What Secret Photo Album is
Secret Photo Album is listed as Secret Photo Album - SA, published by BP Mobile LLC, on the App Store since December 2016. It has a 4.6 rating from about 39,000 ratings, an 80 MB download and a 17+ age rating. The description leads with secure cloud backup, unlimited storage, a private browser with an ad blocker, break-in alerts and a fake PIN.
How it protects your photos
PIN, Touch ID or Face ID opens the app. A decoy PIN opens a different set of photos. Break-in alerts capture a photo of anyone who enters the wrong PIN. Selected albums can carry their own PIN, the app locks after three wrong attempts, and a cover hides the content in the multitasking view. The listing describes the storage as encrypted and PIN-protected, without naming an algorithm.
Where your photos go
Locally by default. Premium adds unlimited cloud storage on the developer's service, and to sync or restore you register your email in Settings. The listing does not say whether files are encrypted before they are uploaded.
What it costs
The US listing shows Premium purchases from $1.99 to $51.99, including Secret Album Premium at $9.99, $39.99 and $51.99 and Premium at $6.99, $19.99 and $49.99. A free trial is offered.
What the privacy label says
Under Data Used to Track You: Purchases, Location, Identifiers, Usage Data, Diagnostics and Other Data. Under Data Linked to You: Purchases, Coarse Location, User Content (Photos or Videos, Customer Support), Identifiers (User ID, Device ID), Usage Data including Advertising Data, Diagnostics and Other Data. This is the widest label in the set.
What the listing does not mention
The sources do not mention a named algorithm, working without an email for cloud, a self-destruct passcode, facedown lock, a disguised icon, face blur, downloading from a link, transfer from a computer, an encrypted backup in your own iCloud, a recovery key, burner email, private contacts, or sub-albums. See Kryptis vs Secret Photo Album.
Who Secret Photo Album suits
It suits someone who wants a decoy PIN and intruder photos and is happy to sync through the developer's cloud with an email address. If the reason you want a vault is that you do not want your photos associated with you anywhere, read the privacy label before installing.
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.
