Comparison
LockMyPix alternatives for Android
Of the three big Android vaults, LockMyPix is the one that says "encrypted" and mostly means it. 10M+ installs, AES encryption, an optional encrypted backup, and a recovery-key flow. If your reason for being in this category is "the files should be unreadable", LockMyPix is a legitimate answer.
So why look for an alternative? Two reasons come up, and they're both about what surrounds the encryption rather than the encryption itself.
Reason 1: "Ads, in the app that holds my private photos"
LockMyPix's free tier is ad-supported. Whatever the ad network claims, the structural problem is the same as everywhere else in this category: the app's revenue depends on you staying in it.
If that's the objection, the replacements are:
- Keep Photo: Photo Vault — no ads at all; a one-time unlock for pro features. In final testing.
- Secure Folder / Private Space — free, no ads, no account, but locked to the device and the manufacturer's backup.
- Paid tiers of other vaults — paying usually removes ads; check the current listing.
Reason 2: "I want to be sure the cloud isn't in the loop"
LockMyPix offers an optional encrypted backup. That's a feature, and for many people it's the reason to pick it: a vault with no backup at all is one lost phone away from losing everything.
The question worth asking is where that backup goes and who holds the key. An encrypted backup to a provider you don't control still depends on the provider existing in five years.
Ours takes the opposite trade: no cloud at all, and export to storage you control instead. That's worse for anyone who won't actually do the export, and better for anyone who wants no third party in the path. It's a values difference, not a feature gap.
What to compare before switching
Moving a vault is a real migration — hundreds or thousands of files, and a failure means losing them. Before switching from LockMyPix (or to it), check these five things:
| Check | Why it decides the migration | |:---|:---| | Export exists and verifies | Without export you can't leave, so the migration risk is infinite | | Files are ciphertext on disk | Otherwise the "vault" is a lock screen over normal files | | Works offline | An app that needs the network to import has your file somewhere | | Recovery path is written down | "Contact support" on an encrypted vault is a contradiction | | What happens on uninstall | Some apps delete their vault with the app |
Run all five on both apps before moving anything. Then migrate in this order: export from the old app → verify a sample → import to the new app → verify again → only then delete the originals.
Side by side
| Option | Encrypts files | Account | Cloud backup | Ads in free | Recovery code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keep Photo: Photo Vault | Yes (AES-256-GCM, Argon2id PIN) | No | No — export only | No | Yes, printed at setup |
| LockMyPix | Yes | No for local | Optional encrypted | Yes | Yes |
| Keepsafe | Vault items protected; cloud account-based | Optional local, required for cloud | Keepsafe Cloud | Yes | Via account |
| GalleryVault | App-level | No for local | Optional sync | Yes | App-dependent |
When LockMyPix is the better answer
- You want encrypted backup. We don't have one. That's a real difference and you should weigh it.
- You want a recovery code plus a vendor who has run it for years. Same trade, older track record.
- You want fewer decisions. LockMyPix will hold your files; ours asks you to also keep a piece of paper.
The difference in one sentence
LockMyPix protects your files and gives you a backup path. We protect your files and give you an export path, and refuse to hold a key — which means if you lose the PIN and the recovery code, the photos are gone. If that sentence is a dealbreaker, the alternative you want probably isn't us.