Privately

What Privately is

Privately is an on-device photo and video vault for iPhone. It encrypts photos and videos by splitting them into 1 MB blocks protected with AES-256-GCM. The user’s PIN wraps the master key, which is stored in the iPhone Secure Enclave. Albums can have their own password, and photos in locked albums disappear from the timeline, search and favorites. Face ID unlocking is optional.

Smart Search runs on the device and can find text in photos in 18 languages without sending photos off the iPhone. Users can export a .privately backup and restore it on a new device with their PIN; the maker says backups can be stored in iCloud Drive or elsewhere. The maker says Privately has no accounts or servers holding users’ photos, file names or thumbnails. It also says it does not sell, rent or share personal data, and collects limited data for subscriptions and support. Apple processes subscriptions through the App Store, while RevenueCat verifies entitlements over StoreKit. Receipt and entitlement metadata sent off-device is protected with TLS 1.2 or later, according to the privacy policy.

Privately is only available for iPhone and requires iOS 18.0 or later. The Free plan costs nothing and requires no sign-up. The Pro Yearly plan is $39.99 a year and includes locked albums and encrypted backups. The yearly subscription has a 7-day free trial; the weekly subscription has no free trial. The maker offers email support at [email protected] and says a real person reads every email.

Who it suits

Privately suits iPhone users who want to keep photos and videos in an encrypted on-device vault, with password-protected albums and local text search. It also fits people who are comfortable managing their own PIN and exported backups for recovery.

Getting started

1. Visit the Privately website or find the app through the App Store.
2. Install it on an iPhone running iOS 18.0 or later.
3. Start with the Free plan, which requires no sign-up, or choose a subscription.
4. Set a PIN and use it to protect the vault’s master key.
5. Export a .privately backup and keep it in iCloud Drive or elsewhere for restoration.

Verdict

Choose Privately if you want an iPhone vault with on-device encryption, optional Face ID and local text search. It requires iOS 18.0 or later, and recovery depends on keeping your PIN and a backup; the maker cannot restore content from a lost device without one.