Cryptile vs Proton Drive Photos
Proton Drive is end-to-end encrypted cloud storage that can back up your whole iPhone photo library. Cryptile is a vault on the phone for the photos you keep apart from that library, with a drawn pattern and decoy vaults. Many people would use one for the library and the other for the private few.
Try Cryptile free: join the beta on TestFlight
How do Cryptile and Proton Drive compare?
| Question | Cryptile | Proton Drive |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A vault for private photos, videos, files and notes | Encrypted cloud storage with automatic photo backup |
| Price | Plus: $19.99 a year (7-day free trial), $39.99 once | Drive Plus from $4.99 a month or $47.90 a year. 1 TB and Proton Unlimited plans also listed |
| Free tier | Up to 2 vaults, 100 photos and 10 videos in total. Files, notes and folders unlimited | 5 GB of storage |
| Unlock method | A pattern drawn on a grid. Use 8 or more cells | A Proton account, with PIN or biometric protection in the app |
| Decoy or fake vault | A different pattern opens a different vault. No vault list | Not stated |
| Encryption as published | AES-256-GCM on every file, thumbnail and index. Core published for audit | End-to-end encryption; "even Proton can't view your content". Says it secures metadata, including file names, sizes and dates. Open source |
| Photo backup | Photos you add to the vault go to an encrypted iCloud backup. 9-word recovery phrase, no reset | Backs up your Camera Roll automatically, in original quality |
| Account required | No | Yes, a Proton account |
| In-app camera | Yes, with GPS on or off | Not stated |
| Platforms | iPhone and iPad | iPhone, iPad and Apple Vision, plus access across your devices |
| Sharing | Shared vaults are coming, not available yet | Links with a password and an expiry date |
| Search inside the vault | Yes, in Plus. Text is read from photos and PDFs on the device | Not stated |
Checked 2026-10-26. Proton Drive facts come from its App Store listing, photo storage page and pricing page. Check them for current terms.
How do I turn on Proton Drive photo backup?
Proton's support page gives these steps. The app requires iOS 16.0 or later.
- Open Proton Drive and tap the Photos tab.
- Tap Turn on.
- Tap Allow full access when asked.
Proton notes a large library can take several days, and that force-closing the app stops the backup.
When should I choose Proton Drive?
- You want your whole photo library backed up with end-to-end encryption.
- You want to open photos on other devices. Cryptile has no sync yet.
- You want to share an album through a link with a password and expiry.
When should I choose Cryptile?
- You want some photos out of your main library, behind a separate secret.
- You want no account: nothing to sign in to, and no email on file.
- You want decoy vaults and a panic pattern (Plus).
Can I use both?
Yes. Back up the everyday library with Proton Drive. Move the private set into Cryptile first, so it is not in the Camera Roll that Proton backs up.
What are the limits of Cryptile?
These apply to any pattern-based vault, ours included.
- Short patterns are weak. A pattern is weaker than a passphrase. Use 8 or more cells.
- It is not a library backup. Cryptile backs up only what is inside the vault.
- No reset. Lose the pattern and the recovery phrase, and the vault is gone.
Read the full security page and the Plus page.