Compare
Silo vs your phone's secure folder or private space
| Silo | Secure folder or private space | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | An app that holds your photos, videos and files in an encrypted vault. | Usually a separate area of the phone, with its own copies of apps and their data. Files and whole apps can be moved inside.How to check: Open it and see whether apps you install there have their own data, separate from the main ones. |
| What it does to the files | Encrypts every photo, video and file on the phone before it is written to storage (XChaCha20-Poly1305, 256-bit keys). | Often stored in an encrypted area that stays locked until you open it. Details vary by phone maker and version.How to check: Read your phone maker's help page for the feature and look for what it says about encryption. |
| What opens it | A PIN of 6 or more digits, or a passphrase (Pro), plus optional face or fingerprint unlock. | Usually your choice of its own PIN, pattern or password, or the phone's screen lock. Face or fingerprint is often allowed too.How to check: Look in its settings for the lock type, and whether it's the same as your screen lock. |
| Can hide that it exists | The app itself is visible. Alternative vaults, arriving with launch, let a different PIN open a separate vault that appears nowhere. | Often yes: its icon can be hidden from the app list. The official help for private space says it can't always be hidden, for example from a computer it's connected to.How to check: Turn on the hide option and see what still shows in Settings and search. |
| Account needed | No. There is no sign-up, no email and no server account. | Usually not to use it. A phone-maker account may be needed for some reset or transfer options.How to check: See whether setup asks you to sign in, and which options are missing if you don't. |
| If you forget the lock | Your 12, 6 or 2-word recovery phrase gets you back in. Nobody at Silo can reset it for you. | Varies. Some let you reset it with your phone-maker account, but only if you turned that on when you set it up. Otherwise, plan on losing what's inside.How to check: Look for a reset option in its settings now, before you need it. |
| Backup | Arriving with launch: encrypted on the phone, then sent to your own cloud storage. Silo's developer cannot read it. | Often limited. Private space isn't restored from a phone backup, and at least one phone maker has stopped offering new secure folder backups.How to check: Look for a backup option in its own settings, and don't assume the phone's backup includes it. |
| Moving to a new phone | Export everything on any plan, then import on the new phone. Restoring with your recovery phrase arrives with launch. | Usually only to a new phone from the same maker, with its own transfer tool, or not at all.How to check: Check your phone maker's transfer tool for what it says about the secure area. |
| Verified import | Yes. Each item is read back and compared before Silo offers to remove the original. | Usually a move into the secure area, with no separate copy to check. |
| Export everything | Yes, on any plan, including after a plan ends. | Files can usually be moved back out, often a few at a time from inside the area's own apps.How to check: Try moving a whole album back out to your main gallery. |
| Published format and decrypt tool | Yes. The vault format is public, and a free independent decrypt tool reads a vault copy plus your phrase. | Usually no. The contents open only on that phone, through the phone's own system. |
| What happens on removal | The vault lives inside the app, so removing the app removes it. Export first, or keep a backup. | Removing the secure area deletes everything inside. Some offer to move files out first.How to check: Read the warning on the remove option before you tap it. |
| Platforms | iPhone and Android 11 and later. | Only on phones that include it. Private space needs Android 15 or later. Not available on iPhone. |
| Price | Free for up to 100 photos and 10 videos. Pro from $1.99 a week, $19.99 a year or $39.99 once. | Free. |
Some Android phones come with a locked area built in. One phone maker calls it a secure folder; Android 15 added a similar feature for every maker to use, called private space. Both go further than a hidden album. They give you a second, sealed-off part of the phone, where whole apps live with their own data, and they can have a lock of their own.
That’s a strong offer, and it’s free. So the question isn’t whether it’s good. It’s where it stops.
Why people choose a secure folder or private space
- It’s built in. Nothing to install, and the phone maker keeps it updated.
- It holds whole apps. A second copy of a chat app, a browser with its own history, a gallery with its own photos.
- It can have its own lock. Someone who knows your screen PIN still can’t open it, if you choose a separate one.
- It can hide itself. On most phones, the icon can disappear from the app list.
- It’s free, with no limits on how much you keep inside.
When it’s enough
A built-in secure area is a good fit when you’re staying on the same phone maker, the main worry is someone using your phone, and you’ve set it up carefully: a separate lock, and any reset option turned on if you want one.
If you want to hide whole apps, not just photos, it does something Silo doesn’t. Silo is a vault for files, not a second space for apps.
Where it falls short
Recovery is decided at setup. Forget a separate lock and what happens next depends on a setting you may not remember choosing. On one maker’s phones, a reset through your account works only if you turned it on when you created the folder. Private space with its own lock has no reset at all.
Backup is limited. The official help says a private space isn’t restored from a phone backup. One maker has also stopped making new backups of its secure folder, while still restoring old ones. If the phone is lost, broken or reset, what lived only in the secure area may go with it.
It’s tied to the phone and its maker. Moving to a new phone usually works only with the same maker’s transfer tool. Switching to an iPhone, or to another brand, means moving everything out first.
It’s Android only, and not on every phone. Private space needs Android 15 or later, and a secure folder exists only on phones whose maker includes it.
What Silo changes
Silo works the same on iPhone and Android 11 and later, so it doesn’t depend on which phone you buy next. Files are encrypted on the phone by the app, under its own PIN. If you forget the PIN, your recovery phrase gets you back in, with no account involved. Imports are verified before you remove originals, and you can export everything, on any plan. The vault format is published, and a free independent tool can decrypt a vault copy with your phrase.
How to decide
- Do you need to hide whole apps? Use the secure folder or private space. Silo doesn’t do that.
- Will you change phones, or brands, in the next few years? A vault that exists on both platforms, with its own export, travels more easily.
- What happens if you forget the lock? If the answer for your secure area is “everything is lost”, decide whether that’s acceptable for what’s inside.
You can also combine them: install Silo inside the secure area for two separate locks.
Questions
Is a secure folder safer than a vault app?
It can be very safe, because the phone's own system protects it. Its limits are elsewhere: recovery depends on settings you chose at setup, and the contents are tied to that phone and its maker.
Can I use Silo inside a secure folder or private space?
Yes, if your phone lets you install apps inside it. You then have two locks: one for the space, then Silo's own PIN.
What happens to a secure folder when I switch to an iPhone?
It doesn't come with you. Move the files out to your main storage first, then transfer them, or keep them in an app that exists on both.
Does a private space get backed up?
No. The official help says a private space isn't restored when you restore a phone from a backup. Keep a copy of anything important elsewhere.