Hide It Pro alternative: the best one depends on what you used it for

Hide It Pro is one of the oldest hiding apps on Android. On Google Play it has over 50 million downloads and a 4.7 rating from about 1.28 million reviews, and it shows up in your app drawer disguised as "Audio Manager", a working volume control that opens the vault when you long-press its title. There is also an iPhone and iPad version. Everything below about Hide It Pro comes from those two listings and its homepage, checked October 2026.

It does a lot: photos, videos, apps, messages, calls, a private browser. That breadth is why there isn’t one single replacement. The right one depends on which part you actually used.

Why people look for a Hide It Pro alternative

These are the reasons that come up, each one checked against Hide It Pro’s own pages:

• Ads in a privacy app. The Play listing is marked "Contains ads".
• The data safety label. Hide It Pro’s Data safety section on Google Play says the app may share location and device or other IDs with third parties, that data isn’t encrypted (Google’s label covers data in transit) and that data can’t be deleted. The developer fills in this section, so it’s their own description.
• Encryption that isn’t described. The Play listing promises a "built in encryption tool to secure your most important files", which reads like a separate tool, not encryption of everything by default. The homepage says "your data is encrypted and safely stored on your device". Neither page names an algorithm or says how your PIN becomes a key. We haven’t tested the app, so we can’t tell you which is right. We can tell you the pages don’t say.
• Lost files. Among the most-helpful reviews shown on the Play listing when we checked, one describes months of photos disappearing from the vault and another a paid upgrade that stopped activating. Reviews are anecdotes, but they’re the ones Google puts first.
• Moving phones. The homepage FAQ says your data "never leaves your device". That’s good for privacy, but it also means a lost or reset phone takes the vault with it unless you set up a backup first.

If none of this bothers you and the app has been reliable for you, staying is a fair choice. If one of these is why you’re here, use it to filter the options below.

What to look for in a replacement

1. Encryption described in plain detail. A named algorithm and a clear statement that every file is encrypted, not just a lock screen in front of a folder. Our secure vault checklist explains why the difference matters.
2. A lock that isn’t your phone’s. Anyone who knows your screen lock can open anything that uses it.
3. A backup you understand. Where it goes, whether it’s encrypted, and what opens it.
4. No ads, or ads you’re fine with. Ad SDKs are outside code running inside the app that holds your private photos.
5. A way out. Can you move to a new phone, or to iPhone, without starting over?

Hide It Pro alternatives at a glance

Sources are linked in each section. All checked October 2026.

1. Umbra: encrypted photos, no ads, backups that move between phones

Umbra is our app, so weigh this section accordingly. It replaces the photo and video side of Hide It Pro, not the app, message and call hiding.

• Every file is encrypted with AES-256-GCM under its own random key. Your pattern (at least 6 dots on a 5x5 grid) is stretched with Argon2id and mixed with a secret that never leaves the phone (the Android Keystore, or the Keychain on iPhone), so files copied off the phone can’t be guessed at elsewhere. Videos are encrypted in small chunks and play without being written to storage in the clear. Details on our homepage.
• No ads, no account and no analytics or advertising SDKs. The only outside code handles purchases and never sees your vault.
• Free encrypted backups. On any phone you can export an encrypted backup file and keep it wherever you like, for example Google Drive. On iPhone and iPad there’s also an automatic end-to-end encrypted iCloud backup. Backups restore on Android, iPhone or iPad, and only your recovery phrase opens them.
• A decoy that goes further than an escape PIN. Hide It Pro’s escape code makes the app look empty. Umbra’s duress pattern (Pro) opens a decoy vault and at the same moment removes the way into every other vault on the phone. They come back later with their recovery phrases.
• Hidden vaults. Each pattern opens its own vault, and the unlock screen never lists them.
• Disguise icons (Pro). Calculator, Weather, Notes, Compass, Clock or Lens.
• Screenshot blocking, a break-in log, and a silent intruder photo with Pro.
• Free plan: up to 3 vaults, 100 photos and 10 videos in total, unlimited notes and documents. Pro: $14.99 a year with a 7-day free trial, $1.99 a week, or $39.99 once.

Where it’s weaker than Hide It Pro: Umbra doesn’t hide other apps, messages or calls, and has no private browser. The free plan is limited to 100 photos and 10 videos, where Hide It Pro’s Play listing says "completely free and unlimited". And if you lose both your pattern and your recovery phrase, nobody can open the vault, including us.

2. Android Private Space: the built-in way to hide apps

If the part of Hide It Pro you relied on was hiding apps, Private Space is the better tool, and it’s part of Android 15 and later. It’s a separate profile with its own optional lock. When it’s locked, its apps stop completely and disappear from the app list and other parts of the system, according to Google’s Private Space help page.

Two things to know. Google says deleting the private space deletes its apps and data "with no backup", and a device backup won’t restore it. And the page notes its existence can’t always be hidden from other apps or tools that look for it. Use it for apps, not as the only home for photos you can’t lose.

3. Google Photos Locked Folder: free, but your screen lock opens it

Locked Folder keeps photos out of your grid, search and other apps on the phone. Google’s help page is clear on the trade-offs: its password is the same as your screen lock and can’t be changed, and items you don’t back up are lost if you uninstall Photos, clear its data or factory reset. If you use it, turn on Back up Locked Folder in Photos settings. Our Android hiding guide has the setup steps.

4. Samsung Secure Folder: its own lock, Samsung only

On a Galaxy phone, Secure Folder gives you a separate locked space with its own PIN, password or pattern, which is stronger than Locked Folder against someone who knows your screen lock. But Samsung now says data backup is no longer available for Secure Folder, and restoring an older backup doesn’t work on Android 16 with One UI 8 or later. Samsung points to Smart Switch for moving to a new phone. It also doesn’t exist outside Samsung.

5. Private Photo Vault: the closest like-for-like app

If you want another all-in-one hiding app with a familiar feel, Private Photo Vault on Google Play has a PIN, pattern or fingerprint lock and describes "advanced encryption". It’s also on the App Store. Its Fake PIN decoy, break-in alerts, ad-free use and Cloud Vault (up to 50 GB) are Premium features, and the free version shows ads. Its Data safety section says data is encrypted in transit and you can request deletion, but also that it may share device or other IDs with third parties, the same kind of sharing listed for Hide It Pro. More detail in Umbra vs Private Photo Vault.

How to move your files out of Hide It Pro

Don’t uninstall Hide It Pro until everything is safely somewhere else. Hidden files live inside the app’s storage, so removing the app first can remove them with it.

1. Bring everything back to the phone. If you used Hide It Pro’s cloud backup, restore anything that only exists there first.
2. Unhide in batches. Both store listings mention an unhide option, and the App Store listing says it moves photos and videos back to your gallery. Do one album at a time so you can check each one.
3. Check the gallery. Unhidden photos may sort by the date they were taken, not appear at the bottom. Open a few videos to make sure they play.
4. Import into the new place. In Umbra, import the photos and videos from your gallery, then accept the offer to delete the originals.
5. Empty the trash. Google Photos and Samsung Gallery keep deleted items in a trash or recycle bin for a while. Empty it so the gallery copies are really gone.
6. Set up a backup before anything else. In Umbra, export an encrypted backup file, and write your recovery phrase down somewhere off the phone.
7. Then remove Hide It Pro. If you paid for anything, check your Google Play or App Store subscriptions, since uninstalling an app doesn’t cancel a subscription.

Hide It Pro hides apps, messages and calls too. Move or unhide those separately before uninstalling, following the app’s own options.

When to stay with Hide It Pro

• You use it for everything at once: apps, messages, calls, browsing and photos in one place, behind one disguise. No single alternative here does all of that.
• You want unlimited free storage and don’t mind ads.
• It has worked reliably for you and you have a backup you’ve actually tested.

Questions

Checked against public pages on 27 October 2026. Details change, so check the linked pages before you decide. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.