Vault Max vs Vaultaire: the price, the calculator, the backup

Choose Vault Max if you want a working calculator entrance, separate private collections and a lower published lifetime price. Vault Max combines that entrance with encrypted media and notes, no app account and no app telemetry. Both products describe local encryption; the useful comparison is the credential, collection, price and recovery routine you will use.

We make Vault Max. This is our comparison, based on our app's implementation and the other app's official information checked October 23, 2026. We have not performed an independent security audit or a hands-on test of Vaultaire.

The useful differences, side by side

What you are choosing	Vault Max	Vaultaire
Annual paid capacity	$14.99/year	$19.99/year
Lifetime plan	$19.99 once	$39.99 once
Local encrypted storage	Yes; no Vault Max account	Yes; no required account
App analytics and diagnostics	No app analytics or telemetry	Enabled by default; can be turned off
Calculator entrance	Working calculator with PIN-and-equals entry	Alternate calculator icon; pattern unlock interface
Separate/decoy vaults	Yes	Yes
Recovery copy	Password-protected archive; choose the Files destination	Encrypted iCloud backup enabled by default

Vault Max’s archive is a file you control, with a password and Files destination you choose. That fits the same straightforward model as the working library: a separate private collection and an explicit recovery copy.

Vault Max has no app analytics or telemetry. Vaultaire’s privacy policy says app analytics and crash diagnostics start enabled and can be turned off in Settings. The policy excludes vault contents, patterns and recovery phrases from that analytics collection. If you prefer an app without that diagnostics service, Vault Max keeps the choice simple.

Start with the free collection

You can test the basic workflow before buying either app. Vault Max’s free plan includes 50 counted photos, videos and files per vault, one extra vault and every security control. Notes are unlimited within the device’s available storage. Paid capacity allows unlimited counted items and up to eight total vaults per device.

Vaultaire’s published free plan has three vaults, 100 photos and 10 videos in total. Those limits are structured differently: a per-vault item allowance is not the same measurement as an app-wide photo and video allowance. Count the kinds of files and separate collections you need instead of comparing one large number in isolation.

Try one ordinary picture and a short video first. Check the import, the full-size viewer and the way you lock the app again. Keep the originals while you do this. A free plan is a useful way to discover whether the entrance and collection suit you; it is not a reason to move your only copy before understanding recovery.

Read the publisher’s screens as a workflow

Vaultaire’s supplied screenshots below present its pattern entrance and import choices. Compare those tasks with the working Vault Max calculator shown later in this guide. An import menu can help you understand the available route into a collection. It cannot tell you whether an archive restores, how an app behaves with your largest file or whether its cryptography has passed an independent audit.

A closer look

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Vaultaire listing artwork shows a pattern-entry screen

A closer look

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Vaultaire listing artwork shows its Add to Vault menu

The calculator changes the entrance

A calculator icon is something on the Home Screen. A calculator entrance is what someone sees after opening the app. Vault Max's calculator actually performs arithmetic. Your configured PIN followed by equals opens your collection.

Vault Max with sample content. Use the controls to pause or replay.

Vaultaire's alternate-icon explanation says that its calculator and printer icons still lead to the pattern screen. That is a practical distinction if the entrance is why you searched for a calculator vault. It does not prove that a disguise can fool someone examining your phone.

Vault Max also offers a regular unlock route. A changed disguise setting should not leave you guessing how to reach your own files. Read the calculator setup and interactive walkthrough before making the disguise your everyday entrance.

Separate collections are useful for different reasons

Vault Max can open different vaults with their own credentials. You can keep an ordinary collection ready to show and a different private collection behind another credential. The calculator entrance and the choice of collection solve different problems.

A closer look

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Vault Max main library containing sample photos and a video

A closer look

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A different Vault Max collection with three separate sample photos

Sample Vault Max library. Select a screen for a closer look.

Vaultaire offers decoy vaults too. Compare how many collections you need, how you will organize them, and how each enters your backup plan. Vault Max's paid capacity supports up to eight total vaults per device; it is not unlimited vault creation.

Local encryption does not answer the backup question

Vaultaire's official product information describes local AES-256-GCM storage, and its backup feature describes encrypted iCloud backup. Encrypted cloud storage is still cloud storage, but it is not the same as sending readable photos to a provider.

Vault Max has no provider-hosted library. You can create a separately password-protected .vaultmax archive and choose its destination through Files. A cloud-backed Files destination still places that archive with a cloud provider. Device-backup participation is another setting to review. The working library stays local; the destination you choose determines where the exported backup lives.

A closer look

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Vault Max encrypted backup form with separate password fields

Sample Vault Max library. Select a screen for a closer look.

For a new-phone move, read the backup guide. Buying Lifetime Unlock does not back up a single photograph.

Decide how a lost-phone recovery would work

For Vaultaire, understand the encrypted iCloud backup and the credential or recovery material needed to restore it. Confirm that the relevant data has reached the backup before relying on it. Automatic backup can reduce the need to remember a manual export; it still needs a working recovery setup.

For Vault Max, the archive is a snapshot you create. New material added after that snapshot needs another backup. Keep the archive somewhere that survives loss of the phone, and keep its separate password available independently. If you use several vaults, check the backup instructions for the scope of the archive rather than assuming every collection is included.

This is where the no-account model asks something of its owner. We cannot send an email that bypasses a lost vault credential and decrypts your original library. An existing usable archive and its password can provide another route. Restoring an App Store purchase restores the entitlement to paid capacity, not the private files.

What the price package means in practice

Vault Max’s paid plans enlarge a collection you can already try free: private media and notes, a working calculator, separate credentials and practical locking controls. At the stated U.S. prices, Lifetime Unlock buys that paid capacity for $19.99 once. You choose where the recovery archive is saved.

Vaultaire’s package includes its own encrypted backup, sync and sharing workflows. Those are different service arrangements, so read their requirements alongside the price. A Vault Max archive is a recovery snapshot, not live sync. Our recommendation rests on Vault Max’s local workspace, lack of app analytics and lower matched price, rather than claiming the packages are identical.

For Vault Max subscriptions, existing content remains available to open, export, delete and back up after expiry; the capacity rules affect further additions. Check each app’s current purchase sheet for its own entitlement and renewal terms. The included services are part of the price comparison.

What the lower price buys

Vault Max's published U.S. annual plan is $5 less than Vaultaire's named annual plan. Its $19.99 lifetime plan is $20 less than Vaultaire's named $39.99 lifetime plan. Regional prices and promotional offers can differ.

See Vault Max’s current plans and the named plans in the Vaultaire U.S. listing. Check the purchase sheet before paying. Vault Max also offers weekly and monthly plans; a shorter billing interval is not automatically better value.

For our priorities, Vault Max wins: a working calculator, private media and notes, separate vaults, and a modest one-time price without building a cloud library into the product. Try that workflow free with an ordinary photo, check the calculator entrance and keep a usable archive. At the matched lifetime prices, the capacity upgrade is $20 less. The separate credential and recovery routine are what make that saving useful.