Frequently Asked Questions

Yes! Hidelyt is free to download and use. The free tier lets you store up to 5 photos/videos and 5 private notes with PIN protection. For unlimited storage and advanced features (Calculator Disguise, Break-In Alerts, Private Browser, etc.), you can upgrade to Premium — available weekly at ₹99, monthly at ₹399, or yearly at ₹1,299.

1. Download Hidelyt from the App Store or Google Play.
2. Open the app and create a 4-digit PIN during onboarding.
3. Confirm your PIN.
4. Accept the Privacy Policy and Terms.
5. Grant media and camera permissions when prompted.
6. Start importing your photos and videos into the vault!

The whole setup takes under 2 minutes.

Hidelyt supports:

• iOS: iPhone and iPad running iOS 14 or later
• Android: Devices running Android 8.0 (Oreo) or later

For the best experience, we recommend keeping your OS updated to the latest version.

Absolutely not. Hidelyt stores all your media exclusively on your device using AES encryption. Your photos, videos, and notes are never uploaded to any server, never transmitted anywhere, and never accessible by us. We literally cannot see your content — by design.

Hidelyt uses AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) encryption — the same standard used by banks, governments, and military organizations worldwide. Your media files and sensitive data are encrypted before being stored on your device, making them completely unreadable without your PIN.

After 5 incorrect PIN attempts, the app enforces a 30-second lockout. If you have the Break-In Alerts feature enabled (Premium), the app silently captures a front-camera photo of whoever is attempting to access your vault after 3 wrong attempts — so you can see who tried to snoop.

No. Hidelyt intentionally excludes vault contents from iCloud and Google Drive backups to protect your privacy. This is a deliberate design decision — your private content should never appear in unencrypted cloud backups. Use Hidelyt's built-in Backup & Export feature (Premium) for secure backups.

When Calculator Disguise is enabled, Hidelyt appears as a fully functional calculator on your home screen and when you open it. To unlock your real vault, you enter your secret 4-digit PIN on the calculator's keypad and press "=". Anyone else who opens it just sees a working calculator — no indication there's a vault inside. It's the perfect hiding spot.

The Decoy PIN is a secondary PIN you can set up alongside your real PIN. When the decoy PIN is entered, the app opens to a completely empty vault — no albums, no photos, no notes. If someone pressures you to "unlock the app," you can use the decoy PIN to show them an empty, harmless vault while your real vault remains completely hidden.

When Break-In Alerts are enabled (Premium feature), Hidelyt monitors PIN entry attempts. After 3 consecutive wrong PIN entries, the app silently activates the front camera and captures a photo of whoever is holding the phone — without any sound, flash, or on-screen indication. These "intruder selfies" are stored encrypted in the app's private vault, organized with date/time stamps and attempt numbers. You can view them anytime in Settings → Break-In Alerts.

Go to Settings → Change App Icon. You'll see 24+ icon options including 14 color variants and 10 disguise icons (Notes, Calculator, Calendar, Clock, Maps, etc.). Tap any icon to switch instantly. The app icon on your home screen changes immediately — making Hidelyt look like whatever you choose, adding another layer of privacy.

The Private Browser stores your browsing history only within Hidelyt's encrypted vault — it never writes to your device's system browser history, Safari history, or Chrome history. Your browsing sessions are completely isolated and encrypted. You can also clear your in-app browsing history at any time from the browser settings.

Auto-Lock automatically locks the vault after a set period of inactivity. Go to Settings → Auto-Lock Timeout to configure it. Options include 30 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes, 5 minutes, or a custom duration up to 60 minutes. You can also enable Shake to Lock, which locks the app instantly when you shake your phone — perfect for quickly securing the app.

Premium unlocks all of Hidelyt's advanced features:

✓ Unlimited photos & videos storage
✓ Unlimited private notes
✓ Calculator Disguise mode
✓ Break-In Alerts (intruder selfie)
✓ Private Browser
✓ Decoy PIN & empty vault
✓ 24+ custom app icons
✓ Backup & Restore
✓ Priority customer support

You can cancel anytime through the platform you subscribed from:

iOS: Settings → [Your Name] → Subscriptions → Hidelyt → Cancel Subscription
Android: Google Play Store → Profile icon → Payments & subscriptions → Subscriptions → Hidelyt → Cancel

You'll retain Premium access until the end of your current billing period. Your vault data is not deleted when you cancel.

Your vault and all your data remain completely safe and intact. You'll simply lose access to Premium-only features (like the private browser, break-in alerts, etc.) but your photos, videos, and notes are never deleted. If you renew Premium, all features are instantly restored. You can still view the first 5 photos/videos on the free tier.

Yes. Tap "Restore Purchase" on the subscription screen (or during onboarding) while using the same Apple ID or Google account that you originally purchased Premium with. Your subscription will be restored immediately at no extra charge.

Unfortunately, due to the strong encryption protecting your vault, there is no PIN recovery mechanism. This is by design — it means even we cannot access your data. If you forget your PIN and cannot unlock the app, you will need to uninstall and reinstall the app (which deletes all vault data) and start fresh. We strongly recommend regularly using the Backup & Export feature (Premium) to avoid data loss.

Backup & Restore (Premium) lets you export your entire vault — all albums, photos, videos, and private notes — to an encrypted backup file stored in your device's Documents folder. You can then:

• Transfer it to a new phone
• Store it as a secure copy
• Restore it at any time from the app

Go to Settings → Backup & Restore to create or restore a backup.

Because vault data is stored locally with encryption, it does not automatically transfer when you get a new phone. To move your vault:

1. Create a backup using Backup & Export (Premium) on your old device
2. Transfer the backup file to your new device (via AirDrop, email attachment, USB, etc.)
3. Install Hidelyt on your new device
4. Go to Settings → Backup & Restore → Import Backup

By default, importing a photo copies it into your encrypted vault but keeps the original in your gallery. Hidelyt will ask if you'd like to delete the original from your gallery after importing. You choose — Hidelyt never deletes files from your gallery without your explicit confirmation.

Try these steps:

1. Make sure you are entering the correct PIN you set during first launch
2. Fully close and reopen the app
3. Restart your device
4. If you have forgotten your PIN, you will need to uninstall and reinstall the app (vault data will be lost unless you have a backup)
5. If issues persist, contact our support team

This is usually a permissions issue. Check that Hidelyt has full Photo Library access:

iOS: Settings → Privacy & Security → Photos → Hidelyt → Select "All Photos"
Android: Settings → Apps → Hidelyt → Permissions → Photos/Media → Allow

If you selected "Limited Access" on iOS, you'll need to change it to "All Photos" for the full gallery to appear.

Try these steps:

1. Close and reopen the app
2. Restart your device
3. Ensure you have at least 1GB of free storage on your device
4. Update to the latest version of Hidelyt
5. Large video files may load slowly — this is normal for very large files
6. If performance issues persist, contact our support team