Right instincts, and where they stop
Vaulty is aiming at the same problem Vaultine is. Its listing describes a Decoy PIN that opens a completely empty gallery when someone asks to see the app, and a Total Disguise mode that camouflages it as a Notes or Passwords app. Those are the correct instincts for a vault, and most of this category does not bother with either.
Two things are missing, and one is a design detail worth thinking about.
An empty decoy versus a stocked one
Vaulty's decoy opens an empty gallery. That is better than nothing, but an empty vault can read as suspicious: if someone has pressed you to open an app, finding nothing at all in it may not end the conversation.
Vaultine's Decoy Vault lets you stock it in advance with harmless files you chose. The unlock looks entirely ordinary and lived-in, and you know precisely what is revealed, because you put it there.
Then there is the code Vaulty does not have. The Duress Vault opens on a third code, shows an empty vault, and wipes your real vaults as it does — diverting is one job, destroying is another, and they need separate codes.
What is encrypted
Vaulty's listing describes PIN and Face ID access and cloud backup, and does not name a cipher. That leaves the central question unanswered: whether the files themselves are readable to someone who reaches the storage without going through the app.
Vaultine encrypts each file with AES-256-GCM before it is written, splits and randomises the stored data so nothing on disk resembles the original, and derives the key from your pattern or PIN without ever storing it.
The pricing spread
Vaulty's in-app purchases run from $1.99 to $7.99 weekly, $4.99 to $14.99 monthly, $34.99 quarterly, and $29.99 to $99.99 yearly. Weekly pricing is the part to convert before subscribing — $7.99 a week is over $400 a year.
Vaultine Pro is $1.99 a month, $14.99 a year, or $39.99 once, and the free tier already includes the same encryption as Pro.
One vault, four platforms
Vaulty is an iPhone app. Vaultine runs on Windows, macOS, iOS and Android, so the documents on a laptop get the same encrypted vault as the photos on a phone.
