Underlock vs LockMyPix on iPhone
LockMyPix has its own lock, and it works on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Android. LockMyPix needs no account. To get back in after a forgotten password, LockMyPix offers a recovery email or a second password. You set these up before you forget. Underlock is a private vault for your iPhone that opens with a pattern you draw on a grid of dots. Underlock needs no account either. If you forget your pattern, the 12 words Underlock shows you at setup get you back in. You write the 12 words on paper.
We make Underlock, so read this knowing that.
Underlock is coming soon to the App Store.
Which is right for you?
LockMyPix may be all you need if:
- you want Face ID to open your vault
- you also use an iPad, a Mac or an Android phone
- you want to move a vault between an iPhone and an Android phone
- you’d rather get back in with an email or a second password than keep 12 words on paper
Underlock is worth a try if:
- you’d rather keep 12 words on paper as your way back in
- you want an app with no analytics
- you want to get back a deleted photo without paying
Trying Underlock changes nothing in LockMyPix. Your photos stay in LockMyPix until you delete them there.
Side by side
The table shows where LockMyPix does as well as Underlock, or better. Analytics means data an app collects about how you use it.
| Feature | Underlock | LockMyPix |
|---|---|---|
| Its own lock, separate from your iPhone passcode | Yes | Yes |
| Opens with Face ID | No | Yes |
| Encrypted on your iPhone | Yes | Yes |
| Notes and documents too | Yes | Yes |
| No account to sign up for | Yes | Yes |
| On iPad, Mac and Android too | No, iPhone only | Yes |
| If you forget how to open the vault | 12 words on paper | An email or a second password, if set up first |
| Analytics in the app | None | Yes, anonymous, with an off switch |
| Get back a deleted photo, free | Yes, for 30 days | Only with Premium |
What LockMyPix does well
LockMyPix gets the basics right, and it does some things Underlock doesn’t.
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Its own lock
A PIN, a password or a pattern, separate from your iPhone passcode. LockMyPix’s App Store page lists Face ID too.
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iPhone, iPad, Mac and Android
A LockMyPix backup file can move your vault from an iPhone to an Android phone, or back.
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A backup in your own iCloud
LockMyPix says it encrypts your files, then backs them up to your own iCloud, not to its servers.
LockMyPix’s way back in needs setting up first
LockMyPix opens with a PIN, a password or a pattern you choose. LockMyPix’s help uses the word password for all three, and so does this page. At setup, LockMyPix asks for an email address for password recovery. If you forget your password, LockMyPix emails you a code. You enter the code, and LockMyPix shows your password.
Instead of an email, you can set up a second password, which also opens your vault. LockMyPix says that if you set up neither, nobody can get you back in. LockMyPix also says its team doesn’t know your password.
Underlock never asks for an email. When you set up a vault, Underlock shows you 12 words to write on paper: your recovery phrase. If you forget your pattern, those 12 words open your vault. Keep the paper somewhere safe: someone who has the paper and can unlock your iPhone could open your vault. If you lose both your pattern and the paper, nobody can open your vault, not even us.
Staying with LockMyPix? Check that password recovery is on, in LockMyPix’s settings. LockMyPix says recovery turns off by itself when you move to a new phone.
Can the app’s maker see your photos?
Both apps encrypt your files on your iPhone. Encrypted files are scrambled, and only a key unscrambles them. So what matters is who can use the key.
LockMyPix says your files stay on your iPhone and never go to its servers. LockMyPix’s backup goes to your own iCloud account, and LockMyPix says your files are encrypted before they go. LockMyPix also says it doesn’t know your password. But with recovery by email on, LockMyPix keeps a copy of your password on its servers, to give it back to you if you forget. LockMyPix says that copy is encrypted, and not linked to your vault.
LockMyPix also sends anonymous bug reports and usage statistics, to improve the app. That’s on unless you turn it off in LockMyPix’s settings.
We never receive your files, your pattern or your keys, so we can’t open your vault. Underlock has no analytics: the app doesn’t report how you use it.
Moving photos from LockMyPix
Underlock is coming soon to the App Store. Here’s how moving will work.
First, LockMyPix puts your photos back in the Photos app. Next, Underlock imports the photos. Then you delete the photos from the Photos app and from LockMyPix.
- In LockMyPix, open the folder with the photos you want to move.
- Touch and hold a photo. Then tap each photo you want to move.
- Tap the unlock button at the top. The photos go back to the Photos app, and LockMyPix’s help says they’re no longer encrypted. If iCloud Photos is on, the photos also go to iCloud Photos until you delete them for good in step 8.
- In Underlock, tap the Add button (a plus sign), then Import from Photos.
- Choose the same photos. Keep Underlock open until the import finishes.
- When the import finishes, Underlock offers to remove the photos from the Photos app. Tap Remove, then confirm when iOS asks. The photos wait in Recently Deleted for 30 days.
- Before you delete anything for good, check that the photos are in your vault.
- In the Photos app, delete the photos from Recently Deleted. The photos then leave iCloud Photos too.
- In LockMyPix, delete the photos you moved, if they still show there.
Paying for LockMyPix Premium? The subscription renews until you cancel it, even if you delete the app. To cancel, open the Settings app, tap your name, then Subscriptions.
Questions people ask about LockMyPix
Against someone who picks up your phone, yes: LockMyPix has its own lock and encrypts your files on your iPhone. LockMyPix also says your files never go to its servers.
Yes, LockMyPix is free to download. LockMyPix Premium is a subscription that adds features, such as a second vault with its own password. LockMyPix’s App Store page shows the prices for your country, and they can change. LockMyPix says it gives no refunds for unused time.
Yes, once you turn its backup on. LockMyPix’s Cloud backs up to your own iCloud, and LockMyPix can also make a backup file that you keep. LockMyPix’s pages don’t say which plan the iCloud backup needs.
If you set up a recovery email, LockMyPix emails you a code, then shows your password. A second password works too, if you set one up. Without either, LockMyPix says nobody can get you back in. See the steps.
Yes, with its Cloud or with a backup file. On the new iPhone, open LockMyPix with the same password as before. See how to move LockMyPix.
Unlock the photos in LockMyPix, so the photos go back to the Photos app. Then import the photos into Underlock: tap Add, then Import from Photos. Afterwards, delete the photos from the Photos app, and from LockMyPix if they still show there.
No. Underlock is for iPhone, with iOS 17 or later.
Yes. Underlock is free forever: one vault, no file limit. If the free plan ever changes, you keep the plan you started with. More vaults come with Pro, Underlock’s paid plan.
Related
- Forgot your LockMyPix password? LockMyPix’s own ways back in, step by step.
- Move LockMyPix to a new iPhone LockMyPix moves with its own backup and your same password.
- Recovery phrase 12 words that get you back in.
- Underlock vs Keepsafe What Keepsafe does well, and how it differs from Underlock.
- Underlock vs Private Photo Vault What Private Photo Vault does well, and how it differs from Underlock.
- Photo vault apps for iPhone, compared Four ways to keep photos private, row by row.
A private vault, with 12 words to get back in
Free for one vault, with no file limit. No account, no email.
For iPhone with iOS 17 or later.