Picture Vault 3.6.0.0

Preserving the privacy of data stored onto mobile devices and avoiding to have personal photos stolen from the smartphone is of the utmost important in the modern era, so many users are looking for viable solutions in this respect.

Those who want to create a safe area onto their Windows Phones have several choices at their disposal and one of the apps tailored specifically for such purposes is Picture Vault.

Convenient layout and simple graphics

The interface that greets you once you install the app onto your handset is quite dull and unadorned. The navigation among the various sections of the app is fairly good, with a bit of delay when loading the thumbnail previews of the pictures in the albums you are currently browsing.

The controls are all neatly tucked in the main menu that resides at the bottom of the screen, just under the continuously changing and irritating ad banners. In order to get rid of this nuisance you will have to pay a small fee.

Create albums and import pics on the fly

This utility is able to stash away all the pictures you keep onto your phone and since the access to the app is password protected, the same applies to the content stored inside.

You have the possibility to add one image at a time or entire folders in one go. However, you have to take into account one of the trial version limitations, more precisely the one that restricts the number of pics per album to 5.

These containers can be renamed and removed with ease, as the corresponding commands are revealed once you select any of them. Another restraint refers to the amount of time you can use the trial version of Picture Vault, which is a single day.

Security measures and issues

The application relies on a simple password to secure the access inside and it offers a quick means of storing the respective code by sending it to an email address of your choosing as soon as the initial configuration is completed. To help remind you the passkey you can also set a hint or a "tip string" as it is called inside the app.

More powerful is the encryption used to make sure no one can view the photos hosted inside the database and the AES cipher employed by Picture Vault will surely get the job done.

A word of advice for those who leave the app without closing it, note that the utility when recalled from the recently used apps list doesn't ask for the access code, so the data is exposed.

Also, after adding the pics to the protected folders, you will have to remove them manually from the phone storage. The application displays a small warning sign on the thumbnail of each pic that is still present on the local folders, so it is easier to choose the photos to erase.

Add to watchlist:

Encryption

• Account Vault 1.1.0.0
• Photo Locker 3.0.0.0
• Passwordshield 1.2.1.0