How to move photos to a vault app on iPhone

By The StrongRoom team · Published 2026-10-30 · Updated 2026-10-30 · Last verified on iOS 26.x on 2026-10-30

In StrongRoom, open your Vault, tap Import, choose Photos and Videos, tick the items and confirm. The app sees only what you pick. To make it a move rather than a copy, agree to delete the originals, then clear Recently Deleted, which keeps them 30 days. Photos already uploaded to iCloud Photos stay in iCloud until deleted there.

Before you start

• Unlock the Vault you want the photos in.
• Note the free limit: one Vault with up to 10 items in total, photos, videos and documents together. The app checks this before an import, and the picker is capped so you add what fits. Pro removes the limit. Pricing.
• Write down your Recovery Phrase if you have not already, and plan an Export Package. There is no cloud copy, so these are your only ways back.

Step by step

1. Open StrongRoom and unlock the Vault with your pattern or passphrase.
2. Tap Import and choose Photos and Videos.
3. In the picker, tick the photos and videos you want. The app receives only the ones you tick, not your library.
4. Confirm. The app shows Importing, with a count of how many are done.
5. Open a few Items in the Vault and check they look right.
6. When asked "Delete originals from Photos?", choose Delete originals to remove the copies from your library, or Keep originals to leave them.

Files from the Files app go in through Import > Files, and Import > Take photo or video records straight into the Vault. How import works. Import and scan photos, videos and files

Delete the originals properly

The app's prompt says Photos keeps deleted items in Recently Deleted for 30 days. Apple's page says the same, and adds that an item deleted from Recently Deleted cannot be recovered. So:

1. Confirm the Items open in the Vault.
2. Choose Delete originals when the prompt appears. The app may ask you to type a word to confirm, because this cannot be undone from the app.
3. Open Photos, tap Collections, scroll to Recently Deleted under Utilities, tap View Album and unlock it with Face ID or Touch ID.
4. Select the items, tap the More button, tap Delete, and confirm with Delete from All Devices.

If you do not want to wait, step 4 removes them at once. Only do it once you have checked the Vault copy.

iCloud Photos: the part people miss

If iCloud Photos was on when the photos were taken, they were uploaded before you ever imported them. Importing to a Vault does not remove them from iCloud. Apple says that if you use iCloud Photos, deleting from one device also removes the item from your other devices signed in to the same Apple Account, so deleting the original in step 4 does remove the iCloud copy too. That is the intended outcome of a move, and it also means a photo you delete is gone everywhere except your Vault. If a photo was shared in a shared album or sent to someone, that copy is theirs.

Do hidden photos sync to iCloud?

If you cannot delete the originals

Keep them and hide them instead. Press and hold the photo, tap Hide, and it moves to the Hidden album. It is the lesser protection, but the library is no longer showing it. How to hide photos on iPhone. How to hide photos on iPhone

What StrongRoom cannot do: it cannot import by share sheet or drag and drop, it is iPhone only in 1.0, and it cannot restore your Vault from the cloud. The Vault does not leave the phone unless you export it. What it does not protect against.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Delete photos on your iPhone or iPad (Apple Support), checked on 2026-10-30.
• Hide photos on your iPhone, iPad, Mac or Apple Vision Pro with the Hidden album (Apple Support), checked on 2026-10-30.