Velum vs Keepsafe: Which Photo Vault Should You Trust on Android?

Keepsafe has been one of the most popular ways to hide photos on Android for years, and its Play listing says over 50 million people use it. Velum is a new vault, coming soon to Google Play, built around one idea: encrypt everything on the phone and show you the proof. This comparison is as of October 2026 and uses Keepsafe's Google Play listing and website for its facts.

Velum vs Keepsafe at a glance

Where does Keepsafe win?

It is established and it works across devices. Keepsafe's encrypted Private Cloud syncs your vault so you can reach it on another phone or tablet, and its website offers both an Android and an iPhone app. If you switch between platforms, that matters.

Keepsafe also has features Velum does not. Break-In Alerts in Premium photograph intruders and track attempts to get in. Safe Send lets you share a photo that disappears 20 seconds after it is received. Album Lock gives individual albums their own PIN. Space Saver compresses photos on the phone and keeps the originals in the cloud, and Trash Recovery brings back items you deleted by mistake. Keepsafe also hides itself from the recent apps list.

How do they protect your files?

This is where the two take different paths. Keepsafe's listing promises "military-grade encryption", but neither the listing nor the website names the cipher or explains how the key is made. That does not make it weak, but you have no way to check it.

Velum spells it out. Every photo, video, thumbnail and file name is encrypted on your phone with AES-256-GCM, using Google's Tink library. The key comes from the pattern you draw, stretched with Argon2id so that guessing it is slow. A screen called "What others see" shows any photo next to the same file as it is stored on the phone: random noise, no name and no type. There is no account, so there is no password stored on a server to leak or reset.

Velum also checks every import. Each photo is decrypted back and compared with the original before Velum offers to remove it from your gallery, so a failed copy never costs you the original. Our guide on how to hide photos on Android explains why hiding and encrypting are not the same thing.

Cloud sync or your own backup?

Keepsafe backs up to its Private Cloud, so a lost phone does not mean lost photos, and syncing is automatic. The cost is that your vault lives on Keepsafe's servers as well as your phone.

Velum backs up an already encrypted copy. Free, it goes to a folder you choose: your phone, a memory card or a USB drive. With Pro, Velum backs up on its own to your Google Drive, in a hidden app space only Velum can read. To restore on a new phone, you use your pattern or your 9 word recovery phrase. If you forget your pattern, the phrase opens the vault, so write it down on paper.

What about decoys and disguise?

Both offer a decoy. Keepsafe Premium's Fake PIN opens a separate decoy vault. Velum Pro lets you add more vaults, each with its own pattern and recovery phrase, and no list of vaults exists anywhere in the app.

Velum adds two Pro features with no Keepsafe equivalent in its listing. A duress pattern opens one vault and quietly removes the keys to every other vault on the phone, which cannot be undone. The disguise shows a Calculator, Notes or Weather icon instead of Velum's, and the calculator really calculates. Velum also blocks screenshots and has a private camera that saves photos straight into the vault, never to your gallery.

What does each cost?

Keepsafe Basic is free with ads, includes free Private Cloud storage and gives a test drive of Premium. Premium raises Private Cloud storage to 10,000 items and adds the extra features above.

Velum's free version holds up to 100 photos or files and 10 videos in a vault, with the private camera, folder backup, export and everything that keeps your files safe. Opening, exporting, sharing and the trash stay free even above the limit. Pro comes by month or year with a 7-day free trial, or as a one-time purchase for life, and removes the limit and adds more vaults, the duress pattern, the disguise, encrypted notes, slideshows and Google Drive backup.

Which should you choose?

Choose Keepsafe if:

• You want your vault synced across devices, including an iPhone.
• You want break-in alerts or disappearing photo sharing.
• You want an app with a long track record, available today.

Choose Velum if:

• You want to know exactly how your files are encrypted.
• You want no account and no ads.
• You want backups that stay encrypted in a place you choose.
• You want a duress pattern or a disguised icon.

If you are weighing the free built-in options instead, see Velum vs Google Photos Locked Folder and Velum vs Samsung Secure Folder. Moving photos into a vault also frees gallery clutter, and if space is your real problem, our guide to freeing up storage on Android and the Broomie cleaner can help.

Sources

• Private Photo Vault - Keepsafe on Google Play
• Keepsafe website