Disguise and encryption are different jobs
The calculator vault idea is genuinely clever. If your phone appears to hold nothing but a calculator, nobody asks you to open the vault, because as far as they know there isn't one.
That works right up until someone knows what the app is — and these apps are popular enough that plenty of people do. At that point the disguise has nothing left to offer, and what matters is whether the files themselves are readable. That is a question about encryption, and many of these listings never name a cipher.
Vaultine takes the other approach. Every file is encrypted with AES-256-GCM before it is stored, and the stored data is split and randomised so nothing on disk resembles the original. Someone who knows exactly what the app is and has your unlocked phone still cannot read the vault without your pattern or PIN.
What to do when the disguise fails
Because a disguise gives you nothing once it is seen through, it helps to have a second answer ready.
Vaultine's Decoy Vault opens on a second code and shows a vault you stocked in advance with harmless files. It looks like an ordinary successful unlock, and you chose what it contains. The Duress Vault opens on a third code, shows an empty vault, and wipes your real vaults as it does. Both are Pro features, deliberately configured — you know exactly what each one reveals.
The ads problem
Ads are the most common complaint in recent negative reviews of the leading calculator vault app, ahead of even data loss. That is an awkward trade in an app chosen for privacy, since ad networks are in the business of collecting behavioural data.
Vaultine carries no ads on any tier, free included.
One vault, four platforms
Calculator vaults are phone apps, some with Wi-Fi transfer from a computer. Vaultine runs natively on Windows, macOS, iOS and Android, so the documents on your laptop get the same encrypted vault as the photos on your phone.
