is open. SHARE WITHOUT A SERVER Send files as a locked parcel that opens with a passphrase. Share an album with another phone on the same Wi-Fi, end-to-end encrypted. Guest mode hands the phone over showing one folder only. LEAKS NOTHING App-switcher preview covered, clipboard wiped, keyboard learning off, auto-lock. Excluded from iCloud backups. Asks for your secret again before risky actions. LOOK AFTER YOUR VAULT Privacy checkup, vault and password health, a duplicates and similar-photos finder, and a tamper-evident activity log. BACKUP ON YOUR TERMS Export an encrypted .hatch bundle, or subscribe to the optional cloud backup: 5, 10, 50 or 200 GB, monthly or yearly, with an account (email, Apple or Google). Only ciphertext is uploaded; we cannot see your files. A recovery phrase, shown once, restores on a new phone or if you forget your secret. We hold no copy. Light and dark, accent colours, twenty languages. PRIVACY Without an account Hatch collects nothing: no analytics, no crash reporting, no ads. With cloud backup we hold your email, your plan and encrypted data we cannot read. Deleting the app erases everything on the phone, keys included. TERMS OF USE A personal licence for devices you control. Cloud backup is charged to your Apple ID and renews automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the period ends. You are responsible for what you store and your backups. The disguise features are privacy tools, not a defence against forensic examination; the duress wipe is instant and irreversible. LINKS Support: https://hatch-app-cloud.web.app/ Email: lowkey9.ai@gmail.com Privacy policy: https://hatch-app-cloud.web.app/privacy.html Terms of use (EULA): https://hatch-app-cloud.web.app/terms.html Delete your account: https://hatch-app-cloud.web.app/delete-account.html Manage subscription: https://apps.apple.com/account/subscriptions Arabic: https://hatch-app-cloud.web.app/privacy.ar.html · https://hatch-app-cloud.web.app/terms.ar.html

Screenshots

Argus4 screens
Hatch Vault4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Hatch Vault at every 5 days against Argus's every 3 weeks. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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. Argus sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per 7 days and Hatch Vault sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Argus ships an update every 3 weeks, Hatch Vault every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and November 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 8 level
Argus versus Hatch Vault: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterArgusHatch Vault
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (3 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings3 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemium—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.015.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size35 MB40 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperRoman HadiievAhmed Mansour

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Argus

Subscriptions2
  • Weekly$7.997 Days
  • Yearly3 Days trial$49.991 Year
8 purchases

Hatch Vault

Subscriptions8
  • Cloud Backup 5 GB$0.991 Month
  • Cloud Backup 10 GB$1.991 Month
  • Cloud Backup 50 GB$3.991 Month
Show 5 more
  • Cloud Backup 5 GB$9.991 Year
  • Cloud Backup 200 GB$14.991 Month
  • Cloud Backup 10 GB$14.991 Year
  • Cloud Backup 50 GB$44.991 Year
  • Cloud Backup 200 GB$174.991 Year

Questions

Is Argus free?
Argus is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Hatch Vault free?
Hatch Vault is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Argus or Hatch Vault have ads?
Neither Argus nor Hatch Vault shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Argus or Hatch Vault?
Argus ships an update every 3 weeks, and Hatch Vault every 5 days. Most recently, Argus was updated on November 5, 2026 and Hatch Vault on November 10, 2026.

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