Private photo vault for iPhone

Your hidden photos aren't actually hidden

Arca seals your photos and videos with real AES-256 encryption, right on your iPhone. Your library stays encrypted on your device, with no account or automatic vault upload.

Download on the App Store See how the encryption works

AES-256: per-file encryption
Zero: accounts to create
Local: vault storage

No account to create
No automatic vault upload
No analytics on your photos
No lock-in, export anytime

Encryption you can actually verify

Every photo and video is sealed with AES-256-GCM and an Argon2id key derived from your PIN. Thumbnails and metadata are encrypted too, not just hidden behind a password screen.

Your vault stays local.

Your library is encrypted on your iPhone, with no Arca account or automatic vault upload. Purchases and optional link downloads use online services, separately from your stored media.

Never locked out of your own memories

Export originals losslessly any time, and back everything up to a single encrypted file you control. No subscription lapse ever holds your photos hostage.

Honest by design

Most “vaults” hide your photos. Arca encrypts them.

Security researchers have repeatedly broken into popular photo-vault apps, often in minutes, because the photos were never really encrypted. Arca is built around encrypted local storage. Purchases and optional link downloads use online services; see the privacy policy.

Typical vault app

Arca

Photos at rest

Often stored unencrypted, just moved out of the Camera Roll

AES-256-GCM encrypted, per file, including thumbnails

Your PIN / password

Sometimes saved in plaintext databases

Protects your vault keys through Argon2id

Where data lives

Synced to the vendor's cloud account

Encrypted on your iPhone; no automatic vault upload

If the vendor is breached

Your library can be exposed

No hosted copy of your vault library

Don't take our word for it

“Researchers broke into popular iOS photo-vault apps in under 30 minutes on average, because photos were stored unencrypted and credentials sat in plaintext databases.”

IOActive

“A forensic teardown of a top-ranked “private” photo vault found photos stored with no real encryption at all.”

Zdziarski

See it in action

The whole app, in 80 seconds

A real screen recording, no sound needed — every step is captioned.

Set a PIN and import photos — they're encrypted the moment they arrive
Hide sensitive thumbnails behind a blur
Paste a link and the video lands straight in the vault
Wrong PINs get logged; a decoy PIN opens a second vault
Disguise the app icon

Locked vault

A gallery only you can open

Import photos and videos into an encrypted vault, then choose whether to remove the originals from your Camera Roll. Browse, favorite, and organize them in a fast, familiar grid, sealed behind your PIN and Face ID.

Face ID / Touch ID unlock via the Secure Enclave
Encrypted thumbnails, so even previews never touch disk in the clear
Albums, favorites, and full-resolution video playback

Arca's Face ID unlock screen guarding the vault

Decoy vault

Show a decoy, hide the real one

Set a second PIN that opens a separate, harmless vault. If you're ever pressured to unlock Arca, the decoy appears while your real vault stays hidden and encrypted, indistinguishable from the outside.

A second PIN opens a second, independent vault
Your real vault stays sealed and invisible
Plausible deniability without extra apps

Break-in report

See who tried to get in

After a failed unlock, Arca can record the time and attempted PIN. Enable break-in photos and grant camera permission to include a front-camera image. Evidence is encrypted locally and is not uploaded by Arca.

Timestamped log of failed unlock attempts
Optional front-camera capture with device privacy indicators
Evidence encrypted in-vault, never uploaded

Encrypted backup

One sealed file, any iPhone

Back up your media, albums, and library metadata in a single encrypted .arcavault file. Save it to Files, iCloud Drive, or anywhere you trust. Without your PIN it's just noise; with it, restore to any iPhone.

Single-file encrypted backup you fully control
Restore to a new iPhone with just your PIN
Lossless original export, any time, no lock-in

Save from Link

Watch a video go straight into the vault

Paste a link — or share it to Arca from another app — and the video downloads directly into your encrypted vault. It never lands in your Camera Roll, Files, or a downloads folder on the way in.

Works with YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and X (Twitter) links
Share a link to Arca from any app — no copy-paste needed
Encrypted the moment it lands, straight past your Camera Roll

Download on the App Store

Not on iPhone? Try the free web downloader — same idea, in your browser.

Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and X are trademarks of their respective owners. Arca is an independent app and is not affiliated with, endorsed, or sponsored by any of them. Please respect each platform's terms and only save content you have the right to.

Pricing

Pay for the app, not for hostages

Arca is free to download and try. Upgrade to Premium once — or yearly — and your photos are never held for ransom. A lapsed plan never locks you out of what you've already saved.

Annual

Full Premium, billed yearly.

$29.99 /year

Unlimited encrypted storage
Decoy vault & break-in report
Encrypted .arcavault backups
Lossless original export

Get Arca on the App Store

Best value

Lifetime

Pay once. Yours forever.

$79.99 one-time

Everything in Annual
One payment, no renewals
All future Premium features
Never pay-or-lose-access

Get Arca on the App Store

Free to download and try. A free tier keeps a capped number of items; Premium unlocks unlimited storage, the decoy vault, and encrypted backups.

FAQ

Questions, answered honestly

Is Arca actually encrypted, or does it just hide my photos?

Actually encrypted. Each photo and video is sealed with AES-256-GCM using a key derived from your PIN with Argon2id. Thumbnails and metadata are encrypted too. Many “vault” apps only hide files behind a password screen while the photos stay readable on disk. Security researchers have broken into several of them in minutes. Arca keeps its internal media storage, previews, and playback caches encrypted. Copies you explicitly export are outside that protection.

Does Arca upload my photos to a server or the cloud?

Arca does not automatically upload your vault. Imported media stays encrypted on your device; exports and backups go only where you choose to save them. Optional link downloads send the requested source URL to a download service, and purchases use store and RevenueCat services.

What happens to my photos if my subscription ends?

You keep full access to everything you've already imported. A lapsed subscription never locks you out of your own memories. You can still export originals losslessly and restore existing backups. Creating a new encrypted backup requires Premium.

Can Arca save videos from the web?

Yes. Paste a video link — from YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, X (Twitter), and many other sites — into Save from Link, or share the link to Arca straight from another app, and the requested content is saved into your encrypted vault. The source URL is sent to our download service to resolve and retrieve it. It never touches your Camera Roll, and it's encrypted the moment it arrives, like everything else in Arca.

What is the decoy vault?

A second PIN that opens a separate, harmless vault. If someone forces you to unlock Arca, you can enter the decoy PIN and a believable but empty vault appears, while your real vault stays hidden and encrypted.

What if I forget my PIN?

Your PIN protects the vault keys. We cannot reset it or recover your vault for you. Keep an encrypted backup and remember your PIN, and consider enabling biometric unlock for daily convenience.

How much does Arca cost?

Arca is free to download. Premium is $29.99/year or a $79.99 one-time lifetime purchase, which unlocks unlimited storage, the decoy vault, and encrypted backups.

Which devices does Arca support?

Arca runs on iPhone with iOS 18 or later.

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