The short answer
For Cloud Vault photos and videos, zero-knowledge means our team does not have the secret needed to decrypt your content. Your device encrypts files before upload using a key derived from your Cloud Vault password. The same password is needed to remove that Cloud Vault encryption layer on another device.
We can store your encrypted backup without being able to open your photos.01 / 04
Start with who has the key
The word “encrypted” tells you that data is protected by a cryptographic process. It does not, by itself, tell you which people or services can decrypt it. A useful question is: can the provider obtain the secret needed to open the files?
For Cloud Vault photo and video content, our team cannot. That is the specific privacy property we mean by zero-knowledge. It is not a claim that the service has no account information, billing records or other operational data.
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Your phone encrypts before it uploads
Your files already use AES encryption in the app. Cloud Vault adds another AES-256 encryption layer locally, before the files leave the device. A key derived from your Cloud Vault password protects this additional layer; the password is not sent to our servers.
Think of sending a locked container to storage while keeping the means to open it yourself. The storage service can hold the container without reading what is inside. This analogy explains the access boundary; the actual protection is encryption, not a visual lock or a hidden folder.
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Opening the backup on another device
On another device, your Cloud Vault password recreates the key needed to remove the Cloud Vault layer locally. Files stored in the app remain encrypted. Cloud Vault supports backup and sync between iPhone and Android.
Access happens in the app. There is no Private Photo Vault® browser sign-in or online photo viewer. WiFi Transfer is a separate feature for moving files between your computer’s browser and the app; it is not a Cloud Vault web login.
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Choose a strong cloud vault password
Cloud Vault uses Argon2id for password hashing. Password hashing makes guessing attempts more costly, but does not make a predictable password safe. A long, random, unique password makes the password-derived encryption key harder to guess.
Save your Cloud Vault password before you rely on the backup. Our team cannot recover it. Your app unlock code is separate, so recovering that code does not recover the cloud password. This is a practical consequence of not giving us the secret needed to read your content.
Common questions
Is AES-256 alone the same as zero-knowledge?
No. AES-256 describes encryption. Zero-knowledge, as used here, describes whether the provider has the secret needed to decrypt the content.
Does zero-knowledge mean there is no account?
No. Cloud Vault requires an account for backup and sync. The zero-knowledge claim concerns encrypted photos and videos, not the absence of account or billing information.
Sources & further reading
Product guidance from Private Photo Vault®. Features can vary by platform, device and plan.
