Umbra vs Keepsafe

Keepsafe has tens of millions of downloads and high ratings on both stores, and for many people it was the first photo vault they ever used. It’s built around an account and Keepsafe’s Private Cloud. Umbra is built around having nothing to hand over. Neither approach is wrong, but they suit different people.

At a glance

Keepsafe details are from getkeepsafe.com, its App Store listing and its Google Play listing.

Accounts and who holds the keys

Keepsafe works with an account. Its help center explains signing in with a code sent to your email, and recommends adding a backup email, because losing access to your email can mean losing access to the account. That account is what lets Keepsafe sync your vault to new phones.

Umbra has no account. Your pattern is turned into the key on your phone with Argon2id, mixed with a secret that never leaves the device. Recovery is a 12-word phrase that only you hold. There is no email to lose, and nobody who can reset your vault, including us. The trade-off: if you lose both your pattern and your phrase, the vault can’t be opened. Read more about private photo apps without an account.

Ads and tracking

Keepsafe’s free Basic plan is ad supported, and both stores list it as containing ads. Its Google Play Data safety section says some data may be shared with third parties.

Umbra has no ads on any plan and no analytics. The only outside library checks your Pro purchase and gets an anonymous ID, never your vault.

Cloud: Keepsafe’s big strength

Keepsafe’s Private Cloud is genuinely convenient. It syncs your photos to every Keepsafe install on any platform, and Premium stores up to 10,000 items and can free up phone space by keeping originals in the cloud.

Umbra doesn’t run a cloud. On iPhone and iPad, backups go to your own iCloud, encrypted on the device before upload. On any phone you can export an encrypted backup file and keep it wherever you like, including Google Drive. Backups move between iPhone and Android and only open with your recovery phrase. With Pro, the same vault stays in sync across your iPhone and iPad.

If you want your vault to appear automatically on a new phone after signing in, Keepsafe is easier. If you want no copy of your photos on a company’s servers, Umbra is the better fit.

Fake PIN vs duress pattern

Keepsafe Premium includes a Fake PIN that opens a decoy Keepsafe with a separate PIN code. That’s useful when someone wants a look.

Umbra’s duress pattern goes a step further. Drawing it opens a decoy vault and, at the same moment, removes the way into every other vault on the phone, so you can’t be pushed into opening the real one. Your vaults come back later with their recovery phrases. Umbra also hides how many vaults exist: the unlock screen never lists them. See what is a duress pattern.

Price

Keepsafe Premium is listed at $9.99 a month or $23.99 a year on the App Store, with a 30-day free trial. Umbra Pro is $14.99 a year with a 7-day trial, $1.99 a week, or $39.99 once for life. Umbra’s free plan has no ads and the same encryption as Pro.

Where Keepsafe is ahead

• Cloud sync on any platform, without managing backup files.
• Bigger free photo allowance: 200 photos against Umbra’s 100.
• Longer trial: 30 days of Premium.
• Track record: years on both stores and millions of ratings.

Bottom line

Choose Keepsafe if cloud sync across phones matters most and you’re comfortable with an account and ads on the free plan. Choose Umbra if you want no account, no ads, no analytics, keys that never leave your phone, and a decoy that also locks the real vaults away.

Questions

Checked against public pages on 20 October 2026. Details change, so check the linked pages before you decide. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.