The short answer
The Hidden album keeps photos out of your Library, but it opens with the same Face ID or passcode as your phone, so anyone who can unlock your phone can open it. A Pearlin vault opens only with its own pattern, under its own encryption key, and nobody can tell how many vaults you have.
Side by side
| Hidden album | Pearlin | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | An album in the Photos app | A separate app with its own encrypted vaults |
| Opens with | Face ID, Touch ID or the phone passcode | A pattern you draw, different for each vault |
| Who else can open it | Anyone who knows your phone passcode | Only someone who knows that vault’s pattern or recovery phrase |
| Its own key | No: it’s protected by the same unlock as the phone | Yes, one per vault, made from its pattern |
| More than one private space | No, one album | Yes, and the app never lists or counts them |
| Can tell it’s there | It can be removed from view in Settings, but anyone with your passcode can turn it back on | The lock screen looks the same whether you have no vaults or several |
| iCloud | iCloud Photos. Apple holds the keys unless you turn on Advanced Data Protection | Optional backup to your own iCloud, encrypted on the phone first with keys Apple doesn’t have |
| What it holds | Photos and videos | Photos, videos, GIFs, documents, any file from Files, and notes |
| Camera | The Camera app saves to your library; you hide photos afterwards | Pearlin’s camera saves straight into the vault |
| If you’re forced to open it | It opens | A duress vault can open instead and erase the others |
Hidden album as described by Apple for current versions of iOS and iPadOS. See Sources below.
When the Hidden album is enough
If you just want a few photos out of your camera roll, so they don’t come up when you scroll or show a friend your holiday pictures, the Hidden album does that well. It’s built in, it costs nothing, and it syncs with iCloud Photos.
It’s also enough if nobody else knows your phone passcode, and you’re not worried about someone who does.
When Pearlin fits better
- Someone else knows your passcode: a partner, a parent, a child, or anyone you’ve handed your unlocked phone to.
- You want separate spaces, such as family, work and private, each with its own pattern, without any of them being listed.
- You keep documents and notes too, like ID scans, medical letters or passwords, not only photos.
- You want the encryption keys to stay with you. Pearlin encrypts on your phone before anything reaches iCloud, whether or not you’ve turned on Advanced Data Protection.
- You might be made to unlock your phone. A duress vault opens and quietly erases the others.
The details of how Pearlin does this, and what it can’t protect against, are in the security model.
Moving hidden photos into Pearlin
- In Pearlin, open a vault and import from your photo library. If the picker doesn’t show your hidden photos, unhide them in Photos first.
- After the import, Pearlin can offer to remove the originals from Photos. Say yes.
- Photos keeps removed items in Recently Deleted for 30 days. Open Recently Deleted and delete them there too.
If you use iCloud Photos, removing them on one device removes them on your other devices too.
Sources
- Apple Support: Hide photos with the Hidden album
- Apple Support: Delete or hide photos and videos on iPhone
- Apple Support: iCloud data security overview (standard data protection and Advanced Data Protection)