Private photos. Not your entire camera roll’s business.

When handing over your phone feels like handing over too much

You give someone your iPhone to look at a holiday photo. They swipe once too far. Or you open Photos beside a friend and a personal image is sitting among your recent pictures. Neither situation needs a hacker. Your everyday camera roll simply contains more of your life than you intended to show.

A private photo vault separates the pictures you want readily available from the ones you want to open deliberately. Intimate photos, boudoir pictures and personal videos are ordinary reasons to want that separation.

A calculator on the outside. Your collection behind an equation.

CalcLock opens as a working calculator. Enter the exact equation for your vault, then press equals twice: the first press gives the answer, the second opens the matching collection. Another equation can open a different vault, even when both equations have the same numerical answer.

That gives you more than an album with a suggestive name. There is no master gallery of all your vaults to browse from the calculator. The equation selects the collection you open. With the optional settings button hidden, the calculator stays visually clean too.

The files and filenames in each vault are encrypted with AES-256-GCM. The exact equation and a device-held secret contribute to the vault key. It is privacy designed into the storage, not just a folder removed from the Photos screen.

Move a small selection first

1. Create a vault using STR and an equation you will remember. Follow the step-by-step instructions if this is your first one.
2. Import the photos or videos you want to keep separate.
3. Open the imported items and check the images, video playback and details.
4. Return to the calculator and practise opening the vault again.
5. Decide which other copies you want to retain, and where.

Use your own adult images or material the people involved have agreed you may keep. Private storage does not change someone else’s consent or make it acceptable to share intimate material without permission.

Importing does not remove the original

This is the practical step that matters most: putting a picture in CalcLock does not remove its copy from Photos, Messages, Files or a cloud library. Review those locations separately if your goal is to keep it out of ordinary browsing.

Deleted pictures can remain in Recently Deleted. If iCloud Photos is enabled, deleting an original can also delete it from your other synced Apple devices. First verify your vault and any independent backup you want to keep; then make the deletion decision yourself.

Also check shared albums and messages you have already sent. A vault cannot pull back another person’s copy.

Keep viewing private too

Before opening a personal collection, disconnect screen mirroring or a shared display. Leave the vault before handing the phone to someone else. CalcLock hides the vault when you leave the app, but it cannot stop a person nearby from seeing a picture you have deliberately opened.

For photos you would hate to lose, keep a recovery plan separate from the phone. Read the backup guide for your installed version. An equation alone cannot recreate missing files on a replacement device.