Private Photo Vault - Pic Safe 17+

This is a good app, but could be improved. I'd like to see a sync between the app on different devices. When getting a new device, such as a new iPad, one has to start over, I have not been able to move from the old one to the new with success! Also, as a backup it is awkward, so I do not see it as truly viable for that purpose at this time. There seems to be a hiccup for certain larger images. For example, I have some and when sending or putting back into Photo as a group, the program freezes unless one figures out which is the problematic image and goes one at a time through the group.

I see the app's main value as ordinary privacy on each device; I have it on four. It's pretty good for that. I also use it to store things to show others, but wish to avoid wading through thousands of files in Photo. I also like the secure folder within the app for things "more private" or intended to be kept more secure. The photo editing program within the app is excellent. I use that and then send the edited photo to Photo or iPhoto in some cases to preserve the original in both Photo and the app. It's really good for this.
JHC

Thanks so much for your positive review! If you enable the Cloud Vault feature, you can sync your photos between devices.

We will investigate the other issues you posted as well. If you have any other questions, feel free to reach out at support@privatephotovault.com

Everything about the app’s functionality and features are great! However, there are two big issues I have. 1.) I subscribed to the premium version to have to utilize the cloud storage. The description of the iCloud storage option is inaccurate. It states that you can can save space on your your device by synchronizing and uploading all the photos to the cloud so that when you preview the content on your device, it will download it from the cloud without using up the storage on your device. Which in sense, should be similar to IOS. However, when I preview the photos in the app. It downloads the photo to my device and does not remove it after previewing. Ultimately it does not save any space at all. If I wanted to remove the data from my device, I would have to wipe everything off by reinstalling the app. After doing that, I log in, and it will synchronize with the cloud until I open up the photo which then automatically downloads the photo to the device. 2.) I’m not sure if it was because of the update but when I reinstalled the app, I have a problem where I couldn’t connect to the server when I was logging back into my account. I had to remove my 1 year subscription and resubscribe to finally log back in. But doing so prompted a message saying that I would have to pay again after my 1 week free trial. My subscription didn’t expire until August 2022. Which means I did not use the whole year of the subscription.

Hi, sorry about any issue. Regarding (1), the Space Saver issue, we are working on an update soon that should come out soon that should allow for permanently reducing space by keeping locally compressed copies of the image on your phone and leaving the full resolution in Cloud Vault. Regarding (2), we had a couple hours of server maintenance a couple of days ago where login wasn't working. Your old subscription should still work and be active if you paid for it. If you have any other questions, please reach out to us at privatephotovault.com/support

This app will take up so much of your phone’s storage, it’s insane. I got this app with the intention to back up my pics and vids and perhaps clear up some space in a convenient manner. Ive come to realize, it wouldve been much easier if I had just transferred those files to a computer directly without using this app. Now my pics and vids are stuck on this app because transferring all of them back to my phone not only takes forever, but fails almost every time. This app’s ability to transfer your files to a computer, via wireless or wired, simply does not work. Try it yourself at your own risk. Now i have 2000+ pictures and videos trapped in this app that i cannot get out. I cant transfer them back to my phone without constant complication and this app’s ability to export files to a computer is an absolute joke. I also wasted money subscribing to their cloud vault, which is a joke too. I can’t delete any files without them deleting it on the cloud vault as well, so that was no use regarding making space in my phone either. Also their cloud vault has no url or website, so that basically means the cloud vault ALSO doesnt have any convenient means of exporting files.
DO NOT USE THIS APP. They will literally hold your files hostage. They have convenient means of importing files but absolutely zero ability in exporting them. Just think on that.

Hi, first of all, sorry about any problems you are experiencing. We try to provide as many export options as possible, Bulk Export to the Photos App, Emailing photos, USB transfer, WiFi transfer. It is possible that if your device is extremely low on free space, you may run into issues with the WiFi transfer and downloading albums from your phone to computer. In order for the WiFi transfer feature to prepare a Zip file for your computer to download, it will require at least the amount of free space of the files you want to download on your phone so it can generate the zip file. Otherwise, you can always download files one by one. You should be able to export all files back to your normal photos app, but once again, if you have no free space on your phone, the export will fail due to no storage space to save the items. We are also currently working on adding functionality with Cloud Vault that will reduce storage on your phone. That will be coming out in a future update. Once again, sorry you have had a bad experience in the app. If you have any other questions, please contact us at privatephotovault.com/support