What Calculator# is
Calculator# is listed as Calculator# Hide Photos Videos, published by Salman Ashraf (NewSoftwares.net), on the App Store since November 2016. It has a 4.4 rating from about 29,000 ratings, a 75 MB download and a 17+ age rating. The pitch is disguise: the app looks and works like a calculator, and the vault behind it holds photos, videos, documents, audio, notes, to-dos, contacts and passwords.
How it protects your photos
The listing describes a calculator code, PIN, password, pattern and Face ID or Touch ID for the lock, plus a Hack Monitor that logs wrong attempts, a Disguise Mode and a Panic Switch. The Panic Switch hides the vault; it is not described as erasing anything. A fake crash message stands in for a decoy vault.
Nowhere in the listing does the developer say the files are encrypted. Hiding a file and encrypting a file are different things, and a calculator icon does nothing once someone is looking at the storage itself. The app is also visible by name in iPhone Storage, the App Library and Screen Time, which is true of every calculator vault.
Where your photos go
Files stay on the phone unless you back them up, and backup can go to iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive or OneDrive. The listing does not say whether the backup is encrypted before it leaves the phone. Wi-Fi transfer from a PC or Mac and a built-in browser that downloads files are included.
What it costs
The US listing shows a Yearly Subscription at $4.99 and a Premium Features Pack at $4.99. The description says the free version has ads and limitations.
What the privacy label says
Contact Info is listed under Data Used to Track You. Under Data Not Linked to You the label lists Contact Info (Email Address) and User Content (Photos or Videos).
What the listing does not mention
The sources do not mention encryption, working without an account for backup, a decoy vault, a passcode that erases the vault, facedown lock, a private camera, face blur, an encrypted backup in your own iCloud, a recovery key you hold, burner email, or sub-albums. See Kryptis vs Calculator#.
Who Calculator# suits
It suits someone whose only worry is a glance at the home screen, who likes having notes and passwords in the same place, and who is not asking whether the files are readable. If you are hiding from anyone more determined than that, a disguise is not protection.
Kryptis instead
Kryptis is built for the people these listings leave out: anyone who wants the vault to stay on the phone and stay unreadable. Every photo, video and file is encrypted with AES-256-GCM on the device before it is stored, along with its metadata. There is no account and no server. A second passcode opens a decoy vault with its own albums, a third erases everything, and failed unlocks are recorded. Backup goes to your own iCloud, already encrypted, and the only way back in after a lost passcode is the BIP39 recovery phrase you were given at setup.
